Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Only one of the problems facing the owner of the Wyndham Hotel downtown, which has been closed for more than a year now, has been solved.
The Springfield Business Journal reports the owner of the Wyndham, Al Rajabi, has reached a settlement with Affiliated FM Insurance regarding allegedly delayed payments on insurance claims for damage done to the Wyndham, some of which is thought to be deliberate.
Another company that Rajabi owns, Texas-based Tower Capital, still has issues of its own.
“The ownership group filed for bankruptcy,” said Michelle Ownbey, Springfield Business Journal Executive Editor, on the WTAX Morning Newswatch. “Tower Capital, which is one of the business entities Al Rajabi owns, reported business revenue of just over $6 million in 2024, and then only $1.6 million a year later after the Wyndham closed in March at the very beginning of 2025, and no business revenue so far for this year.”
Ownbey reports Al Rajabi’s business efforts have worked before, but not in Springfield, apparently.
“His specialty was sort of buying these distressed hotels, flipping hotels, and he had done that in some other communities,” said Ownbey. “Perhaps, for a variety of reasons, the one here did not pan out the way he had expected.”
In addition to the bankruptcy, liens remain on the Wyndham. The water and other damage inside the Wyndham. And, in the last week, city crews were seen painting the boarded-up windows at the Wyndham, per city ordinance. That could mean Al Rajabi would have to pay for that work.
