Alison Victoria Ended Partnership After Donovan Eckhardt Used Half Their Budget for His Personal Companies

From House Beautiful

During the latest episode of Windy City Rehab, Alison Victoria officially cut ties with business partner Donovan Eckhardt. The decision to end the partnership comes after Victoria discovered that Eckhardt had been withdrawing money from their shared business account and putting it towards his personal companies.

While renovating an '80s style condo in at the Delaware building in downtown Chicago, Victoria is notified by Christine, who works as the duo's director of purchasing, that the amount of money allocated for the project's budget did not match what was currently in their bank account. Victoria holds a team meeting to get to the bottom of this.

During this meeting, Christine reveals that Greymark Development, which is one of Eckhardt's companies, requested a payment for "general conditions." General conditions are costs incurred during a construction project that don’t directly apply to the property— such as a trailer for the job site or site administrative costs.

Victoria is furious: "There's no money for general conditions in this budget," she says to Eckhardt. When this partnership started, it was agreed that Eckhardt would handle financial aspects, while she focused on design. However, since Eckhardt's real estate developer license and general contractor license had been suspended (and Victoria asked Ermin Pajazetovic to step in as their general contractor in the meantime), it was unclear why he would be requesting money for his own projects.

Frustrated by Eckhardt's actions, Victoria asks Christine to pull a definitive record of all their account transactions. In her audit, Christine reveals to Victoria that another one of Donovan's personal companies had also previously taken $180,000 from the account.

"Half of the budget went to Donovan's own company. That means that's my money too. Those are my houses," Victoria exclaims. "I made the wrong decision about the wrong business partner. This is the end between me and Donovan," she confirmed during episode, later revealing she "felt free."

However, trying to financially recover from Eckhardt's actions might be easier said than done. In the preview for next week’s episode, Victoria reveals she has five lawyers.

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