- Illinois Port Authority
News that brings parking meters to mind: the Sun-Times reported this morning that the board of the Illinois Port Authority District is negotiating the terms of a megalease with a large, privately owned, Denver-based company, the Broe Group.
The Port Authority board is appointed by Chicago’s mayor and the governor.
The lease will give Broe Group the right to operate the Port of Chicago, the nation’s largest inland general-cargo port, for—hang on—62 years.
And the company is known as a tough negotiator.
Here’s what Don Elliman, director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, told the Denver Post in 2008 about dealing with company founder, Pat Broe:
“Would I do a deal with him? Absolutely I would. But I’d have my hand on my wallet and I’d have a damn good lawyer with me.”