Carlson To Open $125M Radisson Blu Nov. 1

CHICAGO-As Carlson gets ready to open its first Radisson Blu hotel at the Aqua multifamily tower here, the company is also working on a $137.5 million similar property at the Mall of America near the Carlson’s headquarters in Minneapolis. The $125 million Blu property here will open in the lower 18 floors of the 81-story Aqua Tower on Nov. 1.

Locally based Magellan Development Group developed Aqua, with 262 condos and 474 apartment units. The total project cost about $475 million, with MassMutual providing $66 million in financing for the 334-room hotel. Magellan is also the developer of the 28-acre Lakeshore East complex.

Radisson started the Blu properties overseas, including hotels in Berlin, Zurich and Frankfort. The Chicago hotel will feature 28,000 square feet of meeting space, an 8,000-square-foot fitness facility with an indoor basketball court, a movie screening room and an 8,000-square-foot outdoor recreation deck.

Thorsten Kirschke, president of Carlson, said in a statement that the Chicago property sets the stage for the direction of the brand here in the Americas. “(The Chicago and Minneapolis hotels) are marking some of the significant milestones in Carlson’s Ambition 2015 growth strategy,” he said.

For the company’s hotel side, this strategy aims to grow the portfolio by at least 50% to reach at least 1,500 hotels in operation by 2015, including the expansion of Radisson and Country Inns & Suites. Carlson also owns more than 900 TGI Friday’s restaurants.