Rezko-Obama 10-10-07 "LOT NEXT TO OBAMA...."

Lot next to Obama can be yours for $1.5M
KENWOOD Senator drew flak for land's ties to Tony Rezko
October 10, 2007
BY TIM NOVAK Staff Reporter
For $1.5 million, you can buy the vacant lot next door to Sen. Barack Obama's mansion in Chicago's historic Kenwood neighborhood.
It's the same land that has been giving Obama political headaches for nearly two years -- ever since he bought a sliver of it from the wife of Tony Rezko, the now indicted businessman who was once Obama's political patron.
The "For Sale'' signs went up last week after the current owner, attorney Michael Sreenan, said he notified the U.S. Secret Service, whose guards are posted outside Obama's mansion. Sreenan, who still does legal work for Rezko, said he also discussed the sale with Obama's real estate attorney.
Sreenan bought the land 10 months ago when he paid his boss' wife $575,000 for the 750,000-square-foot lot, where he planned to build town houses. He has scrapped those plans, hoping to sell the land for $1.5 million.
This would be the third time the property has changed hands since June 2005, when Rezko's wife, Rita, bought the property from a doctor for $625,000. It was the same day Obama bought the doctor's adjacent house for $1.65 million. Obama paid $300,000 below the doctor's asking price; Rezko paid full price.
About six months later, Obama expanded his property when he paid Rezko $104,500 for one-sixth of the vacant lot. Obama has since called that deal "boneheaded'' and a "mistake'' because Rezko's husband was widely known to be under federal investigation at the time. Tony Rezko was indicted a few months later, accused of demanding kickbacks from companies seeking state business under Gov. Blagojevich.
Nearly a year later, Rita Rezko sold the remaining land to a business headed by Sreenan. Between the sale of the land to Obama and Sreenan, Rezko's wife made about $50,000 on the deal.