The Blackstone Hotel has not been condemned, but closed for building
violations.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/hotel12.html

Blackstone Hotel shut; guests told to
               vacate

               November 12, 1999

               BY SHU SHIN LUH AND FRAN SPIELMAN STAFF REPORTERS

               Citing a series of building code violations, the city shut
down the historic Blackstone
               Hotel, leaving dozens of employees jobless and forcing
scores of guests to flock to
               neighboring facilities.

               Management of the hotel at Michigan and Balbo avenues, which
is famous for
               presidential stays and the birth of the political
"smoke-filled room," notified more than
               80 employees Wednesday of the shutdown and their dismissal.

               That evening, managers delivered memos to guests' rooms
telling them to vacate the
               hotel.

               Since 1995, the Blackstone has been run by North
Carolina-based Heaven on Earth
               Inns Corp., owned by transcendental meditation guru
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

               City inspectors uncovered the violations this week during a
routine annual inspection
               required by city ordinance. On Tuesday, inspectors closed a
basement office in the
               hotel because of cancer-causing asbestos that threatened to
contaminate employees
               and guests.

               In addition, inspectors reported an electrical system that
was "totally inadequate,
               totally outdated," said a high-ranking Building Department
official who asked to
               remain anonymous.

               Annual building reviews have taken on a heightened sense of
importance since a
               string of high-profile facade and window problems at
downtown buildings. The city
               conducts 25,000 inspections a year.

               By Wednesday night, most of the Blackstone's guests were
re-booked at nearby
               hotels, but some were lingering in the hotel lobby Thursday
morning.

               Ela Gibbons, a 71-year-old visitor from Columbus, Ohio, was
one of many guests
               who arrived at the hotel Wednesday night only to learn that
she had no room.

               "A hotel doesn't just close, especially not in the downtown
of a big city," said
               Gibbons, who has been planning her trip since January.

               Hotel spokesman Dan Wasielewski estimated the hotel will be
closed for a year to
               remedy the situation.

               The adjoining Merle Reskin Theatre isn't part of the
shutdown, according to Lynn
               Stys, company manager for the long-running comedy "Shear
Madness," currently
               playing at the theater.

               Last year, the hotel was designated a Chicago landmark and
granted a "Class L" tax
               break to pave the way for an $80 million renovation that
would have restored
               everything from the building's historic exterior to its
interior lobbies, 325 guest rooms
               and Crystal Ballroom.

               Host-Marriott Corp., manager of international five-star
hotels, was due to take over
               the hotel. But the sale never went through because of
last-minute haggling over the
               price, according to Thomas Samuels, development manager of
the project.

               Samuels said that developers knew "some amount of
remediation" for asbestos was
               necessary, but they weren't aware of the magnitude of the
problem.

               Blackstone employees were still trying to digest the news.

               Workers also were frustrated by hotel management's hesitancy
to disclose details of
               the closing and the short notice.

               Blackstone Hotel management hasn't offered employees any
severance pay other
               than unused vacation time because "this happened too
quickly. We haven't had a
               chance to address that yet," Wasielewski said.


At 11:06 AM 11/12/1999 +0000, Carol Mayer wrote:
>Hello,
>I have just been informed that the Blackstone hotel has been condemned by
>the City of Chicago.  so if you are booked there you will need ot book
>elsewhere.  I have been rebooked into the Silversmith hotel which is more
>expensive ($ca. 140 for first two nights and 150 for second two nights- Nov
>17-21)..   Is there any female out there who has also been tossed out of
>the Blackstone who might want to share a room?  Or...does anybody know of
>another (cheaper)hotel near the conference hotel ?
>
>Many thanks
>please reply off list.
>
>Carol Mayer
>
>
>
>Carol E Mayer, Ph.D
>Curator
>
>UBC Museum of Anthropology
>6393 NW Marine Dr.
>Vancouver, B.C. Canada
>V6T 1Z2
>
>Tel: (604) 822-8224
>Fax: (604) 822-2974
>
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