Crain's and later the Chicago Tribune reported AMCORE is one of seven area banks on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's April 15 auction block. AMCORE faces a probable deadline two weeks before that, however, to come up with a plan to fix eight expensive Algonquin code violations or come up with a good legal excuse not to. The village cited AMCORE, deedholder to the project locally nicknamed "Tyvek Towers", after FEN reported the masonry contractor supposed to finish its brick facing was pulling off the site. An Algonquin administrative judge allowed several continuances but the last time said he wouldn't do that again March 31.
AMCORE was reported to have $345.6 million in nonperforming loans at end of 2009 and more are piling up. At the beginning of this month AMCORE filed a $4.5 million foreclosure suit on a 90-room hotel project in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood. AMCORE had $4.1 billion in assets at the end of 2009 but its stock has tanked so low for so long that the NASDAQ market served notice Friday it may be delisted. Crain's claimed last week that Chicago's Harris Bank was interested in acquiring AMCORE and some private-equity groups probably would be.
All of that puts AMCORE, still trying to raise capital to stay independent, in an unenviable position. An adverse ruling on Riverside Square would draw more attention to the bank's woes at a critical moment. Agreeing to shell out some money to dress up the derelict project would probably be less prominent but that would drain the very reserves the bank is trying to build up.
Algonquin's position is somewhat better. No matter what happens to AMCORE, someone will end up holding the Riverside Square deed so the village can take them to Circuit Court if its board wants to.
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