Grace Episcopal Church, 924 Lake St., is suing real estate developers who are building a 20-story mixed-used development next door, claiming that the group has “seized and excavated space in the church parking lot.”
According to a church press release, the group received a temporary restraining order from Circuit Court Judge Diane Larsen and injunctive relief requiring the developers – WDF-3 Wood Oak Park Owner, Golub & Company and Tishman Construction – to cease use of the property as a staging area for its construction project. The order also “keeps them from backfilling their excavation without a plan of restoration from a qualified and licensed engineer approved by the church.”
“The excavation of the parking lot is a direct violation of our agreement with the developers to allow them to use the space only for staging of construction equipment,” Barbara Larsen, senior warden at Grace Episcopal Church, said in the press release. “Their actions have severely limited the parking spaces available to our congregation members and limited the church’s ministry work and events like church services and Sunday school, choir rehearsals, food preparation and shelter for the homeless and other ministries.”
More than 40 percent of the parking lot has been taken up by the excavation.
“Excavation work was strictly prohibited by the agreement, which concluded on Jan. 31, 2015. There has been no mutual agreement to extend the contract; however, the developers have told the church they intend to remain on the land through the end of May 2015,” according to the press release.
Larsen says the current situation severely limits available parking, and “it’s also created a dangerous and unsightly condition.”
Neither Larsen nor Lee Golub, executive vice president of Golub & Company, could immediately be reached for comment.
A status hearing on the case is scheduled for April 1.