All Photos Courtesy © Adrian Gaut
The urban grit of Chicago is a stark contrast to the bucolic peace of the 8,000-acre citrus farm in Veracruz, Mexico, where hotelier Carlos Couturier spends much of his time. And yet there was something about the midwestern city that he found captivating. “Chicago is a unique city—probably the most American of them all,” he says. “It kind of lives inward and has a life of its own. It’s casual, practical, and humble.”
That was enough to convince him that a certain block straddling the city’s Wicker Park and Bucktown neighborhoods was the perfect location for the second and third U.S.-based properties of his hotel brand Grupo Habita. (Its stable includes 12 hotels in Mexico—including the beloved Condesa DF in Mexico City—as well as New York’s Hotel Americano.)
