Following the partial collapse of a building on Harrison Street last month, the Village of Oak Park shuttered another nearby property, owned by the same controversial figure.
Late last month, the village’s Building and Property Standards Department deemed the two-story property at 200 Harrison “uninhabitable,” forbidding anyone from entering. The building is directly across the street from another commercial property, whose façade collapsed on Aug. 10, injuring one person and shutting down Harrison Street overnight.
Property owner Chris Kleronomos owns both properties. Following the collapse of the façade at 201-211 Harrison, village hall started inspecting every property owned by the River Forest resident, according to Steve Witt, director of Building and Property Standards.
Inspectors found that the ceiling was “sagging” in the back of the first floor at 200 Harrison. It appeared the roof had a “sizeable” leak there, causing water to seep into the second floor framing. The village shut down the building to prevent anyone from entering until the issues are fixed.
“Very little of the first-floor space is something you could occupy, so we just said, ‘Stay out of it,'” Witt said.
Kleronomos, who has not returned calls seeking comment, has already pulled permits at village hall to remove sections of the floors on the second story. Witt said the village is asking him to hire an engineer to put together a report on the condition of the building in the next 30 days.
Witt stressed that the building didn’t appear in danger of collapsing, but village hall just wanted to play it safe and remove any occupants until the issues are addressed (the second floor has been vacant for years, while the first floor is reportedly used by Kleronomos as office space).
As of last week, Witt was still waiting for a report from his inspectors as to the condition of four other Harrison Street properties owned by Kleronomos. All six of the buildings in the arts district are in foreclosure, with Chicago Community Bank looking to reclaim them. But as of now, they’re still technically owned by Kleronomos, and he’s still responsible for maintaining them, according to Witt.
“Until the bank actually takes it over, he’s still in charge of that building,” Witt said. “If he lets somebody in and the building falls on that person, it goes on Chris’ head. It’s not on the village. We’ve posted it and told people to stay out. People do stupid things for stupid reasons, and we can’t be everywhere every minute of the day watching everybody.”
Meanwhile, the building across the street at 201-211 Harrison is still unfit for occupancy, with Prodigy Glassworks, Briejo Restaurant and an in-the-works Chinese restaurant inaccessible.
Village Manager Tom Barwin said village officials and the court-appointed receiver who is overseeing the property recently got the go-ahead from a county judge to start moving forward with repairs. He hopes plans will be finalized in the next few weeks and that work might wrap up sometime this month. Meanwhile, a fundraiser is planned for Prodigy on Wednesday at Cucina Paradiso, 814 North Blvd.
Barwin hopes things might return to normal soon for those three businesses.
“We will do everything we can to advocate that the bank and the receiver and the owner move forward with the timely repair of this building,” Barwin said