Sedgwick Properties is on the clock. The Chicago-based developer has a couple weeks to secure new financing for its long-stalled River Forest condo project before the village plans to pull the plug on the development’s permits.
The village board voted 4-2 to approve an extension of its agreement with Sedgwick to allow construction of a four-story, 22-condo project with prices starting at $1 million, plus 14,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space at Lake and Lathrop streets in the village’s downtown.
The firm has made little progress on the project despite receiving initial approval from the village seven years ago and faces mounting legal and financial trouble over the construction site. All residents in the room at a contentious hours-long meeting Monday decried the developer and pleaded with the board to not approve the extension.
Its lender, an affiliate of Wintrust, has sued to claw back $4.2 million from the $20 million line of credit it issued last year to Sedgwick, which is helmed by River Forest resident Marty Paris.
The village’s extension also reduces $34,000 in fines the company owes the village down to $2,000, should the company be able to secure new financing by Sept. 15.
One resident, Phyllis Ruben, asked board officials if they think Sedgwick respects River Forest given how frequently the company has ignored deadlines or requests.
“This is like giving Marty Paris, who I know is here, a present for accruing the violation fines, I’m not sure what you’re thinking… You have been an amazingly easy mark,” she said to the board on Tuesday.
The developer is also on the hook for unpaid property taxes to River Forest, unpaid fines and a slew of mechanic’s liens on both this project and its long-delayed high-end housing project in Chicago’s River North neighborhood along LaSalle Street. The heated River Forest meeting is the latest in a series of challenges Paris’ Sedgwick has faced in recent years on its area projects.
Paris was asked to address the board, but gave few straightforward answers to questions regarding the resolution of mechanics liens or what Sedgwick will do should they be unable to work something out with its current lender or find a new one. Paris said that Wintrust’s decision to pull financing from the project is the source of most of the delays that have frustrated residents.
“We do have a tough financing hurdle to get over,” he said. “We’re very unhappy with Wintrust’s decision not to honor their construction contract and stop funding.”
Wintrust did not respond to a request for comment.
Both members of the community and the village board expressed frustration at how Sedgwick has run the project and disbelief that it would be able to get financing by the new deadline.
“With every single vote we do, we are trying to outweigh the good versus the bad with this development and try to make something good for the residents of the village of River Forest happen,” board member Erika Bachner said. “It hurts every time I vote yes to this and nothing materializes.”
Board members warned that it was going to be hard to find a new developer, and that’s something they would have to work with Wintrust on should the bank take possession of the property.
“We know what the community likes so we will work very hard to find the right fit, but it’s not going to be easy and I don’t want anyone around this table to think it’s going to be easy, but it’s the truth,” board President Catherine Adduci said.
Adduci said she understood the frustration from the community and that there are immediate fixes the company needs to do to make the area around the site more functional for residents.
“So my question to you all, is that you’ve heard the residents say that the site is in disarray, the site needs to be cleaned up… I’ve heard you say, you’re going to address it, and I’ve heard it, and I’ve heard it — but it’s gotta be addressed,” she said to representatives from Sedgwick. “And if you don’t do it, I am positive we will do it, and you will pay.”
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Much of the community members and some board members that spoke on Monday didn’t seem to believe that the village board would end its relationship with Sedgwick, or that Sedgwick would be able to meet what the village is asking of it in its new agreement. Many who spoke said this meeting and the threats the village was levying against Sedgwick are repeats of many previous meetings over the project, and yet the company has faced no consequences.
“We expected you to come to all of these meetings and instead you put us in a situation,” board member Ken Johnson said. “What kind of confidence should we have that you are going to show up and not leave us high and dry again?”