Story from Crain's:
The New York investment firm that recently took over the Allerton Hotel has put the property back on the market, the latest twist in the battle to control the Michigan Avenue landmark.What ritzy hotel brand might be interested in having a place right off the "Magnificent Mile" and right up the street is the Drake Hotel as well.
Petra Capital Management LLC, which took ownership of the Allerton after an auction in late June, has hired Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman to solicit buyers for the 443-room hotel, confirms Mark Gordon, executive vice-president, principal and head of the New York brokerage’s U.S. lodging group.
“We’re going to be marketing through the month of July, and we anticipate an aggressive transaction,” he says.
Mr. Gordon declines to discuss pricing, but a person familiar with the property says Petra is hoping to sell the Allerton for $79 million to $80 million, not much less than the $84 million that the previous owner, San Francisco-based Chartres Lodging Group LLC, paid for it at the peak of the market in 2006.
The price will determine whether Petra, the hotel’s former junior lender, can recoup its investment and avoid a legal confrontation with DiamondRock Hospitality Co., a Maryland-based real estate investment trust that bought the senior loan on the Allerton in May.
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The Allerton does have one advantage: Because it’s not part of a big chain, the hotel offers buyers the opportunity to own a prominent property outright, rebrand it and sign a management agreement with a major hotel operator.
“I can’t remember the last time a North Michigan Avenue hotel has been available fee simple and unencumbered by management and franchise agreements,” Mr. Gordon says.
I just saw the Wiki article on The Allerton. Tip, Top, Tap was for the lounge that was closed in 1961.
