THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2008
Work May Resume On River Rd. Condo
By TOM ROBB
JOURNAL & TOPICS REPORTER
Construction might resume in as little as 30 days on a 60-unit residential development at 595 S. River Rd. near downtown Des Plaines.
If all goes as planned, construction could be completed by the end of the year.
There are still several legal challenges from the city and the bank that developers need to overcome to make that happen, however.
Work stopped on the project last December when a loan on the development matured and the developer fired its building contractor. The project is about $2 million from completion.
Fifth Third Bank pulled financing and filed a lawsuit in late July against developer Sphinx Chicago Properties LLC of Morton Grove managed by Dr. Rashmi Patel.
Phone contacts for the contractors' local and California offices were disconnected.
Kymn Harp, an attorney with Robbins, Solomon and Patt, is representing Patel and spoke with the Journal recently about the matter. He said the court rejected Fifth Third Bank's initial motion to send the project into receivership. He said negotiations have been conducted with Fifth Third Bank to turn the project from condominiums to luxury apartments. He said if negotiations with the bank continue to go well, he hopes work would resume in the next 30 days and the building could be finished by the end of the year.
A representative from Fifth Third Bank said he could not comment on pending litigation. Building permits issued by the city, good for two years on the project, were originally issued in November 2005. They have expired as did a six-month extension in May of this year.
Sphinx is due to appear before the city at a hearing on Thursday, Sept. 4 at 9 a.m. in the Des Plaines City Council Chambers.
A city hearing officer will review plans for the project and consider granting an extension on permits for the project.
Des Plaines Deputy Director of Community Development Mike Spiel said, "Obviously the city wants to see it completed."
Kymn said several condominium contracts were sold and that Sphinx Chicago refunded the money for those contracts.
After recently filing a Freedom of Information request, Fifth Third Bank appraisers walked the property with Spiel. Spiel said the appraiser told him that the project would cost about $2 million more before it would be finished. Kymn said the appraiser's estimate was correct. Patel bought out the original primary investor in Sphinx Chicago James Gierczyk in early 2006, at about the same time the project broke ground.