One of the two passenger elevators in The Emerson Apartments in downtown Oak Park has been in and out of service for several months and has remained out of service for the past few months according to village staff. A current resident of the high rise told Wednesday Journal the second elevator has been down periodically leaving residents stuck with the stairs.
The 20-story building with 270 units, at 1135 Westgate St., officially opened in 2017. Resident Martin Brown, who moved there in December 2025, said the one elevator has been down for at least four months. He shared he has noticed the second elevator not working for several hours on a handful of occasions in that same time frame.
Oak Park’s village code requires only one working elevator, so the building remains in compliance with the second elevator working. However, the village can issue a ticket if an elevator has not been fixed within 30 days of nonuse.
Village staff performed a site visit on July 31 to confirm the elevator remained out of service and issued a citation to property management and the elevator vendor. An adjudication hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 8, according to the village.
When both elevators are not functional, Brown has to walk up 19 flights of stairs to get to his apartment. Brown also shared witnessing an elderly couple waiting on the bottom floor as both elevators were down within the past week.
“I’m not getting what I paid for,” said Brown. “I paid for a building that had two elevators, and it’s just causing a lot of hassle and delay.”
Brown said he has been withholding 10% of his rent as he believes is his tenet tight under the village code, but the money still remains on his account as owed to the building.
The code outlines that a “tenant shall have the right to a dwelling that materially complies with habitability and shall have the right to a remedy when the property is not in material compliance with habitability standards.”
One of the habitability standards is “elevators with structural integrity, in sound condition, and maintained in good repair.” Withholding rent is listed as a tenet remedy in the code requiring the tenet to deliver a written notice to the landlord specifying the noncompliance and that payment will be withheld if the issue is not fixed within 14 days of the notice.
According to village staff, the elevator failed its inspection by Thompson Elevator on March 19 and reported that both elevators could be in need of replacement although it is not mandated. The failure was due to the emergency alarm not working on normal power and neither the alarm nor lighting working on the backup battery.
The property owner, however, is responsible for maintenance and replacements. The Emerson is owned by VA8 Emerson, LLC tied to the California-based investment firm FPA Multifamily, and the property is managed by Trinity Property Consultants.
Although Brown said he feels safe using the one elevator when it is working, he is concerned about the issue causing the delay in repair for the other.
“To have an elevator that can’t be repaired over four months, to me, is an indicator there’s something very, very seriously wrong with it,” said Brown.
In an email to Brown shared with Wednesday Journal, the Midwest Regional Director of Trinity Property Consultants Bill Van Senus, said the final repairs were to be made over the weekend of Aug. 1. He wrote on Monday that the elevator was fixed and just awaiting third-party companies Thompson Elevator and Schindler, a Switzerland-based manufacturing company, to test the car before going back in service.
As of Monday afternoon, the car was still out of service, and there has not been an update since.