A Chicago native, former Boy Scout, multi-sport athlete, voracious reader, devoted family man, decathlete in life and master real estate investor, developer and civic leader, John W. Rutledge is the Founder, President and CEO of Oxford Capital Group, LLC, which specializes in large-scale, lifestyle hospitality-oriented real estate, with over $3 billion of transactions including 13,000 hotel rooms, 3,000 senior housing units and 1,000 residential units. We were proud to induct him into our Hall of Fame in late September.
He co-founded Oxford Realty Corporation at age 24. As the real estate markets softened in the early ’90s, he and a colleague merged Oxford Realty into a large national company. Following a trip around the world, he enrolled in business school, where in his second year he co-founded Oxford Capital Partners to take advantage of a compelling opportunity resulting from the overbuilt lodging sector of the property market. He founded his third and fourth successor companies, Oxford Capital Group, LLC, and Oxford Hotels & Resorts, LLC during the mid-2000s.
“John will have a lasting impact on Chicago’s real estate industry, because he’s really influenced it with the way he’s preserved some of Chicago’s past and looked forward to our future,” Lynn Osmond, president and CEO of the Chicago Architecture Center, said.
His projects are some of the most recognizable redevelopments in Chicago: Essex on the Park Luxury Apartments and Hotel Essex, Hotel Julian, LondonHouse Chicago, Godfrey Chicago, Langham Chicago, Hotel Felix, Hotel Cass, Hotel Versey, Claridge House, Hyatt Magnificent Mile, Renaissance North Shore, Doubletree North Shore, Hyatt House Northwest, 10 South LaSalle, One North Franklin and Harpo Studios.
Highly active in Chicago’s philanthropic and business communities, John has been honored with numerous awards, including Crain’s Chicago Business’ “40 under 40” and “Who’s Who,” The Anti-Defamation League’s Arthur Rubloff Humanitarian Award, Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist, Young Presidents’ Organization’s (YPO) Stuart Cornew Leadership Award and Urban Land Institute’s Vision Award. His projects have been awarded Development of the Year, Redevelopment of the Year, National Hotel Development of the Year, Top City Hotel in the Continental U.S., National Hotel Transaction of the Year and Historic Redevelopment of the Year. Oxford has also received Historic Preservation awards from Chicago and Boston.
The Hall of Fame was created in 1986 to honor professionals who leave a positive and profound influence on the younger generations in real estate and who helped to shape Chicago’s skyline.
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD: Watch John’s Hall of Fame induction speech from our 136th Annual Inaugural Gala on September 26, 2019.