Rezmar deals involving Davis Miner law firm
These are the 15 buildings that Rezmar Corp. redeveloped in projects that involved the Chicago law firm Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland during the period that U.S. Sen. Barack Obama worked for the firm:
• An abandoned nursing home in Woodlawn. Rezmar and the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp., known as WPIC, closed on the deal in 1995. Rezmar stopped repaying the $3.6 million state loan in March 2001, and the state eventually foreclosed, taking ownership of the building earlier this year.
• An abandoned nursing home in Woodlawn. Rezmar and the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp., known as WPIC, closed on the deal in 1995. Rezmar stopped repaying the $3.6 million state loan in March 2001, and the state eventually foreclosed, taking ownership of the building earlier this year.
• Three apartment buildings on East 62nd Street on the South Side. Rezmar and the Chicago Urban League closed on the deal involving these buildings in 1995. The state foreclosed on its $2.6 million loan last year. Today, the buildings are boarded up.
• Three apartment buildings on East 62nd Street on the South Side. Rezmar and the Chicago Urban League closed on the deal involving these buildings in 1995. The state foreclosed on its $2.6 million loan last year. Today, the buildings are boarded up.
"We were hoping it would be successful and serve as a model for future development,'' said James Compton, who was the Chicago Urban League's president at the time. "It probably had mixed results.''
• Seven buildings on East 62nd Street in Woodlawn. Rezmar and WPIC closed on this deal in 1996. Rezmar gave up its financial interest in the property and stopped managing the buildings a year ago, amid financial problems and code violations.
• Two buildings, 4001 S. Ellis and 811 E. 46th St. Rezmar and WPIC's sister agency, the Fund for Community Redevelopment and Revitalization, closed on the deal in 1997, while Obama was a state senator. Rezmar stopped managing the buildings about a year ago, with many of the apartments in need of repair.
• Two buildings -- 5630 S. Michigan and 6446 S. Kenwood. Rezmar and the Fund closed on this deal in 1998. The city approved a $3.8 million loan for this project while Rezmar was facing foreclosure on another building funded by the city. Rezmar gave up management of the buildings about a year ago.
That was Rezmar's last low-income housing deal before the company shifted to building condos and town houses in the South Loop and other booming neighborhoods.
Among the investors in that last Rezmar deal was Davis Miner name partner Allison Davis, who had left his law firm to become a developer of low-income housing. Besides leaving his law firm, Davis also resigned from the board of directors that ran the Fund for Community Redevelopment and Revitalization.
Davis' development company, American Housing Partners, was to invest $250,000 in Rezmar's last low-income housing deal, state records show. But state officials say that, in the end, American Housing didn't participate in the deal.
Tim Novak