For roughly a century, an order of Dominican nuns from Ireland educated girls and young women inside an Italianate building with colonnaded galleries and a distinctive cupola steps from St. Charles Avenue.
Loyola University took over the building and surrounding campus in the 1980s, and while some buildings on the property were used to house Loyola’s law school, others ended up sitting vacant. Now, the school is planning to turn the iconic building and two other historic properties on the campus into a boutique hotel with a conference center, restaurant and bar.
The proposal, still in its early stages, includes a hotel with up to 100 guest rooms spread over 57,000 square feet in the 7200-7300 blocks of St. Charles. The iconic Dominican college building, called Greenville Hall, would house a conference center and hotel rooms on its second floor.
Two historic mansions in the 7300 block of St. Charles would have additional rooms and be connected by a new building, where most of the hotel would be located.
The goal of the project is to find a new use for the buildings that will serve the university, benefit the community and generate revenue for Loyola, developer Bill Hoffman of Woodward Interests told about 50 neighborhood residents Wednesday night at a meeting to unveil the project…