Daley nephew helped Margaritaville get liquor license
August 1, 2011 1:06AM
Updated: November 2, 2011 2:38PM
When Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville landed a 10-year lease at Navy Pier last fall, it needed a liquor license from City Hall.
So the bar and restaurant turned to attorney Mark Vanecko, a nephew of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley who had helped other bars and restaurants get liquor licenses from City Hall. Vanecko filed the application for the liquor license on March 18. It was issued on June 17, after Mayor Rahm Emanuel had taken office.
Reilly’s decision was endorsed by the McPier authority’s six-member board — half of whom were appointed to oversee the government agency by Daley. Reilly says neither he nor the members of the board knew Vanecko had any role with Margaritaville.
Vanecko, 44, who lives in Lakeview, is the registered agent for the restaurant’s owner, Margaritaville of Chicago LLC, according to documents he filed with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office in September, a month before Reilly picked Margaritaville over nine competitors seeking a spot at the pier, the city’s biggest tourist attraction.
Neither Vanecko nor other representatives of Margaritaville returned calls seeking comment.
