State has paid $96 million-plus to lease a building tied to Cellini

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This is the office of New Frontier Companies, New Vista Investments and Pacific Management Inc., which are all affiliated with William F. Cellini.

Updated: February 4, 2012 11:29AM

Since 1984, Illinois taxpayers have spent more than $96 million leasing a former Sears department store in Springfield that was converted into office space by William F. Cellini, state records show

Cellini — the Republican businessman and political power broker who now stands convicted of corruption tied to the administration of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat — no longer owns what’s now known as the Harris Building.

But New Frontier Management Inc. — a company owned by Cellini — continued to manage the property for its current owners, according to the Illinois Department of Central Management Services.

That’s no longer true, according to Cellini attorney Kathleen Vyborny. She says the property is now managed by Pacific Management Inc. — whose corporate officers include Cellini’s daughter and her husband.

The state’s two leases on the property — both of which are due to expire in 2016 — cost taxpayers a total of more than $4.3 million last year, according to records from Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.

The Harris Building lease was one of many deals that Cellini struck with the state of Illinois during the administration of Gov. James R. Thompson, a longtime Cellini ally who is now senior chairman of Winston & Strawn, the law firm that defended Cellini against the corruption charges.

Twenty years ago, the administration of former Gov. Jim Edgar, another Cellini ally, nixed a deal for the state to buy the Harris Building for $21 million. That proposal was part of an unsuccessful plan under which the state would have paid $142 million for 11 buildings it had been leasing — five of them managed by Cellini companies. The Edgar administration killed the deal because the buildings were linked to his campaign contributors. The state still leases at least six of the buildings.

Here’s a breakdown of how much Illinois taxpayers have spent leasing other buildings once owned by Cellini’s companies that are still managed by his company or the company owned by his daughter and son-in-law.

† $73 million since 1987 for the Prescott Bloom Building, which Cellini’s New Frontier Construction Company built for the state’s Department of Public Aid. The state could have bought the building for $19.5 million under the failed 1992 deal.

† $70 million since 1981 for Springfield’s former Concordia Seminary, which Cellini bought and remodeled to serve as headquarters of the Illinois Department of Corrections. The state could have bought the property for $11.1 million in 1992.

† $22 million since 1987 for the Illinois State Lottery building, which Cellini built. Twenty years ago, the state could have bought the building for $6.65 million.