In a recent One View by River Forest Village President Cathy Adduci [Courts are holding housing progress hostage, June 9, 2026], she claims vital housing developments in Illinois are stalled due to judicial delays. She states, “River Forest’s experience at the Lake & Lathrop site is an unfortunate and frustrating example of how prolonged litigation can undermine local efforts to add housing and revitalize key corridors.”
President Adduci’s One View is a false flag and a deflection of responsibility for a failed development that she allowed to occur under her leadership.
A June 4 village newsletter to residents states, “Village President Cathy Adduci addressed Judge Kyriakopoulos directly, urging the court to impose firm deadlines and hold both litigating parties accountable for what she described as ‘dysfunction, unnecessary banter, lies and delays.’”
Had President Adduci followed her own advice and held the developer to firm deadlines and accountable for “dysfunction, lies and delays,” this prolonged litigation could have been avoided. River Forest residents and businesses wouldn’t need to “shoulder the consequences of stagnation” and continue to look at an eyesore in the middle of our beautiful community.
Since 2016, under President Adduci’s leadership, extension after extension was granted to a developer who failed to meet deadlines due to self-imposed delays. Time after time, President Adduci sided with the developer against the financial interests of residents, even when such breach of contract gave the village the legal right to reclaim the property and identify a reliable developer to complete the project.
Instead, at President Adduci’s urging, in 2022 the village board relinquished property rights to the developer who never proved to be a good-faith partner. Unsurprisingly, slow progress continued and by May 2023, Beverly Bank filed a foreclosure lawsuit against the developer.*
Residents are right to question whether the same leadership that offered failed promises and assurances at Lake & Lathrop will yield a more fruitful outcome with the Madison development.
Development is essential to River Forest’s financial health, but it is essential that it be managed with transparency, right-sized for the community and done in partnership with a financially stable and ethically minded partner. The 10-year saga of lost opportunity and revenue at Lake & Lathrop demands continued community engagement.
Source: May 9, 2023 – Wednesday Journal reports that Beverly Bank files a lawsuit against the developer for $4.2 M, https://www.oakpark.com/2023/05/09/lake-and-lathrop-lender-files-suit-to-recoup-cash
Patty Henek
River Forest