2300 S. Michigan Turmoil: Rokas Intl’s President Back in Lithuania?
The Sun-Times is reporting that Rokas International, Inc.’s president, Andrius Augunas, has left Chicago and may be in his native Lithuania.
Rokas was the developer at 2300 S. Michigan in Motor Row in the South Loop that has stopped construction and faces numerous contractor liens.
“He’s a very nice guy and doesn’t come off as a crook, but his situation got much worse,” said Patrick Fitzgerald, an architect who designed Augunas’ Motor Row Condominium project that was started at 2300 S. Michigan. “Desperate people do desperate things.”
Records show several mortgages and lines of credit are attached to Augunas’ home in Winnetka. Calls to his home weren’t answered, and Augunas has set his cell phone to block incoming calls.
Motor Row was a 91-unit mid-rise in the middle of the historic landmark district (not to be confused with Motor Row lofts across the street, which is a conversion of several car dealerships into lofts. That project is still selling and moving forward.)
A consultant Augunas hired for the project, Sedgwick Properties Development Corp., has sued him for allegedly failing to pay $340,000 in fees. Sources said several lenders, including primary mortgage lender Indymac Bank and Equibase Capital Group LLC, are owed substantial sums and that Equibase is looking for someone else to finish the project.
Equibase principals did not return calls Monday. The phone number for Rokas’ Motor Row sales center has been disconnected, as have other numbers for the company.
Augunas also planned a 205-unit complex at 2100 S. Indiana, a mix of lofts and a high-rise. But his lender in that deal, First DuPage Bank, has sued to foreclose on the site, accusing Augunas and his companies of owing more than $12.5 million.
This housing boom also allowed people with absolutely no history of high-rise construction to suddenly be “developers.”
Observers said that, like many developers when home sales were quick and credit was easy, he took on too much debt in the hope of converting it to enormous profit.
“He got shiftier and shiftier,” said one who’s done business with him. “He came in with a pretty light track record but he had big ideas. Eventually, it seemed like he was running around with his hair on fire.”
Augunas started doing business in Chicago around 2005. Sources said he spoke of having run a cigarette distributorship in Europe and of once being a ranked professional tennis player. The International Tennis Federation lists an Andrius Augunas, 37, of Lithuania as playing on its senior circuit.
There will be more to come on this, I’m sure.
Someone should tell him he doesn’t need to flee to Europe if he has failed business ventures. Noone here will break his legs or send him to jail.
Thats the beauty of American capitalism: its okay to say “Sorry, I f*$&’d up!” and move on to something else.
Bob – I disagree, since if I were a betting man, I’d bet there was some financial fraud going on too. So, better to flee than have the FBI come knocking and send you to federal prison. Absent fraud or other crimes, you’re right.
Perhaps some Russian or Estrn Euro O.C. background or backers that want him too?
According to the FBI, he filed for bankruptcy in person not too long ago. Perhaps his trip to Lithuania was to bury all the money he stole in Tobacco tins in his Grandmother’s yard. Beats me, but I know he owes me $20,000 in stolen deposit money and I hope he gets what’s coming to him.