Extended Stay Hotels, saddled with a huge debt burden from its $8 billion top-of-the-market buyout, filed for Chapter 11 protection Monday, in one of the largest bankruptcy filings by a commercial real-estate company. The filing, made in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, came as a legal battle accelerated among the creditors who hold debt from the buyout by Lightstone Group LLC. Those lenders include Bank of America and its Merrill Lynch unit and Wells Fargo & Co.'s Wachovia. Since late last year, creditors have been negotiating with Lightstone over a possible restructuring of the debt.

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