Purple Hotel faces date with demolition
A wrecking ball could soon reduce the Purple Hotel into a colorful pile if a developer follows through with plans to buy the shuttered Lincolnwood landmark.
Chicago-based Sertus Capital Partners LLC has a conditional contract to purchase the 8-acre hotel property at Touhy and Lincoln Avenues, a Sertus principal said.
Michael Glazier declined to comment further, but Lincolnwood officials said Sertus has stated it would demolish the seven-story, 293-room hotel in favor of residential and retail space. The Purple Hotel, 4500 W. Touhy Ave., closed in January, less than six months after Lincolnwood took owner Donald Bae to court over what it alleged were health code violations.
Following up on complaints from people who stayed there, inspectors found mold growing behind wallpaper, beneath floors and in heating ducts, said John Lebegue, the building commissioner. According to court records, mold was detected in 208 of the 225 rooms village inspectors walked through.
"The bottom line is that the windows were failing and water was getting into the rooms," Lebegue said. "In some rooms, the mold was so thick you could feel your breath. I know my eyes were burning after an hour."
Bae and his attorneys could not be reached for comment.
Built by Hyatt Corp. in 1960, the Purple Hotel, or Lincolnwood Hyatt House as it was originally named, changed owners over the years, with Radisson and Ramada among its operators.
The hotel's parking lot was where Allen Dorfman, a reputed mobster and associate of Jimmy Hoffa, was fatally shot by a masked man in 1983.
Pianist Myles Greene, one of the hotel's first performers, said the halcyon days were in the 1970s when the Purple Hotel's lounge was a swinging night spot.
"In its heyday, it was the place on the North Side," said Greene, who grew up in Lincolnwood. "All the entertainers used to stay there. Barry Manilow, Roberta Flack, Perry Como. At that time, it had the greatest pool."
Today, the empty pool's deck is cluttered with white plastic lawn chairs blown over by the wind.
A few lights are still on in the lobby, where cleaning supplies sit next to a mound of clear plastic trash bags stuffed with towels, bedding and curtains. In some of the rooms, the furniture has been pushed against walls that have been stripped of wallpaper and paint.
"I'm sorry that someone doesn't take it over, clean it up and put some new blood into it," Greene said. "It's an eyesore now that nobody's there."
Other problems found during the September inspection included a faulty sprinkler system, cluttered stairwells, a leaky roof and more mold growing in the sauna and banquet room, according to court records.
The village petitioned Cook County Circuit Court in September to have the hotel closed until the violations were remedied. A judge set a December cleanup deadline for Bae, president of Village Resorts Inc. and owner of the Purple Hotel since 2004. Village officials said Bae chose to close the hotel because a renovation would have been too costly.
"It's sad," Village President Jerry Turry said. "It's a landmark in the village. Its roots go very deep in the lore and history of Lincolnwood."
"That was our only hotel," said Diana Lass, executive director of the Lincolnwood Chamber of Commerce. "It has a great deal of history attached to it—both positive and negative."
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