Multimillion-Dollar Garfield Gaffe Continues to Haunt Hinsdale
Hinsdale—The financial cost of the Hinsdale Village Board’s illegal reversal of The Garfield development has soared into the millions of dollars, developer Anno Domini IV said this week.
Anno Domini’s comments came in response to published reports of Hinsdale leaders’ discussion about a hoped-for parking facility near the downtown that would cost $20,000 to $30,000 per space. By comparison, the Anno Domini partnership had offered 100 parking spaces at $9,000 per space as part of their development on the southwest corner of First and Garfield.
The 100 underground spaces at The Garfield would have come at a bargain for the village: $900,000. By contrast, a parking garage envisioned by officials on Chicago Avenue, between Lincoln and Washington streets, would create 400 more spaces at a cost of upwards of $12 million—or $3 million for every 100 new spaces, according to published remarks of Village Manager David Cook.
In addition, village records show Hinsdale, in less than two years, has spent nearly $500,000 to wage an ill-advised, fruitless fight to undo their approval of The Garfield in February 2004. That spending spree, which includes a $325-an-hour attorney, has come in less than two years under the current village leadership.
According to a statement from Anno Domini IV:
“Taxpayers need to understand the extent of the village’s mismanagement and poor leadership. We can clearly count the known costs of legal fees and parking spaces at double or triple what we were offering. But no less real are the less tangible opportunity costs that continue to escalate.”
For example, the multi-use development is slated to have retail on the first floor, retail/offices on the second floor and six luxury condominiums on the third floor. Annually, those uses would generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for the village in the form of sales tax, property tax and other revenues.
Anno Domini IV has filed a lawsuit against the village seeking to move forward with the development as it was originally approved, in February 2004, before the current village board reversed the approval in May 2005. The case is pending in DuPage County Circuit Court.
If the court rules in Anno Domini IV’s favor, as is expected, then the village could be liable for all of the developer’s legal and related expenses. Those total more than $1 million.
“Taxpayers deserve accountable leadership,” said Anno Domini IV. “They are tired of the village using public funds to wage a private battle. Every time someone struggles to find a parking space, or to pay their tax bill, they can give thanks to the current village leadership.”