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EB-5 investors sue NY developer for $50M over failed Chicago tower project
Symmetry Property Development‘s plan was rejected, and now 60 investors from China want their money back
A group of Chinese investors is suing a developer to return some $50 million invested in a failed River North tower project.
The 60 investors each contributed $550,000 to the Chicago project in hopes of securing an American visa through the federal EB-5 program, but the plan by New York-based Symmetry Property Development was thwarted when Alderman Brendan Reilly (42nd) rejected it in 2017 over traffic concerns, according to Loop North News.
The group filed the suit late last year, and now is asking a federal judge to force Symmetry to disclose the location of the investors’ money, which they say they can’t get back. Symmetry and managing partner Jeffrey Laytin are among the defendants.
Symmetry had proposed the 60-story Carillon tower in the first block of East Superior Street, which would have featured 246 condos, 216 hotel rooms and 120 timeshare units. After Reilly rejected it, Symmetry has continued to pursue demolition of the buildings on the site, which has riled preservationists and Reilly himself.
Laytin was not immediately available for comment Thursday. [Loop North News] — John O’Brien