HOSPITALITY BOOM! Chicago Hotel and Investment

John is the Founder, President and CEO of Oxford Capital Group, LLC, a national real estate investment and development firm focusing on large scale hospitality, mixed-use, senior housing, multifamily, urban retail, parking, and other operationally intensive forms of real estate. Oxford Hotels & Resorts, LLC, its wholly owned management affiliate, specializes in developing, operating and branding distinctive, high design lifestyle hotels, rooftops and other food & beverage venues around the country. Oxford, its affiliates and principals have been involved in approximately $3 billion of transactions, including approximately 13,000 hotel rooms. Noted national projects include Godfrey Hotel-Hollywood, Godfrey Hotel-Boston, Metropolitan Hotel and Lexington Hotel – New York City, National Conference Center-Lansdowne, VA, Residence Inn and Spring Hill Suites in Charleston, SC, and Godfrey Hotel & Cabanas-Tampa Bay. Included in his 17 Chicago area projects (13 of which are hotels) are the recently topped off 56 story Essex on the Park luxury apartment building, and his soon to open Hotel Julian-Millennium Park. Other Chicago projects include Langham Chicago, LondonHouse Chicago, Godfrey Chicago, Hotel Essex, Hotel Felix, Hotel Cass, Hotel Versey, Claridge House, Hyatt Magnificent Mile, Renaissance North Shore, Doubletree North Shore, and Hyatt House Northwest. Additional rooftop and food and beverage venues include IO, LH, SX-Sky Bar, ALK, WTR and Spa Boutique. John and/or Oxford have been nominated for and/or won numerous awards including: Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Arthur Rubloff Humanitarian Award, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Crain’s “40 under 40” and Who’s Who, Developer of the Year, Development of the Year, Redevelopment of the Year, National Hotel Transaction of the Year, Historic Redevelopment of the Year and the Top Hotel in the Continental US. He earned a BA from The University of Michigan and an MBA from University of Chicago. He also studied at Northwestern University, Harvard Business School (YPO’s Presidents’ Program) and Oxford University (Christ Church).

Mr. Franzen is a commercial real estate and hospitality professional with over 20 years of experience spanning acquisitions, development, operations, asset management, and branding. Mr. Franzen is currently the President of Graduate Hotels for AJ Capital Partners in Chicago, Illinois. In that role, Mr. Franzen leads a team of 40 people, including experts and professionals in such disciplines as branding and marketing, graphic design, food and beverage, sales and revenue management, interior design, project management, real estate transactions, asset management, and accounting, in the execution of AJ Capital Partners’ strategic plan to grow the Graduate Hotels brand across the U.S. Mr. Franzen is a graduate of DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana and holds a Juris Doctorate degree from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, Illinois.

Gene Kornota co-founded Chicago-based Rebel Hospitality (formerly Neighborhood Development Corporation) in 1988 and has been leveraging his vision and development expertise ever since. Gene has overseen the design of over 16 independent boutique and brand hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues in Chicago, Memphis and Phoenix. As a Principal of Rebel Hospitality, Gene focuses much of his attention on the design, planning, engineering, creative, and branding portions of the business. He is integrally involved in each and every facet from conception, vision and branding. Gene has an ear to the ground and an astute understanding of what consumers are looking for – combined with his knowledge of current trends, Gene creates hotels full of imagination. Gene speaks on many industry panels and at trade shows on the topic of boutique hotel development, investment and design. Under Gene’s leadership, virtually every property and outlet has received multiple industry, press and consumer awards and accolades for spectacular design as well as innovative extra’s. Gene’s philosophy is all about surprising and delighting guests.

