Hong Kong-based hotel group Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts will open hotels in Miami in 2008 and Chicago in 2009 as part of its North American expansion, it was announced this week.
The 147-room Shangri-La Hotel, Miami, located on Biscayne Bay, will form part of a $480m mixed-use Island Gardens project including a 50-slip "super-yacht" harbour, sophisticated shops, restaurants, galleries and gardens.
Designed by concept architects Eric Kuhne and Associates, with interiors by renowned designer Piero Lissoni and Associati, the hotel will be shaped like a stylised lighthouse.
Shangri-La will also manage 105 Living Shangri-La residences on the top floors of the tower. These spacious two-four-bedroom suites will be privately owned but periodically will be available to hotel guests.
The Shangri-La Hotel, Chicago, will open in early 2009 in the new Waterview Tower located along the Chicago River at the corner of West Wacker Drive and Clark Street.
The 200-room hotel will be on floors 12 through 27 of the 90-storey tower, within walking distance of the Magnificent Mile, Millennium Park, Lake Michigan, and the city's central business district.
Guests at both hotels will have round-the-clock butler service, wireless internet access, luxurious bathrooms and Shangri-La's signature beds and bed linen.
Report by Beverley Fearis
