A Will County judge has granted Park Forest’s request to remove the management company running the dilapidated Autmn Ridge apartments and to appoint a receiver with a history of working with distressed properties.
The ruling Monday by Judge Victoria Breslan removed Red Oak Property Management from collecting rents and utility payments from tenants in the 384-unit complex on the south edge of town while turning over day-to-day operation of all the units to Frontline Real Estate Partners of Chicago and Deerfield.
The court decision ended a long struggle between Park Forest and Red Oak over numerous citations written by village personnel for code violations against the management company. Village officials estimate Red Oak owed the village about $212,000 in unpaid fines.
Conditions in the housing complex have been described as intolerable. Nothing seemed to work in Autumn Ridge. During last year’s blazing hot summer, residents lost air conditioning and during the winter numerous apartments were without heat.
Residents fought back, airing their complaints to television stations and telling a horrific story of what some termed corporate neglect to the Village Board.
Nearly two dozen angry residents told the Village Board last July about property mismanagement and of criminal acts by some residents.
They spoke of broken doors held together with construction tape, of black water coming from pipes, of mold and even mushrooms growing on water-logged rugs in halls, of feces in pooled up water, of stolen mail, of robberies, of broken elevators, of holes in the walls, of a reeking dead body in an apartment for days and of roaches in a replacement refrigerator.
Nothing was normal.
Earlier this year, a broken boiler in an 80-unit apartment building led to its condemnation by village officials. Affected residents were moved to motels in Oak Forest and Matteson with Red Oak footing the bill.
That seemed to be the last straw and was quickly followed by an “or else” deadline by village officials which demanded the sale of the entire problem-filled property with a long-hinted threat of receivership hanging in the air.
Judge Breslan’s ruling Monday was the result.
Mayor Joe Woods lauded the change in management and noted the trickle-down effect it will have on all residents.
“This is a major step toward improving the living conditions of residents and connecting with what it means to live in Park Forest,” Woods said. “For too many years the agonies of Autumn Ridge have caused a serious disruption to the quality of life in Park Forest. What affects one resident affects us all. There are no neighborhoods in Park Forest. We are one village of neighbors.”
Depending on the number of bedrooms, residents pay a monthly rent of between $1,200 to $1,900 as well as their utility bills. Village Manager Jon Kindseth said Park Forest is owed more than $900,000 in water bills from Red Oak but said it may never be paid by the receivers.
For health and safety reasons, water cannot be shut off in the units and Kindseth said although the new operators would collect tenant money it was unlikely that proceeds would cover old bills.
All money collected would be used for “going forward from now on,” Kindseth said, with the ultimate goal of making needed improvements before putting Autumn Ridge back on the market.
Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.
