Loews Hotels & Resorts Buys Intercontinental Chicago O’Hare Hotel

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Making another move in the Midwest, Loews Hotels & Resorts signed a deal to acquire the InterContinental Chicago O’Hare Hotel, a 556-room hotel in Rosemont, Ill., just outside of Chicago.

Developed in 2008 by Harp Group Inc. at a cost of approximately $180 million, the Intercontinental Chicago fell victim to the credit crunch and ultimately, ended up in the hands of its lender just a few years later. The bank relied on commercial real estate services firm JLL to find a buyer for the property, which also features 53,000 square feet of meeting space and three restaurants. Neither the lender, nor JLL nor Loews is talking purchase price.

Loews is keen on location and the InterContinental Chicago is in the right place. Carrying the address of 5300 N. River Rd., the property sits across from the 840,000-square-foot Donald E. Stephens Convention Center and just a few miles from O’Hare Airport. And there are other sources behind the call for accommodations in the area.

“Although O’Hare International Airport acts as a primary demand driver, the recent revitalization of the Rosemont submarket has supported the area’s increasing lodging demand, including the new adjacent Fashion Outlets of Chicago and the lively nightlife at MB Financial Park,” as noted in a recent investor report by JLL.

News of the planned purchase of InterContinental Chicago comes just one month after Loews announced a deal to buy the 255-room Graves 601 Hotel Wyndham Grand in Minneapolis, from the Graves Hospitality Corp. Additionally, the 400-room Loews Chicago is scheduled for completion in February 15. The activity dovetails with Loews’s effort to substantially grow the size of its portfolio over the next few years and it fulfills a particular goal. Simply put, as Jonathan Tisch, chairman of Loews, said in a prepared statement, “The Midwest is an area where we were looking to increase our presence.”