Court filings in the lawsuit filed by the lender controlling a now $33.8 million note on the landlord of West Sub’s River Forest Medical campus show that one of the facility’s largest tenants has declared itself “constructively evicted” from the premises, due to a litany of maintenance failures.
The disclosures are contained in a motion filed prior to a July 16 court date scheduled to hear arguments on a request for a receiver to be appointed for the three-parcel medical campus property on Lake Street.
The latest in a series of letters lawyers for Romano Orthopaedics’ have sent landlord Reddy Rathnaker Patlola’s Ramco Holdings refers to “constructive eviction.” It is one of at least four letters Romano has sent over the past year and a half in an effort to remediate numerous problems at the 7411 Lake St. building.
Romano Orthopaedics signed a lease agreement in November 2019 for 8,137 square feet of second floor medical office space in the building. The medical practice has its name prominently displayed on the building. It said it has suffered monetary losses due to canceled patient appointments, medical equipment rendered non-operable due to excessive heat, “and substantial costs incurred to try to cool the premises.”
Among the problems Romano lists are the absence of heating and air conditioning; on some days, they allege, temperatures in the Romano medical suites reportedly rose as high as 93 degrees. A water main break has left the building unoccupied since March, and elevator failures, including a service elevator Romano says hasn’t worked in three years, has impacted patient services.
“Com Ed has now shut off the electricity in the building due to (Ramco’s) failure to pay the electric bill and may do the same in the alternative space soon,” a July 8 letter states. That conduct, Romano alleges, “allowed the premises and building to fall into a state of utter disrepair, rendering the premises untenable and constituting a constructive eviction.”
Ramco “has failed, to this day, to cure its defaults” the July 8 letter states.
River Forest Village President Cathy Adduci said she favors a receiver assuming control of the highly visible Lake Street property.
“The village is not happy with where the property is at and we encourage the courts to appoint the receiver and take care of the property and pay their property taxes,” she said in a statement. “Any unpaid property taxes is a stress on our community, especially our beloved schools.
“We also encourage the courts to move the case along efficiently so that the property does not sit for years underdeveloped or underutilized.”
Ramco found “limited alternative space” for Romano in the adjacent building at 7420 Central Ave., but that arrangement, Romano contends, has been “wholly inadequate” and cost the firm substantial revenue.
In June, Romano entered into a short-term lease at another location outside River Forest, due to having no access to their leased spaces in the 7411 Lake St. building.
“These are not ordinary maintenance issues,” Compushare legal counsel Jacob Orban argued in his recent motion, which included the Romano letters as exhibits. “They directly threaten life safety, code compliance, tenant retention, rental income and the value of the lender’s collateral.”
Ramco, Orban alleges, is in default under the mortgage terms, and the lending interests Compushare represents are entitled to either take possession of the properties or have a receiver appointed to manage the properties.
Saying “time is of the essence,” Orban argued that a court appointed receiver could “restore and maintain essential services, address municipal and code issues, coordinate with vendors, and utilities, stabilize tenant relationships, collect and preserve rents, and protect the property for the benefit of all parties during this foreclosure action.”
Orban also sought to make the court aware of developments in the dueling lawsuits between Patlola and West Suburban Medical Center CEO Manoj Prasad. Orban cites the continuing operational uncertainty of the West Sub situation and said the “ongoing dispute affects the hospital related operations, tenants and/or stakeholders connected to the property.”
That separate case, which is currently in settlement talks, was continued to July 28 after Prasad dismissed his personal attorney and hired new legal counsel, in an effort to intervene personally in the lawsuit.
The Compushare lawsuit seeking to place the River Forest campus into receivership was scheduled for 9:30 on July 16 to hear a “foreclosure contested motion.” Wednesday Journal showed up at the scheduled time, but the courtroom was closed. Court staff directed a reporter to the “Zoom Room” downstairs in the Daley Center. However, physical access to that room was denied. A staffer there said, “only parties to the case are allowed access.” She then offered to show the reporter how to access the Zoom call on his cell phone.
As of Monday, July 20, the court clerk’s portal at the Maybrook courthouse had no information regarding what occurred at the hearing, or when the next court hearing is scheduled.