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Report: Geller/Wanxiang America Real Estate JV gives up control of Chicago hotel

A joint venture between Chicago hotelier Laurence Geller and Wanxiang America Real Estate Group LLC handed over ownership of the troubled 60-story Waldorf Astoria Chicago hotel to a debt fund managed by real estate investment firm Walton Street Capital LLC through a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, Crain's Chicago Business reported, citing sources familiar with the property.

Walton Street has hired Atlanta-based investment sales brokerage Hodges Ward Elliott to sell the 215-room hotel at 11 E. Walton St., according to the report.

The Walton Street fund was a junior lender on the debt that the joint venture took out for its $111.9 million purchase of the hotel in 2015. It is not yet definite how much the fund is seeking for the property.

Crain's reported that the fund would need to sell it for more than the property's total debt, which consists of a $67 million senior loan from Wells Fargo, according to public records; and a mezzanine loan that Walton Street holds, of more than $90 million, sources familiar with the offering said.

In response to queries sent by the news publication about the hotel, a Geller spokesperson said in a statement that Geller Capital Partners sold the hotel in a private, off-market transaction earlier in 2019.

Meanwhile, spokespeople for Hodges Ward Elliott, Walton Street and Wanxiang, which is the real estate unit of Chinese automotive parts maker Wanxiang Group Corp., could not be reached for comment, the report noted.