Vol. IV No. 39 See sights from pandemic pop-up shop PAGE 2
D209 board replaces vice president Citing loss of confidence, board votes to replace Claudia Medina with Theresa Kelly By MICHAEL ROMAIN
SEPTEMBER 23, 2020
theVillageFreePress.org
New Starbucks to Melrose Park., PAGE 8
GRIEVING RBG: Members of Western Front Indivisible gather outside of the Maybrook Courthouse in Maywood on Sept. 19 during a vigil the group organized for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died earlier in the day.
Editor
During a special board meeting on Tuesday night, the Proviso Township High Schools District 209 school board voted 5 to 1 in favor of removing Claudia Medina as board vice president. Board member Ned Wagner voted against the motion while Medina abstained. The board then opened the floor for members to nominate Medina’s replacement, with Della Patterson nominating Sam Valtierrez, who declined, and Valtierrez nominating Patterson, who also declined. Board President Rodney Alexander then nominated Theresa Kelly to replace Medina as vice president. After a second, that motion passed 6-0, with Medina abstaining. “This will probably set a precedent that no board wants to set, but it is necessary,” said Alexander before introducing the motion to remove Medina as vice president. Alexander said that the board has no punitive power and cannot remove a sitting board member from their seat on the board without getting permission to do so from state authorities. “We do have censure, but that’s nothing more than a reading and if there’s not contrition and agreement on that, then it’s pretty much ineffective and the behavior will continue,” Alexander said. When reached for comment after the Sept. 15 meeting, Alexander said that Medina had been sending “harassing and bullying” texts and emails to Supt. James Henderson. “When Dr. Henderson sends his board a text message saying that he feels harassed as an employee, it is not our job to say what harassment or bullying is, our only option See D209 on page 4
Paul Goyette
North Riverside Park Mall faces foreclosure
Company filed complaint in July seeking to foreclose on $75 million loan givenin 2014 to mall’s owner By BOB UPHUES Riverside-Brookfield Landmark
It’s been a tough year for the North Riverside Park Mall, which has spent 2020 weathering a prolonged shutdown due to a pandemic, civil unrest that resulted in looting and a second shutdown, two shootings, the closure of Sears and the uncertain future of J.C Penney. Late this summer, the shopping center’s lender added foreclosure to the mix. The Landmark has learned that on July 30, a company called JPMBB 2014-C24 West
Cermak Road LLC filed a complaint in the Chancery Division of Cook County Circuit Court seeking to foreclose on a $75 million loan given in 2014 to the mall’s owner, North Riverside Park Associates LLC, which is affiliated with The Feil Organization. The Feil Organization operates malls and shopping centers in four states, including Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana and New York. The firm acquired North Riverside Park Mall in 2004. North Riverside Park Associates owns a little less than half of the roughly 1 millionsquare-foot shopping center. Its three large anchor spaces are owned independently. Fears of foreclosure have dogged North Riverside Park Mall for months. In March, the mall’s lender disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that North Riverside Park Associates LLC’s loan was in default after the company failed to make a roughly $68
million balloon payment due Oct. 6, 2019. Also troubling was news that in November 2019, the mall property was appraised at $48.8 million, far below the amount owed on the mortgage. Mall officials earlier this year pointed to a Cook County Assessor valuation of $85.3 million for the property and said they were continuing to work with the lender to avoid foreclosure. “We’ve been negotiating with the lender for the past six to eight months,” said North Riverside Park Mall general manager Harvey Ahitow in March. “We have a new proposal in that we’re waiting to see the result of. We’re going to get this done. It’s just a matter of time.” The foreclosure action does not mean a deal can’t be worked out, and in a recent SEC filing, the lender noted that while the foreclosure action makes its way through See MALL on page 8