Spoiler alert! They didn't both star in beloved '60s sitcoms.
No one reminds me of that unctuous Leave it to Beaver ne’er do well Eddie Haskell more than Geneva developer Kent Shodeen. Just like Eddie easily bamboozled clueless 1960s parents with his hyper-smarmy ministrations, Kent uses political clout to get away with same kind of murder. Though he’s not generally known for it, Kent’s largesse to local politicians is legendary. All it takes is few quick keystrokes on the Illinois State Board of Elections website to reveal he’s doled out almost $100,000 since 1997. And when it comes to contributing to political coffers, Kent is utterly non-denominational. From Karen McConnaughay to Tom Weisner and Ken Ramsey to Pat Quinn, one might say our overeager real estate mogul likes to hedge his bets. Sure! …
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The Tanna Farms Golf Club financial woes might have been a reason to argue against apartments in Mill Creek, after all.
The folks I’ve spoken with told me the handwriting was on the wall, but it still comes as somewhat of a surprise that the Tanna Farms Golf Club is headed into foreclosure. If you didn’t already know, the golf course in question sits in the southwest corner of the unincorporated Mill Creek subdivision made semi-infamous by a couple of my columns here. The legal papers were filed July 6 and, in another surprising twist, Shodeen Management is prominently named as a defendant. This interesting development makes one wonder whether his company or Kent Shodeen himself made some sort of personal guarantee on the project. The next court date is Sept. 28. But what really amazes me about this story is, while all those Mill Creekians we’re ranting, …
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4:30 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
Jeff take a drive in Tanna Farms It is rather interesting that Shodeen has started several spec homes. Do you think he is telling those buyers about the change in plans? He certainly wasnt earlier this year. more ›
Get a grip Mill Creekers! This is what happens when you don't pay attention!
The folks in Mill Creek are at it again. I swear they’re just like a bunch of hyperactive toddlers. Leave them alone for 10 seconds and they're riding the labradoodle and climbing the fridge. Last week, it was the unparalleled horror of having to watch their kindergarten progeny, sad faces plastered against those small square school bus windows, being schlepped 5,280 feet to Fabyan Elementary to mitigate a temporary class size issue. This week, it’s the prospect of a 390 unit apartment building complex in the northwest corner of that Shodeen paradise that sent them over the edge again. It’s not that I’m not sympathetic. I am. Why, these dire tribulations remind me of a Big Bang Theory episode where, having to cope with low pulp orange …
9:52 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
Rain dance worked - now let's do a property tax reduction dance! more ›
Jeff Ward
4:32 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
Kurt, Maybe this is hindsight, but the other caveat in the column is TIFs tend to go to generous friends. And then they tend to fall flat on their face. And remember, nature abhors a vacuum. As one reader pointed out, if the market could bear that development, it would already be there. In the end, municipalities really need to stop participating in this insane competition for businesses because … more ›