Construction stops on Duke Miglin hotel
(Crain's) — With unpaid bills from contractors piling up, construction has stopped on a 206-room hotel in River North being built by a joint venture including Duke Miglin.
Rendering of hotel planned for 127 W. Huron St., which was designed by Valerio Dewalt Train Associates. |
Chicago-based Walsh Construction, the general contractor on the 17-story building at 127 W. Huron St., pulled out of the project about two weeks ago, according to sources familiar with the situation. On June 30, Chicago-based CMC Organization LLC, which was hired to handle interior and exterior work on the hotel and serve as the project's construction manager, filed four liens against the property totaling $1.2 million.
It is the latest financial snag for Mr. Miglin, who recently lost a foreclosure suit involving a West Loop building where he had planned a retail development.
Related story: Duke Miglin on the hook for more than $1 million
Mr. Miglin, son of cosmetics entrepreneur Marilyn Miglin and late real estate developer Lee Miglin, formed a joint venture with Georgia-based Dellisart Lodging LLC to develop the River North building, which would be operated as a Staybridge Suites extended-stay hotel. The developers broke ground in January 2007 after securing a $43.1-million construction loan from Maryland-based lender CapitalSource Inc.
The status of the CapitalSource loan is unclear. When a developer runs out of money in the middle of a project it's usually a sign that the loan is out of balance and the lender has stopped advancing funds to pay for construction. But a CapitalSource spokesman says "the loan is fine."
Mr. Miglin and Dellisart and Walsh executives did not return phone calls Tuesday afternoon. A CMC representative declines to comment.
The developers expected to complete the hotel this summer, but all that stands there now is a 17-story concrete shell that showed no signs of life Tuesday afternoon.
