Lawsuit Adds Scrutiny to Alter’s Chicago Sky Practice Facility

A legal battle has erupted over a publicly funded development deal between the village of Bedford Park in the southwest suburbs and the WNBA’s Chicago Sky franchise, placing team owner and real estate mogul Michael Alter’s negotiating tactics under renewed scrutiny.

The lawsuit, filed by concerned Illinois taxpayer Tiauna Jackson, alleges that Bedford Park committed $32.8 million in public funds to construct a custom practice facility for the WNBA team without following basic legal and financial safeguards meant to protect residents and property owners, the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Cook County court, claims.

Jackson’s complaint characterizes the deal as extremely one-sided, favoring the Sky over the small village of around 600 residents, hundreds of businesses and $100 million in annual tax revenue just southwest of Chicago, near Midway International Airport.

The suit alleges the Chicago Sky will not pay rent, utilities, maintenance costs or property taxes to occupy the facility, citing contracts and public documents from the village that Jackson obtained. Further, the WNBA team retains 100 percent of revenue from the facility’s naming rights and sponsorships while holding the option to terminate the agreement on just 30 days’ notice. The project’s construction is nearly complete.

“The contracts are the trap,” Jackson’s complaint says. “The court’s intervention now, before occupancy, before the Sky’s money is due, and before the 30-day termination clock starts, prevents the village from falling into a trap its own contracts set.”

The project, branded as “SKYTOWN,” has seen its reported costs skyrocket. While initial reports pegged the facility at $38 million, the lawsuit notes that the team recently represented the value as $60 million in public statements. It’s also expanded in size, from an originally contemplated 40,000-square-foot project to one that has most recently been characterized as an 80,000-square-foot facility.

Despite these escalating figures, the suit alleges the Sky’s contracting entity has allegedly contributed nothing to the project, with the Village covering roughly 72 percent of the construction costs for a facility built for what Sky ownership has described as the exclusive use for the team’s players. A personal check from Alter covered the $1.5 million the Sky owed as part of its agreement, but was late on paying as of November 2025, the suit states.

In 2024, as planning for the project was underway, the team was “having trouble getting a loan” and was “requesting the village to front the money for them, interest free,” according to the lawsuit. Village attorney Lawrence R. Gryczewski characterized interest-free public financing of a private entity as having “some logic,” the suit said. Four days later, the operating agreement for the development was signed by Village President David R. Brady.

Michael Alter, the Sky’s principal owner and head of Wilmette-based real estate development firm The Alter Group, is no stranger to the levers of Illinois power. The firm has developed more than 100 million square feet of commercial property, and Alter, its second-generation head after he took over from his late father in the 1990s, is deeply embedded in the fabric of Chicagoland’s real estate industry.

Nevertheless, his methods have faced challenges before; in 2019, the Chicago Board of Ethics fined Alter for using personal relationships with city officials to circumvent government oversight. He was accused of failing to register as a lobbyist while trying to sway former Mayor Lori Lightfoot into granting a gambling license.

The village of Bedford Park declined to comment. Jackson also declined to comment. Alter Group, the Chicago Sky, and an attorney who has previously represented Alter and the team didn’t return requests for comment.

In addition to Alter and Chicago Sky-related business entities, the defendants named by Jackson’s complaint include Bedford Park Trustees Anthony W. Kensik, Sandra A. Maloy, Thomas J. Pallardy, Juanita Rodriguez, Terry J. Stocks and Nancy A. Wesolowski; as well as Brady, the village government itself, Gryczewski, the village’s Clerk Yvette Zavala and Tom Hansen, the Bedford Park police chief who also serves as a chief administrative officer of the village. Sky co-owner Nadia Rawlinson is also named as a defendant, as is Adam Fox, the Sky’s CEO.

The Bedford Park project arrives as the Sky front office is engulfed in internal and external controversy. In late January 2026, a minority owner of the Sky, Steven Rogers, filed a separate lawsuit alleging Alter engaged in “unlawful self-dealing” and a “blatant disregard” for the team’s operating agreement. That case is still pending in Cook County court, according to an attorney for the Sky.

Confidence of many fans in the team’s direction took another hit this week with the shocking decision to trade away All-Star forward Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream in exchange for future draft picks. The move, described by team management as an effort to achieve “roster balance,” has left fans questioning the Sky’s long-term rebuild strategy while it simultaneously occupies a taxpayer-funded performance center.

The lawsuit seeks to declare the Sky’s contracts void, arguing they constitute an illegal gift of public funds and were signed without the necessary prior appropriations required by Illinois.

“Voiding the Sky agreements does not destroy the building,” the suit claims. “It saves the village $18 million in private custom construction it never needed. The turf fields remain. The event center remains. The original purpose of … revenue-generating community sports facilities can still be fulfilled.”

Jackson’s complaint is scheduled for an initial hearing on June 8 in front of Associate Cook County Judge Myron F. Mackoff, court records show.