Tollway oases get new manager in foreclosure case

The tollway's seven glass-lined oases now have a new manager following a judge's order in the foreclosure case against operator Wilton Partners on Thursday.

U.S. Equities, which has managed private-public partnership deals on Chicago's Harold Washington Library and Union Station, will be in charge of running the oases that allow easy access to fast-food shops, Starbucks and gas along the suburban pay highway system.

The move was made by iStar Financial, which is foreclosing on the properties because of Wilton's default on an $82 million construction loan. Wilton penned an agreement with the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority in 2003 to raze existing oases, build new ones and rent them out, paying the tollway a yearly fee.

Wilton, a significant campaign contributor to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, fell behind in its payments to the tollway in 2007, but iStar has begun paying the more than $1 million owed a year.

Wilton officials have maintained they have been in compliance with their tollway lease and court orders.

"IStar has made sure the tollway gets its rent every month and will continue to do so," Synde Keywell, an attorney representing iStar, told Cook County Judge John C. Griffin on Thursday.

Wilton was still operating the oases even after iStar began foreclosure proceedings on its loan in April.

The oases deal collapse is set to be the subject of investigative hearings by lawmakers next month.