IMEG provided engineering design and commissioning for the $130 million Hotel Essex renovation and 56-story, 575,000-sf Essex on The Park apartment tower addition on Michigan Avenue at Grant Park.

The 476-unit tower addition is located on the site of the existing parking garage and swimming pool. It’s divided into a variety of apartments, ranging from studios to three-bedroom units. The replacement parking garage will make up floors two through six, located behind a 20-foot-wide active space on each floor.

The space in front of the parking garage is filled with a fitness center and other hotel amenities allowing the hotel to recreate 22 rooms in the existing building that were removed in prior reconfigurations over the years.

As part of the project, the Hotel Essex has received a full renovation, and the building will be added to the National Register of Historic Places. The hotel has 279 rooms and the ground floor has an expanded hotel lobby as well as a restaurant with seasonal outdoor space.

This project received a 2020 IES Illumination Merit Award for architectural lighting design and achieved LEED Silver and WELL Silver certifications. IMEG provided design support for WELL and design/energy analysis for LEED.