A boutique hotel catering to LGBTQ+ visitors is planned for the former Yoshi’s Cafe spot in Northalsted.
The six-story hotel building would have 51 rooms, a rooftop pool, a restaurant and a basement speakeasy, according to plans submitted to Ald. Bennett Lawson’s office (44th Ward). Designed by Jonathan Splitt Architects, the hotel would feature a series of colored panels that create a rainbow along its exterior.
The hotel would replace the two-story building at 3257 N. Halsted St. that housed Yoshi’s cafe until it closed in 2021, as well as an adjacent one-story building.
Allan O’Brien, owner of the Men’s Room Chicago at 3343 N. Halsted St., is behind the hotel’s plans, along with his two business partners, Andreas Campbell and Bob Sievers. Campbell lives nearby in Northalsted, while Sievers is from Andersonville.
“We’re super excited about this project,” O’Brien told Windy City Times. “There’s a huge need in the community for people visiting Northalsted to have a place to stay that’s LGBTQ+-positive, and we’re trying to meet that.”
To move forward with the project, O’Brien and the other developers are requesting a zoning change from C1-3 to C1-5, which would allow for the number of hotel rooms needed to make the project economically viable, O’Brien said.
The first floor would feature the hotel’s lobby and restaurant, according to the development’s plans. Guests would enter the lobby from Aldine Avenue, while the restaurant and entrance to the basement speakeasy would be along Halsted Street.
The next four floors will house the hotel rooms, with 13 rooms per floor except for the fifth floor, which will have 12 rooms, according to plans. The rooms overlooking the corner of Halsted and Aldine will have private balconies.
The top floor will have a rooftop bar, pool and cabanas, according to plans.
“Although this is a hotel, we’re really thinking of this as an entertainment space,” O’Brien said. “So the pool, speakeasy and restaurant will be open to our community so residents in the area can also benefit from this.”
Because the hotel will replace the former Yoshi’s Cafe location, O’Brien said the developers are working on doing something with the new project to honor the restaurant’s decades of business in the neighborhood and the late Yoshi Katsumura, who founded the restaurant in 1982 with his wife, Nobuko Katsumura.
“Nobuko and Yoshi have done so many great things for this community that we really want to make sure we integrate them into this project somehow, whether that’s in the restaurant or in some other way—we’re not sure yet,” O’Brien said.
The project has already received support from the local neighborhood association, Heart of Lake View Neighbors, according to Lawson’s office. But approvals are still needed from Lawson, the Committee on Zoning and City Council. Lawson’s office is still collecting feedback on the proposal.
After approval, the hotel’s construction could take about 18 months with the goal of opening in Summer 2027, O’Brien said.