The head of the Cook County Land Bank Authority, whose dealings have been the subject of a series of reports by the Chicago Sun-Times, has resigned.
Robert Rose Jr. submitted a letter of resignation Friday, saying he plans to leave his $225,000-a-year job as executive director of the county agency in June, Nick Shields, a spokesman for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, said Monday.
Rose, who isn’t a county employee, has been working under a contract that expired on March 15.
Rose, who could not immediately be reached, has run the county agency since 2015.
Since the land bank, which was created under the leadership of Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer with Preckwinkle’s backing, first began acquiring and selling properties in 2014, it’s been involved in a number of questionable dealings, the Sun-Times has reported. The land bank:
- Sold two West Side lots to a convicted drug dealer while he was under federal indictment.
- Sold a suburban home to a land bank employee — Rose’s assistant — despite having higher bids from others wanting to buy the property.
- Agreed to take ownership of a building owned by Chester Wilson, chief of staff to Ald. Carrie Austin (34th), then wiped out more than $200,000 in back property taxes and interest — and sold the building for $40,000 to Wilson’s former business partner.
- Was going to wipe out years of past-due property taxes on a mall in Chinatown and then give the property back for just $3,500 to the same owner that failed to pay them — until the county agency’s lawyer said it couldn’t do that.
The county plans a “national search” to replace Rose, according to Tarrah Cooper Wright, a private contractor hired to speak on behalf of the county agency.
In a written statement, she said Rose plans to take “a position in the private sector and quoted him as saying it was “the honor of a lifetime” to run the land bank authority.
She also quoted Gainer, who didn’t immediately respond to interview requests, as praising Rose.
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