The Chicago Plan Commission approved on Thursday a plan by a veteran developer to plant a 26-story hotel several blocks south of the Obama Presidential Center, now under construction in Woodlawn.
The $100 million tower at 6402 S. Stony Island Ave. will fill in vacant lots, provide badly needed jobs to Woodlawn residents, and help ensure some of the money spent by the Obama center’s thousands of annual visitors stays in the community, said Allison Davis, the lawyer and developer who has owned the property for years.
“They’ve got to stay somewhere, because they will come from all over the country and the world to see this magnificent addition to the South Side,” Davis told commission members. “What I’m trying to do is go places other people don’t go and make the neighborhood better, and this is certainly an example of that.”
Construction crews broke ground on the 19-acre Obama center campus in Jackson Park on the 6000 block of Stony Island Avenue in 2021, and will complete the work by next spring. Davis was senior partner and co-founder of the law firm today known as Miner, Barnhill & Galland, where Barack Obama began his legal career.
The proposed hotel, just north of Island Terrace Apartments and designed by Stantec Architecture, could have up to 256 rooms and provide between 100 and 120 permanent jobs. But Aquinnah Investment Trust, Davis’ company, still needs a green light from the City Council, including approval to purchase a small slice of city-owned land along 64th Street, the project’s northern edge.
The city’s planning staff supports the land sale. But members of UNITE-HERE, Local 1, Chicago’s hotel and restaurant workers union, told commission members they were neutral on Davis’ proposal. They said it’s difficult to afford apartments throughout much of the city, including Woodlawn, and they want Davis to sign an agreement guaranteeing good wages and benefits.
“I couldn’t believe how much rent went up in the city while I was in the service,” said John Henry, a military veteran and union worker on Navy Pier. “We need the developer to make a real commitment to higher wages so we don’t get priced out. It’s easy to make promises but we want it in writing.”
DLA Piper’s Richard Klawiter, Davis’ attorney, did not give any guarantees during the meeting, but said Davis wanted to help ensure Woodlawn residents got their share of the dollars coming into the community.
“People should be able to work where they live,” Klawiter said. “That’s our goal.”
Other neighborhood representatives said they strongly supported Davis’ proposal.
“Anyone who has ever driven down Stony Island knows the energy needs to change,” said Val Free, executive director of the Neighborhood Network Alliance,
Free and others pointed out that before Woodlawn was hit in the 1970s by disinvestment and decline, Stony Island Avenue was a community hub lined with hotels.
“The land has been vacant for many years,” said Chicago resident Butler Adams. “I just see this (project) as replacing what has already been lost in the neighborhood.”
The hotel room shortage is likely to get worse after the Obama center opens next year and a flood of visitors hits the South Side, said Jonathan Trey Scott, director of real estate development for the South Shore Chamber of Commerce.
“This is a project that’s definitely needed,” he said.
If approved, Davis will still need to find a hotel operator, along with investors and lenders willing to back the project, Klawiter said.
“It’s not easy to jump-start projects on the South Side of the city,” he said. “That’s not right, but it’s the reality. Mr. Davis is a developer, but he’s not made of cash, so he will need investors.”
Originally Published: August 21, 2025 at 4:27 PM CDT