River Forest officials are eyeing the end of November as the completion date for ongoing improvements to the construction site of the failed Sedgwick Properties’ development at Lake Street and Lathrop Avenue.
Officials are working with the Cook County Circuit Court appointed receiver, Walt Rebenson from Ascend Real Estate Group, to clean up the site. The end of November is generally considered to be the end of the construction season.
Recent improvements at the site include placing dirt and seed on Ashland and Lathrop avenues adjacent to the newly placed sidewalks that are now walkable for pedestrians.
Dumpsters have also been removed from the site and the receiver is working with contractors to remove additional construction materials.
Other improvements planned in the coming weeks and months are replacing fencing around the site and removing the two tall cement mixing pieces of equipment that are currently in the northeast corner of the site.
“The goal is to have any construction equipment removed, since it is not being used,” village Administrator Matt Walsh said. “There is no plan or intent to demolish the construction progress at this time, including the parking deck. It is too early to determine if that will happen and will depend on the owner of the site.”
In September, officials repealed the building permit for Sedgwick Properties and issued a stop work order. They said those steps were taken because Sedgwick failed to meet the requirements and conditions of the village’s 18-month building permit, which was originally issued in February 2022.
The long-delayed condominium project has been on life support since April, when Beverly Bank and Trust, a Wintrust-affiliated bank that was financing the development, filed suit against Sedgwick Properties in Cook County court, looking to claw back $4.2 million from the $20 million line of credit it issued in 2022. In the lawsuit, the lender has reportedly cited several provisions in its loan agreement with Sedgwick affiliates that were violated, including that the contract required the borrower to stay in compliance with local regulations and to stick to a tighter construction timeline.
In August, officials granted Sedgwick Properties the latest in a string of building permit extensions that would have run through Aug. 30, 2024, had the developer met certain conditions. Those conditions included securing viable financing and providing proof of such financing to the village. Other conditions included resolving pending litigation with Beverly Bank and Trust; paying the village $98,905.32 for the permit extension fee; and paying $21,000 in unpaid property taxes. It is not yet known if any of the conditions were met.
The project has been on the drawing board since before the village board approved, in 2016, the proposal by Lake Lathrop Partners LLC to build a four-story, mixed-use development containing 22 condominium units with 14,000 square feet of retail space. Variations on the same project had lurched and lingered for a decade previously. The original project included another story and eight more units but was scaled back.
The project has experienced a series of delays over the years, including environmental cleanup from the dry cleaner and a lawsuit involving a tenant who did not want to leave.