Purple Hotel set to begin demolition next week

BY NATALIE HAYES For Sun-Times Media August 21, 2013 8:14PM

The Purple Hotel, at Touhy and Lincoln Avenue in Lincolnwood, in 2006. | Sun-Times Media files

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Updated: August 21, 2013 11:07PM

The Purple Hotel is set to finally begin demolition next week, ending the notorious hotels tenure at the intersection of Touhy and Lincoln avenues in Lincolnwood.

During Tuesdays Lincolnwood Village Board meeting, Skokie-based North Capital Group LLC, which acquired the property for $8.3 million out of bankruptcy last year, announced that demolition will begin the week of Aug. 26.

Neil Stein, principal of North Capital Group, said he was waiting for the village to issue a demolition permit and would start bringing wrecking equipment to the site Monday pending the issuance of that permit.

Stein has said that the ultimate goal for the site is to transform it into an avid destination, providing a general idea of the redevelopment plan, which includes a mixed-use space with retail, office, residential and hotel areas.

The destruction of the Purple Hotel marks the end of an era in Lincolnwood, stretching more than 50 years for North Shore residents who remember attending parties, weddings, bar mitzvahs and conventions at the hotel back when it was the go-to hot spot for social gatherings.

Its parking lot was the ambush site of mobster Allen Dorfman in 1983.

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Purple Hotel set to begin demolition next week