Plea references South Loop's biggest vacant parcel

10/22/2009 1:14 PM

By Micah Maidenberg
Editor

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The plea deal Alonzo "Lou" Monk, once an advisor to indicted ex-governor Rod Blagojevich, agreed to with federal prosecutors references the biggest empty piece of land in the South Loop on three occassions. Download the plea, in PDF form, here.
The short of it: Monk, Blagojevich, Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly saw the 62-acres empty parcel, which is located at the southwest corner of Roosevelt and Clark, as a potential cash machine -- especially when they learned Stuart Levine, who testified against Tony Rezko, had been confronted by federal law enforcement in the spring of 2004.
With the FBI in the mix, the South Loop development then became a primary way for the group to make money, the plea says:

After that point, Defendant had discussions with Blagojevich, Rezko, and/or Kelly about how Blagojevich, Kelly, and Defendant could benefit from a real estate development that Rezko was working on at Roosevelt and Clark in Chicago (the “Roosevelt and Clark Project”).

There was talk of having Patti Blagojevich market the property:
Rezko talked about different ways that Defendant, Blagojevich, and Kelly could benefit from the Roosevelt and Clark Project, such as by having Blagojevich’s wife work on marketing the project or by allowing Defendant to work on the project after Defendant left state government.

The plea also notes that the now-deceased Chris Kelly was an investor in the project.
Monk has plead guilty, and will assist federal prosecutors in their case against Blagojevich.

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For context about what's sometimes called Riverside Park or even the Rezko property, here's reporting Chicago Journal published this summer, as part of Dan Kelly's coyote hunt through the land:

More recently, the parcel of land was connected with no less colorful a personage than Mr. Antoin "Tony" Rezko. The July 31, 2003 issue of the Tribune carried chatter from Rezko's Rezmar Corporation about building Riverside Park there, a "5,000-unit resident and retail development" with a "50-story tower" in addition to "restaurants and cabarets." Rezmar was reportedly in advanced negotiations with Ikea to build a store and sell funny-named furnishings to Near South Side residents there. Interestingly, Rezmar claimed Riverside Park would be pro-environment. The company’s president Daniel Mahru promised "all green roofs and lots of open space" and "gently sloping river banks, nature trails, and bicycle paths," the latter of which are currently present, if roughly hewn, by actual Nature. Bad news for Rezmar: Ikea pulled out, choosing instead to open their new location in Bolingbrook.
In September 2005, Rezko sold the property to British-based and insanely rich financier Nadhmi Auchi’s General Mediterranean Holdings (GMH) company for an estimated $130.5 million. In January 2006, per Donald Jaburek, some tree cutting and bulldozing was performed on the land. Then, according to a February 12, 2008 article posted on Newsmax.com, Auchi and GMH began touting Riverside Park once more, claiming it could be constructed in eight years. Two weeks later, the Sun-Times reported that Auchi had been named by the prosecution in Rezko's corruption case. Auchi wasn't accused of anything, but had had a fraud conviction against him in France that should have prevented him from entering the U.S. when he made the original deal. As it turns out, Rezko had appealed to the State Department and "certain Illinois government officials" to allow Auchi to visit the U.S., causing yet another snag. Today, land is managed by an LLC named Moni Equities, which happens to share an address in London with GMH. Riverside Park appears to be on hold, though the architectural model remains on view at the GMH Web site, like a shiny little Flying Dutchman.




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