Just over a year after buying Eaglewood Resort & Spa out of financial distress, Arbor Lodging Partners is putting the property's 102-acre golf course up for sale, aiming to convert the fairways into a residential subdivision while keeping the 295-key hotel for itself. The golf course sits at 1401 Nordic Road in Itasca, and roughly 47 of its 102 acres are considered buildable land for single-family homes.
Arbor Lodging bought the entire resort, golf course included, for $28 million in August 2025, according to The Real Deal. The purchase was backed by an $18.3 million acquisition loan from Citigroup and brokered by JLL, per Traded. That deal marked Arbor Lodging's first venture into golf resort ownership, and the company is now marketing the golf course itself as a standalone redevelopment opportunity while retaining the hotel, the spa, the bowling alley, and 39,000 square feet of meeting space.
The resort's ownership history has been rocky. AllianceBernstein took control of Eaglewood in 2022 to resolve a defaulted $29 million mortgage before selling to Arbor Lodging last year at what appears to have been a loss, the outlet's reporting shows. No asking price has been set for the golf course, and the Village of Itasca had not commented on the potential sale as of publication, the same report notes.
A Redevelopment Pitch Built Around Master-Planned Homes
The pitch to prospective buyers centers on the idea that a subdivision of single-family homes could use the surrounding resort as a built-in lifestyle amenity. Any such redevelopment would still be subject to review by the Village of Itasca before ground could break, and whatever public debate accompanies it over density, traffic, and the loss of open green space, is the biggest unresolved variable hanging over the sale.
The move fits a broader pattern for Arbor Lodging, which specializes in traditional urban hotels but has been shifting its portfolio toward suburban, amenity-rich assets. Around the same time it bought Eaglewood, the company sold a dual-branded Hampton Inn/Homewood Suites in downtown Chicago at a steep discount, a pivot away from struggling city-center lodging detailed by The Real Deal.
Why Itasca's Only Full-Service Conference Hotel Still Matters
Eaglewood is one of two full-service conference hotels in Itasca, and the Hamilton Lakes and Spring Lake office parks together account for four million square feet of office space, according to a municipal report from GovHR USA. Arbor Lodging is retaining the hotel while marketing the golf course separately. The conference business remains part of the resort's offering even as the golf course goes on the block.
The property's roots stretch back nearly a century. It began as Nordic Hills Country Club, according to records from the Illinois Historic Preservation Division. The golf course and resort were originally built in 1971 and later expanded in 2022. At one point, the property even housed a weight-loss resort modeled after NBC's The Biggest Loser.
A Presidents Cup Spotlight and a Regional Housing Trend
The timing places the sale in an unusual spotlight. Medinah Country Club, directly next door in neighboring Medinah, is set to host the Presidents Cup next week, marking the first time Chicago has hosted the international team golf event, according to the tournament's own coverage on PGA Tour. That global attention on the golf corridor arrives just as Arbor Lodging looks to unload its own fairways at the neighboring resort.
The Eaglewood sale also lands amid a broader wave of suburban Chicago golf course conversions. In 2024, the 127-acre former Green Acres Country Club in Northbrook sold for $80 million after earlier plans to convert it into housing had stalled, as Hoodline previously reported. At Eaglewood, the potential development would put the fairways to residential use. Whether Itasca's fairways follow that same path now rests with the Village Board and whatever buyer steps forward.
