Project Scope

The Conrad Chicago, one of the city’s premier luxury hotels, underwent a complete renovation of its porte-cochere. The owner, Diamond Rock Hospitality, chose Graycor to perform the project, which needed to be completed before an important event the hotel was planning.

Work at the hotel – which is located on the Magnificent Mile, just off Michigan Avenue – included demolition of columns, pavement, sidewalks and the existing portecochere’s canopy ceiling. Graycor’s team then installed a new in-floor tube lighting system, granite paving blocks for the drive-through, granite column wraps, masonry splitface brick on entrance wall, glass ceiling panels with blue accent lighting system, can lights with decorative accent lighting and a new infrared heating system to provide comfort to guests throughout the winter months.

Because the porte-cochere entrance is the hotel’s main entrance/exit, all work had to be performed while the hotel was fully operational with guests continually entering and exiting the building. Using a bellhop entrance located adjacent to the hotel’s main entrance, Graycor transformed the service entrance into a luxurious alternate entrance for guests to bypass the main entrance under construction.

Graycor’s team accelerated the construction schedule by establishing a temporary bellhop stand outside the hotel and installing a new electrical cab hailing system that allows bellhop personnel to signal for taxi cabs. This strategy enabled the construction team to simultaneously work on the entire porte-cochere, which resulted in the project being completed ahead of schedule and within budget.