Lake Point Tower Penthouse Owner Hit by South Side Foreclosures

The owner of the rooftop restaurant space in Chicago’s famous Lake Point Tower is facing nearly $25 million in foreclosures on a portfolio of properties across Chinatown and Bridgeport.

Jiazhao “Frank” Chen was hit with two foreclosure lawsuits in January and February, public records show. Lenders are seeking to seize 11 properties tied to $23.4 million in mortgage debts. The properties are mostly small multifamily buildings, including one with retail on the ground floor.

Chen owns several properties in Chinatown and the surrounding areas. He bought Cité, the shuttered restaurant at the top of the Lake Point Tower in 2022. Chen bought the restaurant and some commercial space out of a distressed property auction in 2022 for $4.68 million, edging out another bidder, Al Lofti, who owns a chain of Mexican restaurants in the Chicago suburbs and wanted to reopen Cité.

At the time, Chen also planned to open a new restaurant at the location, Crain’s reported. There’s no record of a new restaurant opening since then. Chen, who now faces distress across several rental properties, did not return a request for comment.

In one lawsuit brought Jan. 27 by RRM RE Holdings LLC, the lender alleges Chen’s entity stopped making payments on a $9 million mortgage in September 2025. Chen took out the mortgage for five properties in June 2024 from Hollywood, Florida-based lender Encore Finance, property records show. Encore transferred the debt to RRM in January, records show.

The distressed properties are rental buildings that range from one to four units, the lawsuit says. They included Bridgeport properties 3136 Lowe Avenue, 2714 Wallace Street and 3146 South Princeton Avenue, as well as 2258 West 35th Street in McKinley Park and 237 West Alexander Street in Chinatown.

Chen took out the mortgage on the properties after buying them in spring 2024, property records show. In some cases, the properties had existing mortgages on them.

Chen obtained many properties through quit claim deeds that don’t signal how much he paid. He paid $510,000 for 237 West Alexander Street.

On Friday, RRM asked the court to appoint Daniel Hyman as a receiver to take over the distressed properties, according to court filings.

A day before, another lender sued to foreclose on six of Chen’s properties with a $14.4 million mortgage, also from Encore Finance, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

Chen took out the mortgage under an LLC in November 2023, property records show. The lawsuit alleges he stopped making payments in October 2025.

Encore transferred the debt to Fidelity & Guarantee Life Mortgage Trust in December, according to property records.

The properties, largely in Chinatown, included 234 and 238 West Alexander Street, 2401-2403 South Wentworth Avenue, and 225 West 24th Street, as well as 3030 South Lyman Street and 3032 South Canal Street in Bridgeport.

Chen owned the properties when he took out the mortgage and had previous first mortgages on some of them, records show. He paid between $580,000 and $1 million for five of the properties. He spent $3.3 million for 2401-2403 South Wentworth Avenue, which includes retail and rental units, property records show.