The Essex on the Park development across the street from Grant Park is about to enter the fix-the-hotel phase of the project.

Ten months ago, Oxford Capital and Quadrum Global were given construction permits by the city to start work on the new 56-story residential tower that is rising next to the time-worn hotel. As you can see in the photo below, taken by YoChicago!‘s Joe Zekas from One Grant Park, work on the skyscraper is well underway.

Now the paperwork has been approved to begin upgrading the inn in what Oxford calls a “comprehensive redevelopment.”

INTERIOR RENOVATION/ALTERATIONS OF AN EXISTING 14 STORY HOTEL WITH 152FT IN HEIGHT WITH 256 GUEST ROOMS BEING INCREASED TO 274 ROOMS. THE SECOND AND THIRD FLOORS SPACES ARE BEING RECONFIGURED AS REQUIRED TO ACCOMMODATE HOITEL AMENITY, BACK OF HOUSE SPACES, AND ADDITIONAL ROOMS. THE OVERALL ROOM CONFIGURATIONS ARE REMAINING THE SAME WITH THE EXCEPTION OF 14 ADA COMPLIANT ROOMS TO RECEIVE APPROPRIATE BATHROOMS ACCOMMODATIONS AS PER PLANS

Oxford started making changes at the Essex Inn almost as soon as it bought the property a few years ago. It says the hotel is already beating its financial projections, and the Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture-designed residential tower is “primed for the accelerating downtown residential boom.”

When finished, the residential tower will bring 479 new homes to the South Loop, and a 60-foot-tall amenity space that will be open-air in the summer, and a winter garden in the colder months.