http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...l=chi-news-hed
How Hastert benefited from sale
Planned highway could sweeten asset near Plano
By James Kimberly and Andrew Zajac, Tribune staff reporters. James Kimberly reported from Chicago and Andrew Zajac from Washington; Tribune staff reporters Mike Dorning and Ray Gibson contributed to t
Published June 18, 2006
The complex structure of a real estate transaction in Kendall County last December left House Speaker Dennis Hastert with a seven-figure profit and in prime position to reap further benefits as the exurban region west of Chicago continues its prairie-fire growth boosted by a Hastert-backed federally funded proposed highway.
Instead of cash, Hastert (R-Ill.) took most of his share of the proceeds in land, some of it less than 2 miles from the parcels he and two partners in a land trust sold for nearly $5 million to a developer who plans to build more than 1,500 homes and commercial space on the property near Little Rock and Galena roads in Plano.
Hastert received five-eighths of the proceeds of the sale, which worked out to a profit of more than $1.5 million for him on property that he and his partners accumulated in a little more than three years.
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Proposed Prairie Parkway
Karpus downplayed the impact of the proposed Prairie Parkway, which would run north and south through Kendall County, noting that property prices began rising well before the proposed highway became a serious planning issue. The proposed road is designed to connect Interstate Highways 80 and 88.
Mandel Manion, who has sold real estate in the Plano area since 1991, said the market for farmland really took off in the last year and a half.
Manion said farmers tell her that developers knock on their doors unsolicited and offer to buy their land for $35,000 to $40,000 an acre.
"Maybe the Prairie Parkway has something to do with it, I don't know," Manion said. "I would guess it probably doesn't hurt."
Hastert's family paid $11,000 per acre in 2002 for some of the land he and his partners subsequently sold in December for $36,000 per acre.
The speaker has long been a staunch supporter of the proposed Prairie Parkway and helped secure more than $200million in federal funding through an earmark in federal transportation legislation last year.
Hastert press secretary Ron Bonjean said it is wrong to think that the speaker's backing of the parkway could positively affect his property investments because they are 5 miles from the proposed path of the highway. "It's too far away to have an effect," Bonjean said, adding, "The speaker has bought land like every American has a right to. . . . He is not benefiting from the parkway."
Jan Strasma, chairman of Citizens Against the Sprawlway, which opposes the parkway, disputed Bonjean's reasoning.
"People don't want to live next to the expressway," Strasma said. "They want to live several miles away with easy access.
"If this were some other individual who wasn't in a position of power and influence you would say, `Gee, they were smart, they made some money,'" Strasma said. "In this case it just doesn't look right."
If the Kendall County Board gets its way, residents of the development would have quick access to the parkway via an interchange at Galena Road.
The board last month passed a resolution calling for the construction of an interchange there, although county officials say they don't have the money to pay for it.
County Engineer Francis Klaas said an interchange would not be built unless the state, the federal government or a private developer put up the money. The state of Illinois has said it has no plans to provide highway access at Galena Road.