Thor Spot

Thor Equities LLC (New York) has acquired the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago from Hilton Hotels Corp.(Beverly Hills, Calif.) for $230 million.

Thor, which specializes in the acquisition and redevelopment of urban settings, will spend more than $100 million renovating the historic downtown hotel, including the creation of a retail center at the hotel’s base on State Street.

“The Palmer House is a welcome addition to Thor’s portfolio of properties,” said Thor ceo Joseph Sitt. “This historic site enjoys a reputation as one of America’s grandest and most-beloved hotels. We are excited by the opportunity to further improve its stature through a $100 million renovation that will add an exciting new retail wing to the base of the hotel.”

The Palmer House was built by wealthy Chicago entrepreneur Potter Palmer and completed on Sept. 26, 1871 — 13 days before The Great Chicago Fire burned it and most of the city to the ground. Two years later, it reopened across the street from its original site, the first hotel to be equipped with electric lights and telephones in each room.

The hotel’s classic architecture, in a city of classic architecture, is just one of the reasons to visit during VM+SD’s International Retail Design Conference (IRDC), Sept. 21-23 in Chicago’s Fairmont Hotel.