The Drake Hotel in Chicago is majority-owned by Phillips Martin Real Estate, an entity controlled by the Brashears family, which holds roughly 60% of the hotel building. San Francisco-based Acore Capital holds about 30%, and smaller investors account for the remaining 10%. The land underneath the hotel is owned separately by a partnership also led by the Brashears family. Hilton, whose name appears on the marquee, does not own the Drake at all; it operates the property under a management contract.
Current Ownership Breakdown
The hotel sits at 140 East Walton Street and is held through a partnership structure. Phillips Martin Real Estate, controlled by Chicago’s Brashears family, holds the 60% majority stake in the building. Acore Capital, a San Francisco investment firm, holds 30%. The remaining 10% is spread among smaller interests.
In 2021, the majority owners hired JLL to market a controlling stake, the first time the property had been offered in over a century. The listing was unencumbered of brand and management, meaning a buyer could keep Hilton or bring in a different operator. As of the most recent available reporting, no completed sale to a new ownership group has been publicly confirmed, so the Brashears-Acore structure appears to remain in place.
The Land Is Owned Separately From the Building
The most unusual feature of the Drake’s ownership is that the land and the building above it belong to different parties. A partnership led by the Brashears family owns the land in fee simple, while the operating partnership owns the hotel building itself. Under a ground lease established in 1979, the building owners pay the land partnership approximately $6 million per year in rent, with the figure resetting every five years to equal 10% of the land’s fair market value.1Phillips Martin Real Estate. Land Under Drake Hotel for Sale
The ground lease runs until 2039 and can be extended to 2059. When it ultimately expires without renewal, ownership of the building reverts to the land owner.1Phillips Martin Real Estate. Land Under Drake Hotel for Sale That reversion clause gives the land partnership significant leverage over the building’s future, because the hotel’s owners hold an asset whose remaining lifespan shrinks each year unless they secure an extension.
Who the Brashears Family Is
The Brashears family built its position in the Drake through Oak Brook-based National Realty & Investment Co., tied to longtime Chicago-area real estate investor Stanley Brashears. The family’s involvement with the property runs across generations and across both sides of the ownership structure: they control the majority of the hotel operating partnership through Phillips Martin Real Estate, and they control the partnership that owns the land underneath.
That dual position is what makes any sale of the Drake complicated. A prospective buyer of the hotel would need to deal with the Brashears family both as the controlling partner on the building and as the landlord collecting ground rent. It also means the family has stayed with the property far longer than the five-to-ten-year hold typical of private equity or REIT ownership in luxury hospitality.
Why Hilton’s Name on the Building Isn’t Ownership
The marquee reads “The Drake, A Hilton Hotel,” and the natural assumption is that Hilton Worldwide Holdings owns the property. It does not. Hilton operates the Drake under a management agreement, a contract structure standard across luxury hospitality. The brand provides its reservation system, loyalty program, marketing, and operating standards; the property owners fund operations and capital improvements.
The staff you encounter at the front desk, in housekeeping, and in the restaurants are typically employees of the management company or its affiliate, not of the property owners. A representative hotel management agreement filed with the SEC states that “each Hotel Employee shall be the employee of Manager or Manager’s Affiliate and not of Owner,” with the manager holding authority to hire, train, supervise, and dismiss staff.2U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Hotel Management Agreement
Management companies collect a base fee calculated as a percentage of the hotel’s total revenue, plus incentive fees tied to profitability. Industry data suggests base management fees average around 3% to 4% of total operating revenue, with individual contracts varying. The fact that the Drake was offered for sale in 2021 unencumbered of brand and management shows how cleanly the Hilton name can be separated from the underlying real estate: the brand is a contract, not an ownership interest.