Chicago Chabad House Avoids Foreclosure
A Chicago Chabad House avoided foreclosure by filing for bankruptcy.
The brownstone housing the Lubavitch Chabad of the Loop, Gold Coast and Lincoln Park was to have gone on the auction block Wednesday, but the bankruptcy filing this week gave Chabad additional time to repay a bank loan, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The group has found a way to pay its debts but needed more time, Rabbi Meir Chai Benhiyoun said, according to the Tribune.
Seven years ago, Chabad sought to build a new center at Chestnut and Clark streets, on Chicago?s so-called ?Gold Coast,? and used its building on North Dearborn as collateral to the bank on the $4.9 million loan.
Following the economic downturn, donations for Chabad took a hit, the bank changed its rules and the organization was unable to finance its loan on the new property.
The Chabad House has served as a residence, classroom and a place to stop for Jewish travelers on visits to Chicago.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO