The president of Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP) today said that while a lawsuit has prevented his company from purchasing a portion of Gordon Park and breaking ground for a major redevelopment of the former Rich Port YMCA site, he has no intention of walking away from the project in the foreseeable future.
Questions whether ARP would stick with the project surfaced earlier this month when the company's attorney expressed concern to Judge Leroy Martin Jr that a hearing in the lawsuit scheduled for June 1 might cause ARP to reconsider its commitment.
ARP president Richard Aaronson today said that his company's investment over the past two years in the project, known as La Grange Place, was significant enough that he was "very resistant to not find a way to continue to pursue the project."
Aaronson said he would testify in the June trial if called upon but that he had not yet been requested to do so by attorneys for either the Park District if La Grange or Orlando Coryell, who is suing to block sale of the parkland.
The trial will determine if a public auction conducted Jan. 8 by the park district satisfied requirements in the Illinois Park District Code.
Coryell contends that favoritism shown to ARP, including approval by the village board of its redevelopment plan and related rezoning, created an unlevel playing field and discouraged other bidders from coming forth. ARP was the sole and successful bidder at the January auction.
"I don't think [Coryell's] claim has any merit," Aaronson said. He said the fact that ARP already had received an approval for its site plan should not have discouraged other bidders. Another developer could have outbid ARP and taken over its site plan, he said.
"It is not unusual at all for one developer to take over a project that was started by another," Aaronson said.
Comments