New Owner Promises To Revive The Ambassador East's Pump Room

By Anna Deem in News on Apr 3, 2010 9:00PM

Ian Schrager, the co-founder of Studio 54 in New York, purchased the Ambassador East hotel (1301 N. State Parkway) and its renowned Pump Room restaurant this week in an approximately $25 million deal. Although the 285-room hotel hasn't been doing too well in recent years, Schrager has announced plans to renovate the hotel and restore the Pump Room to its old self. Currently, the Pump Room runs on a part-time basis and doesn't have a dinner menu or live entertainment.

Schrager recently told Crain's Chicagobusiness.com that he plans to keep the names of the hotel and restaurant. "If I don't do the right thing, I'll be run out of town on a rail--I know the way people of Chicago are," he told Crain's. According to sources, Schrager is receiving a $25 million loan from iStar Financial Inc., a New York-based firm that will share profits with him. [Chicago Sun-Times]