Recognized as one of the leading real estate experts in Chicago for his development, advisory and management skills, Mr. Murphy has been on the real estate scene since 1989. As President of Murphy Asset Management, LLC, he develops corporate opportunities, advances company initiatives and serves as a principal and advisor to institutional clients. He also leads development initiatives and has been involved in various equity syndications for the acquisition and repositioning of assets across the United States. Primarily as a principal and owner, Mr. Murphy has been involved in, and in most cases, led the development and repositioning of several million feet throughout the Midwest and East Coast. His recent notable accomplishments include Lincoln Park 2550, a prestigious three-tower, 219-unit luxury condominium development in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood; the Hyatt Centric “The Loop” Chicago,” a redevelopment of 100 W. Monroe, a 183,275 square foot historic office high-rise in Chicago into a 257-room, full-service hotel; the 88,000 square foot redevelopment of the Chicago Motor Club building at 68 E. Wacker into a 143-room, select-service Hampton Inn; and a 237,200 square foot redevelopment of the Oriental Theater Building at 32 W. Randolph into a 199 room Cambria suites hotel. He is also actively involved in the development of a 227-acre private marina and beach resort on Lake Erie in Ohio. Over the years, Mr. Murphy has also brokered high-profile properties such as the development site at 155 North Wacker and 200 West Jackson. Other notable past achievements include successfully leasing several Chicago properties such the Citadel Center, 200 North LaSalle and 230 West Monroe. Mr. Murphy received his bachelor’s degree from John Carroll University in Ohio. He is an active member of the Building Owners & Managers Association, the Urban Land Institute and the Executive Club of Chicago. In addition to participating in various civic organizations, he also serves as Trustee for the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and is co-chair of the buildOn organization (formerly Building with Books).

Wesley Prato, CPA, is an audit partner in the Firm’s Commercial Real Estate Industry Practice and leads the Southwest Region in this area. Based in CohnReznick’s Chicago office, he has 16 years of experience in public accounting, providing client services in the areas of audit, review, and other financial reporting needs. This experience includes working with developers, hospitality owners and private equity investors of companies in the commercial real estate industry. Wes specializes in the commercial real estate and hospitality industries serving both real estate operators and real estate investment funds. He is responsible for planning the engagements, supervising staff, and coordinating all fieldwork. Other responsibilities on these engagements include determining audit scope, selecting procedures to be applied, establishing budgets, reviewing work papers, identifying audit issues, communicating with clients, and preparing financial statements or reports. In addition, Wes takes an active role in working with his clients to plan and brainstorm on ways to get the next project from concept to development. Wes has participated nationally within the Firm in developing audit programs and techniques specifically tailored to auditing commercial real estate and hospitality entities. He has also leads internal training classes on commercial real estate and often speaks on panels focused in the industry.

Dawn M. Lurie is recognized in the legal community as a sophisticated and forward thinking immigration compliance authority and EB-5 investment strategist. She focuses on visa, workforce, and global mobility issues. Dawn is proud to be considered a trusted partner to corporate clients and is relied on for her ability to spot impending government enforcement trends. Her deftness in balancing business necessity with regulatory reality is also highly valued. When advising clients, Dawn presents creative, yet compliant, solutions and identifies issues long before they become problematic. Her practice includes a range of cases, from routine to the most complex, involving: Visa processing (including naturalization, residency and security issues) Immigration compliance (including Form I-9 and E-Verify related matters) EB-5 foreign investment (including representation of regional centers, investors, project developers, overseas agent as well as targeted due diligence services) Dawn has represented clients in the EB-5 program since the early years of the program’s inception, in the 1990s. Her experience has evolved over the last two decades as the EB-5 program progressed from an obscure means of obtaining U.S. residency, to a viable mechanism of funding a significant portion of the capital stack for large-scale projects and infrastructure building across industries. Attending EB-5 Board Hearings in D.C. and participating in the stakeholder conversation process with the agencies for many years, provides her clients with a unique Washington perspective. Dawn’s Form I-9 and E-Verify experience is nationally recognized. By developing and managing corporate immigration compliance programs, including training and internal audit components, she minimizes exposure and liability, saving her clients millions of dollars. Dawn assists federal government contractors in meeting the FAR mandatory E-Verify compliance rules and flow-down clause. In addition, she regularly advises on immigration compliance issues in mergers, acquisitions, and contracting relationships. She represents companies in Immigration and Customs Enforcement matters and defends those facing government investigations including ones initiated by the DOL or DOS. Her experience also includes representing colleges and universities with SEVIS related issues as well as with routine compliance planning. Dawn is consistently able to negotiate favorable settlements and resolve even the most adversarial of matters because of her solution oriented approach and her ability to work cohesively with government agencies.