Fresh out of the Cook County Jail after being incarcerated nearly a month, including the holidays, Chicago developer Marty Paris is facing yet another financial challenge.
A lender affiliated with Utah-based Bridge Investment Group sued Paris’ firm Sedgwick Properties, alleging it defaulted on a $26 million mortgage for its 69-unit apartment development at 301 West North Avenue in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood, according to public records.
Bridge wants to take over the keys to the property, claiming Sedgwick didn’t pay off the loan at maturity and that it missed monthly payments in April through July, the lender’s complaint said. Bridge issued the loan in 2016.
The lawsuit was filed Dec. 15, a week into Paris’ stint in jail. A judge had ordered him to stay in jail until he put up $150,000 to start paying off debt he owed to his ex-wife as a result of their divorce proceedings that began in 2016.
Paris was released from jail on Friday, though he’s being electronically monitored by law enforcement officials at least until his next hearing for the divorce-related debts, scheduled for Jan. 19.
He didn’t return a request for comment, and neither did Bridge.
The foreclosure suit is the latest blow to the developer, who has been hit with several over the past year, in personal and professional matters.
Paris’ firm was already facing a foreclosure complaint in west suburban River Forest, where the village has revoked a building permit for a high-end condo development he planned in its downtown area.
Local officials pulled the permit after years of delay with the $20 million project, known as Lake & Lathrop. Contractors who claim they’ve gone unpaid for the minimal work that’s been performed on the site so far are also jousting with Sedgwick and another lender that filed to foreclose on the developer. An affiliate of Wintrust is seeking to take over the Lake & Lathrop development site after alleging Sedgwick didn’t pay off a $20 million line of credit drawn upon to start construction.
While Sedgwick completed the seven-story North Avenue project after starting construction in 2016, it also hit snags.
Sedgwick’s partner in the apartment development, HQ Capital Real Estate, sued in 2019. HQ Capital alleged 301 West North’s construction was delayed more than two years and encountered cost overruns and mechanic’s liens.
A few blocks south in the River North area, at the northwest corner of Erie and LaSalle Streets, Sedgwick is marketing high-end rentals, at an average cost of $10,000 a month, in a 14-story housing development it built — also amid some delays. It previously planned to build condos for sale at the property. Several mechanic’s liens filed by contractors on that project have been addressed and were removed last month.
Paris has argued before Cook County Circuit Judge Abbey Romanek — who found him in contempt of court and ordered his jailing while presiding over the divorce dispute — that his net worth is not $20 million, as his ex-wife Kerry Paris has claimed. He has been ordered to pay off $1.6 million in legal bills amassed during the divorce, but he’s said he can’t afford to settle the debts.
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