The state has sued contractors renovating a former J.C. Penney store in a long-shuttered Harvey shopping center, alleging numerous violations of Illinois environmental laws for failing to safely remove and dispose of asbestos.
Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against Emerald Property Group LLC, the company in charge of the renovation in the Dixie Square plaza; John Deneen, a managing member of the firm; Windy Windy City Construction Inc. and its president, Jesse Williams; and G.M. Demolition Corp. and its owner, Gordon Martin.
The City of Harvey also is named as a defendant because it owns the 60-acre site at 154th Street and Dixie Highway where the long-closed 800,000-square-foot shopping center sits, Madigan said.
The 10-count complaint, filed this week, alleges numerous violations of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act, Illinois Commercial and Public Building Asbestos Abatement Act, the Illinois Department of Public Health asbestos abatement regulations and the National Emission Standards for Asbestos.
The suit seeks $50,000 for each violation and $10,000 for each day the violations continue. It also requests that the defendants adhere to environmental laws.
Madigan also charged that the defendants failed to obtain a license from the state Public Health Department to conduct asbestos abatement activity.
The health agency brought the case to the attorney general’s office, Madigan said.
In a prepared statement, Madigan said renovations in and around the former J.C. Penney store have been conducted “with little or no concern for the dangerous health hazards associated with improper asbestos removal.”
The work, she said, “needlessly endangered the health of workers on the site as well as residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the site.”
Harvey officials had no comment Tuesday. The mall building, which closed in 1979, is to be demolished and the site developed for commercial use, said Harvey spokeswoman Sandra Alvarado.
Earlier this year, Madigan sued Harvey and American Kitchen Delights Inc., for failing to safely remove asbestos material from a former Montgomery Ward store in the unoccupied mall.
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