The agency that owns the Westin hotel in Lombard, Ill., is restructuring its debt through a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that will help it pay off $246.6 million owed to bond holders while continuing operations, the Chicago Sun-Times reported today. The bankruptcy filing comes with a $3 million commitment from the village of Lombard to pay back the portion of hotel bonds used to make water main improvements around the hotel site at 70 Yorktown Center before the 500-room facility opened in August 2007. Village officials say that making the payment will help stave off future downgrades to the village’s credit rating, which already has suffered several hits in the six years since Westin ownership began asking for financial help.
