Developer Jerome Cedicci’s 44-unit condominium project on the West Side faces foreclosure after a scandal over the development lead to several resignations at City Hall.

The condominium’s planned location was at 375 N. Morgan St., in the heart of the Kinzie Industrial Corridor, which is off-limits to residential development. When questions were raised as to how Cedicci obtained a building permit, at least five city officials resigned. There were reports that Cedicci and his brother had taken two bureaucrats on a vacation to Brazil, although Cedicci denies that the officials had anything to do with the permit decision.

Now, American Chartered Bank has filed a $3.4 million foreclosure suit against Cedicci in Cook County Court. According to a ChicagoRealEstateDaily.com article, the complaint alleges that Cedicci failed to repay two loans he took out on the property when they came due.

Cedicci is also fighting to reinstate the project’s building permit, which was revoked after construction began in 2005. The city began an investigation into the development after receiving a number of complaints from neighboring companies. The property sits in a zone set up to protect industrial employers from real estate encroachment.

Roger Romanelli, executive director of the Randolph/Fulton Market Assn., says in the article, “[The property] is one of the most strategic sites for the economic development in the city.” Romanelli aims to attract a company to the Morgan Street site.

According to the complaint, Cedicci is named as a defendant in the foreclosure suit because he personally guaranteed the loans. It continues to say that under an earlier loan modification, Cedicci acknowledged he had defaulted on the loans and agreed not to fight the foreclosure.

Cedicci did not return phone calls, and a lawyer for Schaumburg-based American Chartered declined to comment, according to the article.