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The St. Regis Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, United States · St. Regis · High Luxury
Jeanne Gang's Studio Gang shaped the 101-story, 1,198-foot St. Regis Chicago, the tallest building in the world designed by a woman and the city's third-tallest after Willis and Trump. Three interconnected volumes use blow-through floors and tuned mass dampers against lakefront wind. The St. Regis hotel fills the lower levels of the former Wanda Vista, renamed in 2020; hotel keys opened in 2023.
- 192 rooms
- Opened 2023
- Neighborhood: The Loop
- Rooms from 581 sq ft (54 m²)
- Architect: Jeanne Gang; Studio Gang
- Interiors: Rockwell Group
About The St. Regis Chicago
- At 1,198 feet and 101 stories it is Chicago's third-tallest building and the tallest structure worldwide designed by a woman.
- Magellan and Wanda developed the tower; Wanda later sold its stake and the name shifted to St. Regis Chicago in November 2020.
- Uninhabited blow-through floors and six tuned mass damper tanks reduce wind-induced sway on the three linked shafts.
- Hotel rooms occupy roughly the first ten floors (about 192 keys); condominiums rise from floor 11 upward.
- Ping An Bank's $700 million construction loan was reported as Chicago's largest such loan at the time.
History
The building that houses The St. Regis Chicago is, in itself, one of the most significant architectural achievements of the twenty-first century. The 101-story supertall at 401 East Wacker Drive — originally named the Vista Tower when construction commenced in 2016 — was designed by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects, making it the tallest structure in the world designed by a woman architect. Its 1,191 feet of sculpted, wave-inspired glass rise from the north bank of the Chicago River at the edge of the Lakeshore East neighborhood, commanding an unobstructed panorama that sweeps from the lakefront to the Loop and north toward Lincoln Park.
Gang's design philosophy is evident in the facade: stacked floor plates of varying width and rotation produce an undulating profile meant to evoke the movement of water, a deliberate echo of the river below and Lake Michigan to the east. The building contains residences in its upper floors and the hotel occupying floors three through nine, with the lobby, restaurants, and event spaces at the building's base. Rockwell Group handled the hotel's interior design, bringing the same layered materiality and urban sophistication they had applied to landmark hospitality projects across the country.
Construction moved steadily until the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted schedules and supply chains in 2020, pushing the opening later than originally planned. In November 2020 the tower's name was formally changed to The St. Regis Chicago, aligning the building's identity with the hotel brand before guests arrived. The hotel opened on May 15, 2023, introducing the St. Regis brand — and with it the Astor butler tradition, the nightly champagne sabrage, and the Bloody Mary lineage that traces back to the King Cole Bar in New York — to one of its most architecturally ambitious settings in the world.
The culinary lineup adds another dimension to the property's identity. On the eleventh floor, Miru offers all-day Japanese cuisine by chef Hisanobu Osaka, including sushi, sashimi, small plates, and a striking river terrace. On the second floor, Tre Dita brings chef Evan Funke's Florentine vision of handmade pasta and bistecca cooked over open wood fire — his first restaurant outside Los Angeles, drawing the same critical reverence that had made his Venice Beach namesake a reservation pilgrimage destination. Together, they make the St. Regis Chicago one of the city's most compelling hotel-dining destinations, anchored in a tower that already belongs to Chicago's architectural canon.
The setting
The St. Regis Chicago occupies a 101-story supertall at 401 East Wacker Drive, designed by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects and completed in 2020 as the tallest building in the world designed by a woman and Chicago's third-tallest skyscraper. The tower sits in Lakeshore East, a 28-acre master-planned community developed on former railroad yards near the confluence of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. The Riverwalk is seven minutes on foot, Millennium Park thirteen, Cloud Gate fourteen, and the Art Institute sixteen, placing guests at the edge of Chicago's most architecturally ambitious modern district, where record-setting towers and the city's greatest cultural spaces converge. 18 miles from O'Hare International Airport.
Restaurants and bars
- Miru — Restaurant · Japanese · Chef Hisanobu Osaka
- Tre Dita — Restaurant · Steakhouse · Chef Evan Funke
Amenities
- Indoor and outdoor pools; full fitness center
- Evening Champagne Sabrage and Afternoon Tea brand rituals
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- AAA Five Diamond (2026)
- Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star (2026)
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