Chicago Cheat Sheet: Sam Zell reaches $200M settlement from Tribune days

Top former Trib execs, including Zell, reach settlement

Equity Group Investments’ Sam Zell and other former top officials at the Tribune Company agreed to a $200 million settlement stemming from their days owning the media conglomerate. Zell led the 2007 leveraged buyout of the company, a year before the company fell into bankruptcy. The lawsuit alleged a series of fraudulent transactions connected to the buyout. The settlement covers more than 50 defendants, including former Tribune board members and executives. [Crain’s]

Obama presidential library scores legal victory

A federal judge Tuesday tossed out a lawsuit filed by an advocacy group trying to block the construction of the Obama presidential library in Jackson Park. Judge John Blakey tersely dismissed the case and said there “should be no delay” in construction of the Obama Center on nearly 20 acres in the historic park. Protect Our Parks, which filed the lawsuit claiming an “illegal land grab” on the part of the Obama Foundation, promised to appeal. [Chicago Sun-Times]

AI consultant moving Downtown from Evanston

An Evanston-based artificial intelligence consultant is moving its headquarters Downtown. Opex Analytics is taking 18,000 square feet in Blackstone Group’s River North Point complex at 350 North Orleans Street, formerly known as the Apparel Mart. The firm is expanding from 4,000 square feet at 500 Davis Street in Evanston. Newmark Knight Frank’s Matthew Frazee led the brokerage team that represented Opex Analytics in the lease deal. [GlobeSt.]

Theater troupe gets state funding for Uptown adaptive reuse

A new $45 billion state infrastructure plan includes a line item designed to help TimeLine Theatre move from Lakeview to Uptown. The firm will get $1.5 million under the capital spending plan approved June 1, allowing it to convert a vacant Uptown warehouse at 5033-35 North Broadway into a theater. Plans call for redeveloping the 45,000-square-foot former warehouse into a 250-seat theater, a 150-seat theater, a bar and offices. [Block Club]

Rocker Liz Phair’s childhood home sold in Winnetka

The parents of rock musician Liz Phair sold the Winnetka house where she grew up. Former Northwestern Medicine Dr. John Phair, and his wife, Nancy, sold the four-bedroom house at 638 Ash Street last month for $625,000. They bought the house for $107,000 in 1976, when Liz Phair was 9. Phair is best known for her breakthrough debut album, 1993’s “Exile in Guyville,” one of Rolling Stone magazine’s top 500 albums of all time Coldwell Banker’s Maureen Mohling had the listing. The buyers, who purchased the home through a trust, were represented by Joseph Nash of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff Realty Group. [Crain’s]