TODD GREEN, HOTELIER

He’s not Donald Trump, at least not yet, but local auto dealership magnate Todd Green made a splash this week by announcing that he’s gone into the hotel business, acquiring Portfolio Hotels and Resorts, an Oakbrook-based hotel management company that runs 15 hotels in seven states. The company has been rechristened Core Hotels and Resorts Green, and the new owner is bullish. “Our occupancy rate is in the 70 percent range,” Green gushes. “We’ve got a substantial amount of money sitting on the sidelines, waiting to do updates.”The hotels collectively are worth $242 million, Green says, with a third in Monterey, California, and other properties scattered between North Carolina, Indiana, New York state, Colorado, Oregon and Illinois, plus a hotel in Chicago and another in Northbrook. “I’ve been to, like, three of them,” Green says. “I’m sure I’ll visit them at some point.” This isn’t Green’s first foray outside the car business. The deal comes after Green recently moved The Gold Center to Naples, Florida, shutting down the firm’s building near White Oaks Mall in the midst of pending litigation with James Hausman, former Gold Center owner who still owns the real estate and now has a miniature Fort Knox with no bullion inside. Green says he’s also gone into the life settlement business, which involves buying life insurance policies from folks who want cash now. He’s also in the golf business, having purchased a Naples golf course in 2014.