Broker Sought For Failed 'Center Of The North Shore'

A bank has taken formal title to a foreclosed 14-acre property at Skokie Boulevard and Dundee Road, after the federal government charged the former developers earlier this summer.

Northbrook officials met with representatives of Dallas-based Beal Bank in late August to discuss the property, where the former developers had planned a 517,000-square-foot mixed-use development called the Center of the North Shore. That development fell into foreclosure in October 2008. 

Beal Bank representatives told village officials that since the legal issues surrounding ownership of the property have been resolved, they have taken formal title and are now interviewing brokers to market the property, according to Northbrook economic development coordinator David Schoon.

Earlier:

“They’ve had conversations with us along with a number of the brokers who are interested in representing them,” Schoon said.

A representative of Beal Bank declined to comment on the matter, however.

In June, the Department of Justice charged Center of the North Shore partners Edward Renko, 49, of Glenview; Alexander Field, 42, of Northbrook; and Gary Fishkin, 54, of Glencoe; with two counts of wire fraud and one count of bank fraud each. Along with two other defendants, the three partners allegedly engaged in a $15.7 million fraudulent loan scheme to finance the failed development. 

Along with a title company executive and a loan officer, the three partners are accused of taking out fraudulent loans to make interest payments on a $26.2 million loan to finance the development, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Using three Northbrook homes that Renko, Field and Fishkin owned, the defendants fraudulently obtained more than $8 million in home loan proceeds by repeatedly obtaining mortgages for the residences. Instead of paying off the mortgages with the loans, they used the money for personal and business expenses as well as interest payments on the $26.2 million loan for the property at Dundee Road and Skokie Boulevard. The three homes—at 711, 700 and 688 Greenwood Road—have since been foreclosed on, according to Randall Samborn, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Field and Fishkin are out on bail, while Renko remains in custody, according to Samborn. The defendants’ next status hearing is set for Nov. 1.

The property could still be an attractive spot for developers, given its location near the Edens Expressway and at the corner of two major roads in Northbrook, Schoon said. It is zoned for office and restaurant use, with some residential or hotel use allowed with special permit, which requires village board approval. 

Trustees are open-minded to what sort of development might occupy the space, Schoon said.

“I think they would like to see something that would generate property and sales tax revenue without putting a great demand on services,” he said. “In this market, it’s kind of hard to tell what may come forward. So at this point the village board and staff has expressed a willingness to work with the bank and try to identify a project that would be mutually beneficial to the community and then to the bank who’s trying to sell the property.”

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