A GARBAGE DUMPSTER overflows with trash at an apartment building owned by CKO Real Estate, which canceled the service in August.
By Erick Johnson
CKO Real Estate, the slumlord that forced tenants of a South Shore apartment to live in unsanitary and unhealthy conditions, is scheduled to appear before a judge as part of a lawsuit filed by the City of Chicago.
On January 16, a court hearing will be held as the city prepares to shut down one of CKO Real Estate properties, where amid frigid temperatures, residents in an apartment building in the 6700 block of South Paxton Ave are living without water, heat and electricity. CKO Real Estate is accused of turning off all utilities amid concerns that the firm is trying to force out the last three remaining tenants as it seeks to rehab the building and find new tenants who can pay higher rent fees.
The Chicago Department of Buildings learned about CKO Real Estate after numerous complaints had been filed on the city’s 311 hotline. Despite numerous code violations and warnings, CKO Real Estate has refused to restore the heat, water and electricity in the building where the three tenants live.
Sources told the Crusader that the city is seeking to have CKO Real Estate give $2,500 in relocation money to the tenants, who are scrambling to find another place to stay. One tenant received a call from an attorney from Chicago’s Law Department, asking the tenant to testify in court against CKO Real Estate.
The Crusader also learned that the city inspectors had visited the property in the past two weeks. They found the building looking abandoned, with a dumpster overflowing with stuffed garbage bags and rotting food. The Crusader learned that the dumpster had not been emptied for four months after CKO Real Estate cancelled the service in August.
In addition, residents had been without hot water and heat for four months after CKO Real Estate had the gas turned off. During Thanksgiving weekend, the water had been turned off and the day after Christmas, one tenant discovered the power in her apartment had been off. When the tenant called ComEd, the tenant was told it was not the electric company that did it, but someone had turned off the power manually. Two additional tenants said their power was off, as well as the heat and water.
Some vacant apartments in the building were open, leaving city inspectors concerned that squatters were living in them.
The Crusader is not naming the tenants to protect their identity and safety. Some left their apartments to stay with relatives or friends. Without heat, water and electricity, tenants have been unable to flush their toilets for over a month. The apartments are so cold that one tenant discovered the dishwashing detergent in the kitchen and body wash in the bathroom were frozen from the freezing temperatures. The walls that were once a beige color are now gray.
The Crusader has been following this story since September, when Bryant Lee, CKO Real Estate property manager on the site, gave tenants a 30-day notice to vacate and threatened them with arrest should they move out by October 12.
In November, the Crusader reported that Lee was no longer with the company, and sources said he had been fired. In December, Jerry Faulkner became the new property manager for the three remaining tenants.
Since the last Crusader story on CKO Real Estate was published in November, two more tenants from the firm’s other properties in South Shore have come forward with similar complaints of not having heat or hot water.
One of the tenants told the Crusader that a building CKO Real Estate owns on Merrill in South Shore had 20 code violations when a journalist said the one on Paxton had 10.
A spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Buildings said the last three remaining tenants were offered a chance to stay at a local hotel while they find an alternative place to stay.
The tenants declined the offer, questioning CKO Real Estate’s intentions. One tenant was concerned about being a victim of a lockout, a tactic that involves landlords changing the locks of units and denying tenants access.