The Nobu Hotel in Chicago’s West Loop has finally broken ground. Chicago-based Modif Architecture now leads the project with Chicago-based Booth Hansen, who has worked with Nobu Chicago for some time. Local firm Studio K will see to the building’s interior design.

Despite calls to curtail the hotel’s height to eight stories, the building is now due to top out at ten floors. It will house 103 rooms, along with an indoor swimming pool, lounge, 10,000-square-foot restaurant, private event space, and rooftop bar. 

However, to realize the project, developers Nobu will have to alter their applications regarding the building’s density under Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Neighborhood Opportunity Bonus scheme. Essentially, by purchasing a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 3.1, zoning classification for the site can potentially be changed from a C1-5 to a DX-5. Revenue from the sale will be placed into a fund that goes toward investment in Chicago’s poorer neighborhoods. Mayor Emanuel, however, will have the ultimate say on what neighborhoods this money goes to.

Despite a completion date penned for 2017, the new Planned Development application will of course have to be approved. That said, this could prove tricky as opposers of the project from the Neighbors of the West Loop (NOWL) continue to voice concern over the building’s height as well as the project’s valet parking plan.