Anthony Beach has been named GM of Sophy Hyde Park, the new 98-room boutique hotel currently under construction in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. Located close to the site of the future Barack Obama Presidential Library, Sophy is scheduled to open in summer 2018.
Beach, who grew up on Chicago’s South Side, is a 20-year veteran of the hospitality industry. He was most recently GM of the Hyatt Place Chicago-South/University Medical Center, a Hyde Park hotel managed by Olympia Hotel Management. During his tenure, he was honored as the Hyatt Select Service Manager of the Year in 2015. A resident of Hyde Park for the past 12 years, Beach previously worked at Conrad, Swissôtel and Hilton properties in Chicago.
“Hyde Park is a Chicago treasure, in the midst of an exciting renaissance, and a place that’s near and dear to me professionally and personally,” Beach said in a statement. “Sophy is already an integral part of this vibrant neighborhood. I’m looking forward to working with the Hyde Park community to create this groundbreaking hotel and adding to the fabric of Chicago’s legendary neighborhood.”
When it opens in summer 2018, Sophy will partner with Hyde Park by actively supporting local institutions and youth programs. Some of the initiatives are already underway. High school art students from Hyde Park Academy High School, which counts Anthony Beach among its graduates, are busy creating murals that will be installed at the building site at 53rd Street and Dorchester Avenue. The murals, based on themes of Hyde Park's intellectual, artistic and cultural innovation, provide a public platform for the students to express themselves collectively through art and will serve as an outdoor gallery while the construction is being completed. Sophy has provided all of the materials and supplies and will transfer the art works to a medium suitable for outdoor display. An installation ceremony will be held this winter.
Located at 53rd Street and Dorchester Avenue on Chicago’s South Side, close to the University of Chicago campus and the Museum of Science and Industry, Sophy will include a full service restaurant with al fresco dining, a bar and a fitness center. It is a Preferred Lifestyle Hotel, designed as a four-diamond property and engineered to achieve LEED Silver certification. Developed by The Olympia Companies and Smart Hotels, the property will be managed by Olympia Hotel Management.
Olympia Hotel Management is part of The Olympia Companies, which deals in real estate development, equity and hospitality management projects throughout the U.S. Smart Hotels develops eco-friendly campus hotels and mixed-use projects at prominent universities and medical centers around the country.