IL Chicago North Shore Renaissance North Shore

[AaronJB]

This is a '70's era property that used to be a Sheraton, but was remodeled and turned into a Renaissance probably a good 5-6 years ago. The outside of the property has not changed one bit, and looks like it did decades ago - it's not a bad look, but it's clearly rather dated in appearance. The insides have been given a bit of a boost; the lobby is more modern in appearance than the outside would suggest. The only issue - and nothing wrong with chess in the slightest - the presence of two giant chess pieces looming over the lobby is just kind of an odd fit; elements of the rest of the lobby have a light chess theme, but the remainder aside from the chess pieces is subtle enough so that you wouldn't notice initially if you weren't paying attention.

There are two towers, and some rooms do look out over the expressway. Rooms on the top couple of floors (7/8) should be able to see pretty far in the direction they're looking; there may not be a ton to see, but you can see far. Rooms that look out over the expressway may have some expressway noise, especially on the the lowest floors.

Rooms have a subtle, clean and pleasant look/style - they are also a bit bigger than average. There is not central air, and the window unit - while it works well - sounds like a vacuum cleaner running when on.

This property will have a pretty sizable renovation in the 2nd half of 2011 - it's not in bad shape as it is for a property that's probably near 40-years-old at this point (it's in better shape than the similarly-aged Doubletree in the nearby Evanston-Skokie zone), but some things could certainly be upgraded. Refrigerators will be added to the rooms, which will be a nice touch.

There is not much around this property, but Barnaby's Pizza - which is an institution in the area - is directly across the street. A Starbucks and Potbelly Sandwiches are just up the street a bit. If one is willing to drive about 5-10 minutes away North or West, there are quite a few other restaurant options.

Overall, this is a fine enough property (4* is a little bit of a stretch; a 3.5* would be more accurate), but with the options (Marriott Suites, Embassy Suites, Hyatt) at the 3.5*/4* level in the nearby Deerfield zone, that zone would be the first choice.