Former CKO office now displays a sign announcing their move.
The new company that replaced CKO Real Estate has hired an employee who previously worked for the slumlord, the Chicago Crusader has learned.
As that revelation fuels rumors that CKO Real Estate is still operating under a new name with the same employees, the Crusader has also learned that Alpha and Omega, another maintenance company, is owed nearly $140,000 for unpaid work.
Another contractor who has been unemployed since December is working with lawyers to collect thousands of dollars from CKO Real Estate.
For nearly a year, CKO Real Estate operated 26 buildings in South Shore, including 12 in Alderman Desmond Yancy’s ward (5th) and 14 in Alderman Greg Mitchell’s ward (7th). Many buildings in Yancy’s ward were neglected and racked up building code violations, as tenants lived without heat or water.
When one of those buildings caught fire on February 23, investors permanently closed CKO Real Estate and fired its remaining employees, including Simeon Pawletki, the company’s director of leasing. Sources told the Crusader that Pawletki had a close relationship with ousted CEO Chikoo Patel.
This week, Multiple sources told the Crusader that the new unnamed company that replaced CKO Real Estate has hired Pawletki as a leasing agent. Sources said Pawletki, as leasing agent, has been showing properties to new tenants in buildings on Paxton Avenue, where the company owns six apartment buildings.
Sources also told the Crusader that when CKO Real Estate experienced severe financial problems, Pawletki loaned Patel $100,000, but Patel never paid it back, leaving Pawletki distraught and without a job.
The Crusader has also confirmed that Jerome Faulkner, another former CKO Real Estate employee who served as property manager, works for the new firm. Sources said Faulkner is helping to steer tenants through the transition to the new firm and has worked to wipe out some of the tenants’ unpaid rent balances.
Sources told the Crusader that Roseanne Veloz, another former key employee of CKO Real Estate who served as director of operations, failed to pay gas bills despite knowing residents were without heat.
Veloz has not responded to a text message or a voicemail message from the Crusader.
While renting under CKO Real Estate, some tenants withheld a portion of their rent after they were left without heat and water, which violates a Chicago ordinance.
One week after investors closed CKO Real Estate, tenants in South Shore received notices from two separate property management firms: PIP Realty Group and Halsted Taylor Real Estate. These firms have been retained to manage the properties and collect rent.
PIP Realty Group notified tenants this week that it will change the locks in the apartment buildings it manages. However, a spokesperson said the company temporarily suspended the plans after learning that some buildings had squatters.
Still, questions remain about the new company that actually owns the 37 apartments that were formerly under CKO Real Estate.
A source told the Crusader that Patel was a “minor” investor in CKO Real Estate who had opened about 90 LLCs for his ventures.
On the real estate website, opencorporates.com was listed as the agent or manager of about 21 properties, including seven that operated under CKO Real Estate.
Over the years, land-lords have been scrutinized for operating apartment buildings in struggling Black neighborhoods. To avoid penalties or being caught when management issues came to light, many landlords renamed the firm and continued collecting rent payments from the same tenants.
With an unnamed new company and no face-to-face contact with its executive employees or investors, tenants are concerned that CKO Real Estate still operates under a new name.
Tenants in South Shore have formed a group, and many are reluctant to sign new leases or pay rent to a new company they don’t know anything about.
Under CKO Real Estate, Patel was fired after investors learned he allegedly stole nearly $4 million by steering rent payments to his personal bank accounts.
Last month, the Crusader published a story saying many employees haven’t been paid in six weeks. The story also included copies of bounced checks that CKO Real Estate sent to one maintenance firm, Maintenance, Inc., which is owed about $140,000. Sources told the Crusader that Maintenance, Inc., still has not been paid.
Now, Alpha and Omega, another maintenance firm that had been gutting and rehabbing former CKO Real Estate properties across Chicago and South Shore, said it stopped working this year after the firm failed to pay $124,000 in unpaid work in 2024. Alpha and Omega said CKO Real Estate owes them an additional $15,000 for work in 2025.
Another contractor told the Crusader that he stopped working for CKO Real Estate in mid-December and is owed thousands of dollars for unpaid work.
The contractor, Ismael, told the Crusader that he helped CKO Real Estate organize and coordinate the work of maintenance contractors. He also told the Crusader that CKO Real Estate was not paying him his full salary.
“I was getting paid a little bit from time to time to keep things going,” Ismael told the Crusader.
He’s now out of work and talking to a lawyer.
“My last day was around Christmas time. They asked me to paint and do some patchwork on an apartment before a tenant moved in.
“I didn’t know what happened until people started calling me and asking questions [about their pay]. I said ‘sh–, I didn’t know this’”.