Embattled Shai Wolkowicki Sues Former Partner Mitch Goltz

A once-prolific real estate partnership that reenvisioned retail corners from Crystal Lake to downtown Chicago has collapsed into bitter litigation, with investor Shai Wolkowicki accusing his longtime former business partner Mitch Goltz of siphoning funds and pledging company assets without proper consent.

The allegations mark an extraordinary public split for the duo once rising to become among Chicago’s busiest retail developers.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County court, Wolkowicki and his firm Ruby Development Group claim Goltz “engaged in wrongful conduct” to divert more than $2 million in sale proceeds from the Evanston retail property known as Church Street Plaza. An affiliate of GW Properties, Wolkowicki’s and Goltz’s former firm, just sold it to Chicago-based Continuum Capital for $31.2 million. The buyer is working toward final approval to construct a 27-story, 358-unit apartment tower on the site.

But the timing of Wolkowicki’s complaint prompts scrutiny, as he’s currently facing a barrage of financial trouble tied to distressed multifamily deals on Chicago’s South Side and throughout Illinois, from Rockford to Springfield.

It’s at least the second legal battle Wolkowicki has waged in recent weeks against current or former real estate partners. He’s also casting blame on Chikoo Patel, the head of a company that dissolved earlier this year called CKO Real Estate that was in charge of property management for dozens of South Side apartment buildings that he, Wolkowicki and Wolkowicki’s wife Lauren Lampert owned.

Meanwhile, Goltz, through his new company GTZ Properties, has continued buying real estate since splitting with Wolkowicki and their GW firm. In its most high-profile transaction, GTZ purchased an office complex in the western Chicago suburb of Oak Brook out of distress this summer.

Goltz declined to comment on this week’s lawsuit other than to say he plans to formally deny the allegations.

This week’s lawsuit further alleges Goltz personally enriched himself through unauthorized loans and distributions. The suit names Goltz, his living trust and several entities tied to their joint venture umbrella, GW Properties, as defendants.

According to the complaint, the two men spent more than a decade developing dozens of urban infill projects under the GW Properties banner, a partnership that paired Wolkowicki’s capital-raising prowess with Goltz’s construction management. But the relationship unraveled in 2024 and 2025 amid what Wolkowicki describes as chronic cost overruns and mismanagement that left multiple projects undercapitalized — all of which he blamed on Goltz.

The flashpoint came with the Evanston sale this September. Wolkowicki’s entity Ruby says it funded the entire $5 million equity stake for the venture and was owed virtually all net proceeds from the sale. Instead, the filing alleges, Goltz blocked the release of the money from escrow unless Wolkowicki agreed to a $1.6 million “development fee” for a Goltz-controlled affiliate — a fee the plaintiffs call “manufactured” and unsupported by any contract.

The complaint further alleges that Goltz had already taken a $450,000 “partial payment” toward that fee before closing, without his partner’s consent, and later refused to release even the undisputed balance. “Goltz has held the escrowed amounts hostage,” the suit claims, “in a transparent effort to leverage Wolkowicki into agreeing to the development fee.”

Wolkowicki also accuses Goltz of treating a separate joint venture, 4550 W. Patterson LLC, “as if it were his own.” The suit says Goltz or an entity he controls pledged the company’s membership interests as collateral for a loan that did not benefit the partnership and made more than $100,000 in unauthorized distributions to himself. Ruby Development, which owns a 20 percent stake in the Patterson project, discovered the loan only after finding a recorded lien against the property, according to the suit.

The complaint seeks declaratory relief and damages for breach of contract, tortious interference and breach of fiduciary duty, along with punitive damages and attorneys’ fees from Goltz and his entities. Wolkowicki’s suit names defendants that also appear to be partially under his own control and ownership, making it unclear how the case moves forward given that it appears the investor is suing his own interests.

The new suit paints Goltz as unable or unwilling to inject new capital, “rolling one deal into the next” while Wolkowicki repeatedly bailed out projects. It also highlights how the partners’ unwinding has turned personal: Wolkowicki, now based in Palm Beach County, Florida, accuses Goltz of using the fabricated development fee to “avoid having to personally contribute funds” to wind down their portfolio.

The case is pending before Judge Joel Chupack in Cook County court, with a hearing set for Dec. 22.