Asia's luxurious hotel operator has officially stopped the further development of the Chicago property which was announced as its first US property in October 2005.

chicagorealestatedaily.com reported Shangri-La's statement: "Under the current economic environment, regrettably, the implementation of the hotel project has been suspended with no indication of when activities will resume," "Accordingly, (Shangri-La's U.S. subsidiary), in exercise of its contractual rights under the agreements, has served a notice on the developer terminating its contracts relating to this project."

The property was scheduled to open late 2009, however earlier this year there were already clear signs that a severe delay was expected. Now the plans are officially off the table.

Chicago-based Teng & Associates Inc. was not available for comments.

Earlier this year the Hong Kong based company pulled the plug for the NYC development for various reasons.

According to several newswires, Shangri-la is not the only one to walk away from the NYC hotel scene, Orient-Express Hotels from London pulled out of their NYC development last month as well.

Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts doesn't slow down their expansion drive with the recent signing of a new hotel in Moscow, Russia and opening of a resort in the Maldives.

The company also remains committed to its expansion plans in North America with the recent succesful opening of Vancouver Shangri-La.