An investment arm of Arlington Park racetrack Chairman Richard Duchossois has sued Daniel McLean, alleging that the Chicago developer broke an agreement in 2002 to buy out Duchossois’ interest in River East, a mixed-use project in Streeterville.
Last year, in a complicated transaction, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. gained control of the project after a default on a $300 million construction loan. The default came amid a clash between McLean and his investors, which included Aon Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Patrick Ryan.
Before Mitsui took back the development, McLean unsuccessfully tried to arrange financing to pay off the debt and buy out his partners.
Duchossois was to have received $16.7 million for his stake, according to documents exchanged by McLean and Craig Duchossois, Richard Duchossois’ son and chief executive of Elmhurst-based Duchossois Industries Inc.
Instead, Mitsui paid the investors $17 million for their combined interests in the project, the complaint says.
Duchossois received $2.5 million, or 14.7 percent of that payment. He originally invested $10 million in 1997, for a 75 percent loss, not including cash distributions, if any, made before the deal collapsed.
A spokesman for McLean, president and chief executive of MCL Cos., declined to comment.
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McLean continues to manage River East Center, a hotel/residential/retail building completed in 2002, for Mitsui. Separately, he is completing the second phase of the twin-tower River View condominium project.
Miranda has contract: As Daniel Miranda starts this week as president of HSA Commercial Real Estate, his new firm has a non-binding, $30 million contract to buy Brown Deer Business Park in west suburban Milwaukee, sources said.
The 730,000-square-foot office/industrial complex is managed by Miranda’s former firm, MB Real Estate, and owned by pension fund Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association.
Miranda, who resigned as vice chairman of MB Real Estate on Jan. 7, couldn’t comment on the transaction, saying he stayed out of the deal at both firms to avoid a potential conflict of interest. And he downplayed the chances of competing with his former firm in the future.
But Miranda said he isn’t contractually prevented from going after MB Real Estate’s clients.
SmithBucklin renews: Chicago-based SmithBucklin Corp. has signed an early renewal of its lease at 401 N. Michigan Ave., said Stacey Kruger Birndorf, a senior director with Cushman & Wakefield Inc., which advised the trade group management firm.
The building is owned by Chicago-based Zeller Realty Corp.
SmithBucklin considered downsizing from the 86,300 square feet of space it currently leases until 2007, but instead signed a new lease that runs until 2017, with expansion and contraction options, she said.
Carlyle execs buy firm: Top executives at recruiting firm Carlyle Group Ltd., known for its real estate practice, said they have bought the Chicago-based firm from its former parent, Whitney Group LLC.
In 1998, Carlyle’s former principals sold the firm to Whitney, then a subsidiary of what came to be known as Headway Staffing Services, for $1.9 million cash and earn-out payments over three years.
Whitney has its own buyout agreement with Headway and could use the proceeds for a $5 million lump sum payment due next January to New York-based Headway.
Michaels sells new facility: In a sale/leaseback deal, Michaels Stores Inc. has sold its new 693,000-square-foot distribution center in New Lenox for $28.6 million.
Rosemont-based real estate firm Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler Inc. represented the Irving, Texas-based arts-and-crafts retailer.
Michaels signed a 20-year lease with the buyer, a joint venture controlled by New York-based Lexington Corporate Properties Trust, which disclosed the deal earlier this week.