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Who Owns the Congress Hotel?

  • The Congress Plaza Hotel was built in 1893 to host visitors to the Columbia World’s Exposition. In 1987, the Pick family sold the hotel for $14 million to a limited partnership called 520 S. Michigan Avenue Associates. The partnership included New York investors Albert Nasser and Ivor Braka.1
  • The purchase was financed with a $12 million mortgage from Republic Bank of New York.2 In 1991, the mortgage was assigned to Garland Business Corp., a Panamanian corporation controlled by Albert Nasser’s first cousin, Albert Nasser Shayo.3 In 1994, the mortgage was assigned to Nyrel Holdings, a British Virgin Islands international corporation that is also controlled by Albert Nasser Shayo.4 As of 1999, the hotel’s debt to Nyrel totaled $48.2 million.5
  • Albert Nasser Shayo lives in Argentina. He has been involved in other business transactions with Albert Nasser, as in 1997 when a company controlled by Shayo bought substantially all the assets of Forward Holdings, an apparel company controlled by Albert Nasser that had filed Chapter 11 Reorganization.6
  • Nasser's residence in Switzerland ...and Fifth Ave ...
    Albert Nasser is the chairman of 520 S. Michigan Avenue Associates, and owned a majority stake in the hotel when it reorganized in 1998. Nasser was born in Syria in 1926. He maintains two residences, one in Geneva, Switzerland, and one on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Nasser is a principal in several companies that manufacture, import and distribute apparel for sale in the US. These products, which include children’s clothing, swimwear and undergarments, have been produced in Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Jordan Egypt, Haiti, Guatemala and Nicaragua.7
  • One of Nasser’s apparel entities, Gelmart Industries, claims to be the world’s largest privately-held manufacturer of ladies undergarments, and has provided products to discount retailers such as Wal-Mart and K-Mart. In March and November of 2004, UNITE HERE visited the Philippines to investigate working conditions there. UNITE HERE has since published a report on alleged worker abuses at Gelmart’s network of subcontractors in the Philippines (click here). At the end of 2001, Gelmart had over $32 million in assets, and generated $45.6 million in sales.8 Click here for more information.
  • Ivor Braka, another investor in 520 S. Michigan Ave. Associates, is a principal of New York-based US Realty and Investment Co. and chairman of Centurian Management. Braka’s real estate interests include retail and office properties in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Texas and Wisconsin, and more recently in Chicago.
  • Shlomo Nahmias
    Shlomo Nahmias is the owner’s representative and president of 520 S. Michigan Avenue Corp. Shlomo resides in the hotel with his wife, Sarah, and their dog, Sparky. As owner’s representative, Shlomo is responsible for overseeing every aspect of the hotel ownership including finance, marketing, management and accounting. In addition to his salary, Shlomo receives housing, food, health insurance and tuition for his son. Shlomo took his assignment at the Congress Hotel in 1995 with no prior hotel experience. 9

1 Certificate of Limited Partnership of 520 South Michigan Avenue Associates Ltd. dated March 26, 1987, registered with the Illinois Secretary of State.
2 Mortgage dated March 25, 1987.
3 Agreement dated December 18, 1991.
4 Assignment of Mortgage dated May 15, 1994.
5 Amendment dated January 1, 1999.
6 See In re Forward Holdings Group, LLC, Case number 97-B-40615.
7 Source: PIERS (Port Import Export Reporting Service) AMS Database.
8 Financial data from Dun & Bradstreet, with information provided by the company in August 2002.
9. Source: Nady Riad v. 520 S. Michigan Avenue Associates, et al.

 

 

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