Daley's Nephew Takes Chunk Out of City Pensions
Developers owe $18 M on vacant lot recently valued at $9.8 M
Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times
A year after Mayor Daley's nephew and his business partner lent $7.9 million in city pension funds to developers, the value of the targeted property has plummeted.
At least one of many projects that Mayor Daley's nephew Robert Vanecko and his business partner Allison S. Davis invested in with money from five city pension funds is in peril.
The involved pension funds -- representing police officers, teachers, CTA employees and other city workers -- struck their investment deals with Vanecko and Davis in 2006. No other public or private pension plans would invest with them, a 2007 Sun-Times investigation found.
A federal grand jury and city inspector general David Hoffman are investigating how the funds decided to hand over $68 million to Davis and Vanecko's DV Urban Realty Partners.
Now the funds are out millions, the project -- a proposed Dominick's grocery store and condos on a 1.2 acre site on North Broadway in Lakeview -- is on hold, the developers are in default and the grand jury is investigating.
The Sun-Times reported that authorities had already been investigating Vanecko and the mayor's son, Patrick Daley, for their hidden investment in a sewer-cleaning company whose city business soared while they were investors.
Copyright SunTimes
Posted Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009 - 3:37 AM CST
