Final Abbott Hotel Residents Leaving This Week, Construction Begins

After months rumors and a public protest, the Abbott Hotel will be officially vacated this week to make way for a structural overhaul.

Representatives with Ald. Tom Tunney’s (44th) office say the final three residents at the single room occupancy hotel at 721 W. Belmont Ave. are being relocated this week. There were once 100 low-income and at-risk individuals who lived at the Abbott.

The hotel’s vacancy comes at the same time construction is slated to begin, according to a City of Chicago building permit. The details show crews plan to demolish the interior walls, doors, windows and plumbing fixtures on all four floors of the 84-unit building.

It’s estimated that work will cost roughly $45,000.

However, that’s a drop in the bucket compared the $4.3 million BJB Partners LLC paid for the building in August. BJB’s principal Jamie Purcell and his architect with Forma Architecture could not immediately comment on the project.

Purcell’s company has a history of securing and rehabbing SRO housing units, as he recently did with the Sheffield House at 3834 N. Sheffield Ave. and the Bel-Air Hotel, 424 W. Diversey Ave. It is also rumored Purcell is the new owner of the Chateau Hotel on North Broadway, another SRO being gut-rehabbed.

Activisits with the Lakeview Action Coalition protested the purchase and relocation of Abbott’s residents, as they did multiple times when Chateau was purchased. They say the disappearing SROs on the North Side leave low-income residents with few places to turn.

Read More about the Abbott Hotel:

• Organization Demands Impromptu Meeting at Tunney’s Restaurant (PHOTOS)