Investor Snags Suburban Chicago Hotel at 50% Discount

A closed hotel once poised for rebranding has changed hands following a contentious foreclosure, the latest twist in a stretch of hospitality distress tied to the collapse of corporate travel.

A venture led by Oak Brook investor Deepak Paul Khanna acquired the Crowne Plaza Chicago-Northbrook, a 318-key hotel near the former Allstate headquarters at 2875 North Milwaukee Avenue, after placing the winning $6.5 million bid in a foreclosure sale, Crain’s reported. That’s half what it sold for four years ago. The price is $20,440 per key.

The deal was approved this week by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Edward Robles, nearly a year after Stearns Bank initiated foreclosure proceedings against the hotel’s former owner, Bohjani Capital. The Texas-based firm defaulted on a $10 million loan ($31,446 per key) tied to the property.

Bohjani, in partnership with the late investor Minhas Ladiwalla, acquired the hotel in July 2021 for nearly $13 million, originally planning to convert it to a Delta Hotel by Marriott. But that strategy faltered when Allstate exited its 186-acre campus, killing off one of the hotel’s key pipelines for group bookings and corporate business. The rebrand was scrapped, and the property remained a Crowne Plaza until it closed earlier this year.

Ladiwalla had a personal guarantee on the loan, and his property management company Mid-Continent Hospitality operated the property. But Ladiwalla died in 2023, complicating the ownership and borrowing structure.

Bohjani’s foreclosure defense included accusations that Stearns had “improperly manipulated” the sale and pre-arranged a transfer to Khanna’s venture, allegations the bank denied.

Khanna is a managing director at IT and talent solutions firm Axiom Technology Group and a former executive at Millennium Bank.

This is the second major hotel in the area to trade under financial distress in the past year. In March 2024, the Hilton Chicago Northbrook, just across the street, was seized by Linchris Hotel Corporation after its longtime owners defaulted on $34 million in mortgage debt.

Chicago’s full-service hotels have been among the slowest to recover since the pandemic, especially those that leaned heavily on business travel.

Recent suburban hotel sales, including the Westin Chicago North Shore and Hyatt Regency Deerfield, have closed at significant discounts to past valuations and replacement cost amid persistent operational headwinds.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the role of Mid-Continent Hospitality at the Northbrook property and clarify that Bohjani Capital was its previous owner in partnership with Minhas Ladiwalla.

— Judah Duke