Weeds and other plants overgrew the sidewalk of an old-two flat in south Oak Park on Tuesday morning. An empty police car was parked just nearby, likely to scare off squatters, just like the lock bolted to the front door.
Village hall says the home at 1181 S. Oak Park Ave. has been empty for almost 15 years, and officials are thinking long and hard about dishing out $25,000 of taxpayer money to rip down the property. Supposedly, someone is lined up to buy the home and remodel it, but the village doesn’t think those plans are credible.
“It’s an I-smell-a-rat situation,” said Simone Boutet, the acting village attorney. “Why would you buy somebody’s property where there’s a court action pending to demolish it? It doesn’t make sense.”
The village board was set to approve a contract last week to have the property razed. But it was pulled from the agenda at the last minute. That’s because Michael Bercos, an attorney representing the current owner filed a motion in the county courts, asking a judge to reconsider an order allowing the village to tear the two-flat down.
The home was bought in 1997 by an elderly man named John Waters, and has remained unoccupied since then. Waters had planned to fix it up, but fell into poor health. Then last year, Waters transferred the property to a corporation called R.J. Delaney Co. to manage it for him, according to Bercos.
Now, Michael Rossier, a builder from Park Ridge allegedly wants to buy the two-flat for $60,000, according to Bercos, to fix it up and possibly live there. He claims that the village is arbitrarily blocking the sale, and filed a lawsuit on Monday, asking a judge to force Oak Park to allow it.
Bercos said there’s “no hidden agenda,” and they just want to raise some money for the elderly owner’s caretaking expenses.
“I think it’d be a shame to tear it down. It’s a nice property,” he said.
But Boutet said Rossier’s plans to rehab the home aren’t credible, and that’s why the village has refused to issue a transfer tax stamp since the May 2 sale, which would give the village’s final approval. Instead, they’d prefer to see it come down.
“I could try and try to figure out what they’re up to, but I don’t really have to care,” Boutet said. “I just want to take it down.”
Oak Park has fined the owner of 1181 S. Oak Park Ave. some $5,000 because of the derelict condition of the property. In his lawsuit against the village Bercos accuses Oak Park of blocking the sale because of the unpaid fines, calling it “arbitrary, capricious, oppressive, unreasonable” and “unlawful.”
The village, at the next court date, hopes to get a judges’ denial of the owners’ request to delay the demolition. If Oak Park does end up tearing the property down, the village would then file a lien against the property to recoup the demolition costs.
North Ave. commercial building, too
Village hall is also considering demolishing a two-story office building at 6641 North Ave. Pieces of the building’s façade are falling off and the structure has sat empty for more than two years, according to Steve Witt, head of the village’s building department.
It would cost some $90,000 to have the property demolished, though, which the village isn’t looking to pay. Instead, they’re going to see how much it costs to secure the façade, and possibly put up some barricades. Boutet said the village board will likely discuss the situation in the coming months, to figure out what direction Oak Park wants to take.
The situation is further muddled because the building is in foreclosure, and neither the current owners, nor the bank, want to own it. Plus, there are more than $100,000 in unpaid property taxes owed on the property.
Santiago Garcia, 39, of Sugar Grove, and his brother bought the building in 2006, as a location for their real estate business. After they made some improvements, the property taxes nearly doubled, from $24,000 to $44,000. Then, the economy tanked, and some of the tenants stopped paying rent, Garcia said.
The owners started making additional repairs to the building, but the village stopped them, because the changes supposedly weren’t up to code. It’s sat empty ever since, Garcia said. They bought it for $550,000 for a few years ago, and were recently trying to sell it for $99,000. But they can’t, he said, because they can’t afford to hire an attorney, and it’s unclear what they should do about the unpaid taxes, fines or unfinished work.
“No one knows what to do. Even smart people who do real estate, they don’t know how to proceed with this crazy tax bill,” Garcia said. “It’s like you’re walking on peanut butter. You try to walk, and you’re slipping backwards.”
Village Manager Tom Barwin said the two properties have “festered and lingered and have a blighting influence on the neighborhoods in which they reside.” Village hall is trying to resolve both situations, but it’s a confusing problem to address, one that could come up again with some 200 properties in Oak Park currently at some point in the foreclosure process.
“It’s frustrating because, with the courts, the owners and the banks involved, it becomes a circle of finger pointing,” he said. “Then the good taxpayers of Oak Park have to advance their money to try to clean up the mess.”