A Nine-Figure Restoration on a 1926 Building
IHG Hotels & Resorts states a $120 million restoration. Historic Hotels of America carries the same figure and dates the building's completion to June 1926. IBJ published 1925 as the building year in April 2024 and again in February 2025. The IHG release describes the building as 100 years old.
The capital figures moved with the schedule. IBJ carried a $101 million price in April 2024 and described a $110 million rehabilitation that began in 2018 in February 2025.
The Capital Path as the Schedule Moved
Keystone bought the Illinois Building in 2013, after Indiana Landmarks listed it among the state's most endangered properties. Three years later it secured Hyde Park Steakhouse and Giordano's Pizza as ground-floor retail tenants, and it was negotiating to place a Canopy by Hilton hotel on the upper floors. That deal fell through. Keystone announced the InterContinental project in 2018.
The same announcement covered the AT&T office tower at 220 N. Meridian Street. The two projects were expected to cost $141 million together. The city contributed $16.7 million through tax-increment financing. The Illinois Building was expected to cost about $61 million, with $80 million earmarked for the 220 Meridian apartment conversion, which opened its first apartments in 2022 and was set for full completion in 2025.
IBJ reported the renovation price jumped as Keystone pursued a high-end product for the city and as construction prices rose during the delays.
Where the Schedule Slipped
IBJ dates the opening to more than six years after Keystone first proposed using the former office building for a hotel, and attributes the wait to years of starts and stops related to the pandemic and to the company's efforts to maintain the building's historic significance. Work was originally set to start in late 2018 on a 12- to 14-month construction timeline. The start was delayed while Keystone finalised its incentive package and pursued a designation that would allow the use of redevelopment investment tax credits.
Keystone's senior director of communications, Alexandria Miller, said, "The pandemic and post COVID issues touched every industry and arguably hit hospitality the hardest." Structural work added time: elevator shafts had to be modified to meet modern code requirements, and the building required a complete overhaul of its plumbing and flooring systems.
The hotel's general manager, Michael Moros, said every piece of furniture, fixtures and equipment is custom, and that supply chains extended the design cycle for those pieces. He said three other InterContinental hotels were scheduled to open ahead of the Indianapolis property, and that all three faced similar issues.
The Added Floor
The restoration added an entire rooftop floor, and the building now stands 11 stories. IBJ reported the addition required shutting down part or all of Market Street for days at a time, with a massive crane on site. Miller said the addition would test engineering and creativity. Visit Indy's Chris Gahl placed the rooftop among the city features that draw special events, receptions and skyline views. IBJ counts 200 seats in the rooftop restaurant and cocktail lounge.
The Dates the 170 Rooms Could Sell
IHG dates the first welcome to February 20, 2025. IBJ places the public debut on Monday, February 24, 2025, and its April 2024 report had expected an October opening. A later IBJ report recorded the opening date as undetermined before the winter opening.
IBJ published the entry rates: a king room from $287, or $273 for IHG One Rewards members, and a one-bedroom luxury suite with city views from $737 a night, or $700 for members. The same report counted downtown inventory rising to 8,784 rooms in the month of the opening, with the Aloft Indianapolis opening at the other end of Market Street.
What the Delivery Record Leaves Undated
No source publishes the share of the $120 million restoration spent on the rooftop floor, the value of the redevelopment investment tax credits Keystone pursued, or a final split of the $141 million two-project package between the Illinois Building and 220 Meridian. The original construction start carries a late-2018 target and no published date on which work began.