Ian Schrager Launches Public Chicago

The future of Ambassador East Hotel and The Pump Room

Ian Schrager wants his new hotel to be a cross between Trader Joe’s and the best host you’ve ever encountered.

Let’s explain. By now we all know that Mr. Schrager, an internationally renowned developer in the hospitality and entertainment industries, has undertaken the task of breathing new life into the venerable Ambassador East Hotel. The stately brick building at the corner of State and Goethe dates to 1926 and once, along with its famed The Pump Room, played frequent host to everyone from Frank Sinatra to Natalie Wood to David Bowie. The hotel is about to get the facelift of a lifetime as the launch pad for Mr. Schrager’s new hotel brand, Public, which promises to bring “an aesthetic that cannot be classified because it is so personal.”

Okay…but what does that actually mean for the hotel’s eventual guests, who’ll surely come running when Public Chicago debuts in September? That’s what we aimed to find out when Mr. Schrager was in town recently to launch a naming contest for the hotel’s new restaurant. He tells us he was inspired by retailers like Apple and Trader Joe’s, where extraneous, superficial frills are eliminated in favor of highly personalized, value-driven customer service and satisfaction. “It’s not luxury service or limited service, it’s what you need,” he says. “Why not do that at a hotel – offer great value and get away from this over-the-top design? Do it very tasteful, no less glamorous, but simple. Like writing a short story instead of a long story.” (Preview rates are listed at $135.)

The hotelier promises a property that will cater to locals as well as visitors; he envisions the lobby Living Room and Library concepts engaging people like a 1950s coffee shop throughout the day, while the Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten-helmed restaurant will keep them coming after dark. “A hotel can’t be successful unless it captures the spirit of the people of the city,” says Mr. Schrager, who’s already familiar with our kind of town – after all, he’s married to a Chicagoan – and notes that Chicago is a must-include location when launching a major brand. “When people go to a hotel, they want to go where the people in the know go. It has to be a Chicago hotel, and it has to be embraced by the people of the city of Chicago.” Somehow, we don’t see that being a problem.

Tagged as: Ambassador East Hotel, Public Chicago, The Pump Room and hotel