The property manager who threatened tenants with arrest at a South Shore apartment building is no longer employed with the landlord, CKO Real Estate, sources told the Crusader.
Meanwhile three tenants who have been without hot water for 88 days have been given an offer to stay at a hotel, but they declined out of distrust toward the landlord, the Crusader has learned.
The tenants have also been without heat in their units and will struggle to keep warm with freezing temperatures anticipated this week.
The Crusader has been following the plight of the tenants since complaints and water problems began under Bryant Lee, a property manager for CKO Real Estate began managing an apartment building at the corner of 68th Street and Paxton.
Now, Lee is gone, and the apartment building has had its fifth property manager since January.
Sources tell the Crusader the new property manager is Simeon Andrew.
The Crusader emailed several CKO Real Estate executives who did not respond to questions asking whether Lee is still employed with the company. The Crusader texted both Lee and Andrew, questioning if Lee was still with the company. Neither responded by Crusader press time Wednesday for its print edition.
While managing the property, Lee drew complaints and distrust from tenants who went without hot water for weeks as they watched maintenance workers for CKO Real Estate rehab vacant apartments. Residents were told the hot water problem was part of a plumbing project that CKO Real Estate was working on.
Lee told tenants the project would take two days and that tenants would experience water problems. On August 24, residents began living without hot water. When the plumbing project went beyond two days, residents began asking for updates. In response, Lee gave them a 30-day-vacate-notice and threatened them with arrest for trespassing if they didn’t move out by October 12.
As weeks went by tenants said they never saw workers replacing pipes and Lee never updated residents on how many water pipes were replaced.
Meanwhile, construction workers were busy gutting and rehabbing vacant units.
Tenants believe the ongoing water problems are part of an effort by CKO Real Estate to force them out so property management can continue renovating the building to attract new tenants who can pay higher monthly rental fees.
The tenants have now been without hot water for three months.
Garbage has not been picked up in two months after CKO Real Estate stopped the service.
Tenants have filed many 311 complaints with the city and several building inspectors have visited the building.
In September, one inspector found 10 building code violations, including renovation of the units without a permit.
Two of the tenants have vouchers with the Chicago Housing Authority.
On September 24, Lee told a CHA official that the gas would be turned back on, but that never happened. Today, the tenants, in addition to not having hot water, do not have heat as the winter season approaches.
Last spring, a property manager who is no longer with CKO Real Estate, said the company refused to pay a $60,000 gas bill when the heat went out. The landlord paid the bill when a Crusader journalist notified the property manager the practice was illegal and violated Chicago’s rent ordinance.
Today, the heat and the hot water remain off and pose a health hazard to the three remaining tenants.
Michael Puccinelli, spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Buildings, said 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 is concerned that she will become a victim of a lockout, a tactic that involves landlords changing the locks of units, denying tenants access.