Nubani Bros Foreclosing on Expansive’s Loop Coworking

A pair of Chicago wholesale heirs are holding all the cards in a dispute over a troubled Loop co-working spot.

The Nubani brothers, along with their partner, Torrence and Sibley, LLC, filed a lawsuit last week to foreclose on the 43,000-square-foot building at 73 West Monroe Street, alleging that flex-office provider Expansive and its founder, Bill Bennett, defaulted on a loan that has ballooned to over $6.1 million.

But the plaintiffs aren’t your typical vulture fund. The entities are controlled by Sameer “Sam” and Nader Nubani, scions of the Nubani Distributors Chicago wholesaling empire. Known in the sports memorabilia collectibles world as the “Candy Brothers,” the duo built a reputation not just on their father’s snacks business, but on amassing legendary sports card troves, including rare autographed Michael Jordan items that trade for small fortunes.

According to the complaint filed Jan. 7 in Cook County Circuit Court, the Nubanis acquired the property’s underlying mortgage debt from Old National Bank in April. The original $7.3 million note, secured by the vintage office building, matured in October 2022 allegedly without repayment. Bennett and Expansive struck a series of forbearance agreements with the lender to withhold regular loan payments, but the last one expired at the end of 2024 and the balance was still almost fully unpaid, according to court filings.

Torrence and Sibley is registered to an investor named Soufian Abdelkader, who has frequently partnered on Chicago real estate deals with the Nubanis, records show. Neither brother nor an attorney representing Torrence and the brothers returned requests for comment.

Abdelkader’s entity appears to invest two-thirds of the equity in the trio’s transactions, while the Nubani brothers invest one-third, records show. They’ve made a handful of deals over the past few years for Cook County property, using the same LLCs that are now pursuing the foreclosure in the Loop, public records show. The deals include taking out several mortgages last year for about $5 million apiece, for industrial real estate in towns such as Orland Park and Alsip.

Perhaps most notably, records show the brothers, along with Torrence and Sibley, acquired the five-story, 29,000-square-foot office and retail property at 200 East Ohio Street for $2.9 million in July 2024, and resold it for $4.8 million in December 2024, records show.

Their foreclosure suit hits Bennett where it hurts most: the cradle of his co-working empire. The five-story building at 73 West Monroe is the birthplace of Expansive, whose website shows it still has dozens of locations in the U.S.

Yet this is far from Expansive’s first bout with financial distress. In 2024, it surrendered the four-story, 31,000-square-foot building at 420 West Huron Street in River North to lender Amos Financial via deed in lieu of foreclosure. Expansive has also faced foreclosures in Houston, Denver and elsewhere.

Bennett bought the Monroe Street building in 2012 to launch what was then Level Office, turning it into the first outpost of a chain that would eventually span the country.

Weeks before the Loop loan’s October 2022 maturity, the property was listed for sale with brokerage Greenstone Partners. The asking price was $7.6 million — roughly $142 per square foot — a figure that would have barely cleared the debt. But the market didn’t bite, drawing no purchasers.

Now, the “Candy Brothers” are playing for keeps. In a move signaling they are ready to take title, the plaintiffs shelled out nearly $907,000 to pay off delinquent property taxes for 2022 through 2024 to preserve their collateral, their lawsuit says.

Bennett is personally named as a defendant and guarantor, meaning the Nubanis could come after him for the full deficiency. It’s a harsh blow for the CEO, whose firm was once a darling of the co-working craze before the office market soured.

It’s unclear how much the Nubanis paid to snap up the distressed note. Also unknown is their endgame for the property. Are they planning a pivot to another commercial use, perhaps a showroom for their collectibles? Or planning on trying to revive it as an office building?

Time will tell as the foreclosure lawsuit plays out in court, with online legal records showing the case will be heard next at 10:30 a.m. July 6 in courtroom 2803 in the Richard J. Daley Center.