River Forest officials are hopeful they can move forward on developing the property at Lake Street and Lathrop Avenue following court action earlier this month.
On Feb. 14, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Joel Chupack granted the village’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed in July by Lake Lathrop Partners LLC against the village.
In August, the village filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which claimed the village had acted illegally in its denial of a new building permit to restart a stalled mixed-use development on the southwest corner of Lake and Lathrop.
“This legal decision supports the village’s actions related to this project and enables the focus moving forward to be on motivating the property owner, Wintrust Bank, to resolve its foreclosure case with the developer,” officials said in the weekly e-newsletter posted Feb. 20. “Once this happens, a new developer can be sought to find the best and highest use for this important commercial property.”
The now failed four-story mixed-use development was to contain 22 condominium units with 14,000 square feet of retail space. The project had been on the drawing board since before the village board approved Lake Lathrop’s proposal in 2016.
River Forest pulled the plug on the development over a year ago, but Lake Lathrop officials in May countered by applying for a new building permit for the development. This too was denied by the village.
In September 2023 officials repealed the building permit for Sedgwick Properties, an authorized agent acting on behalf of Lake Lathrop Partners LLC, and issued a stop work order.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 project had been on life support since April 2023, 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.
The foreclosure case between Wintrust Bank and Lake Lathrop Partners LLC remains ongoing.