For anyone looking to pull a Joe McGinniss and move in next to President Obama's South Side mansion, it looks like you missed your chance. The vacant lot adjacent to Obama's, at 5050 S. Greenwood Ave.—known to some as the "Rezko lot"—has been taken off the market. A listing for the 50' x 150' plot of land is still active on the MLS, but agent Elizabeth Cook with Urban Search Realty assures us that the lot is no longer for sale. For those unfamiliar with this particular piece of property, now-imprisoned political patron Tony Rezko caused a bit of a stir a few years ago when his wife bought the adjacent lot to the Obamas, selling 1/6 of the land to the Illinois Senator for about $100,000. For the past year, the other 5/6 of the land has been for sale at the inflated price of $1.3 million, and it (unsurprisingly) hasn't budged. Now, the owners are keeping the land, and they plan to build on it, says Cook. And who might they be?
Public records show that the property was sold to 5050 S Greenwood, LLC in 2007 for $575,000 and later sold to John D. and Marjorie S. Poulos in 2008. According to the listing, the owners have drawn up plans for a 10,000 square-foot house. Whatever they plan to build, they better square it with Alderman Toni Preckwinkle (or whoever takes over the 4th Ward in the upcoming election), who rejected a proposed condo development a few years ago because it was "too ugly."
· Listing: 5050 S Greenwood Ave [Redfin]