1717 S Prarie Avenue Residents Speak Up

Tom Dzurison, recently retired high school teacher, meticulously researched the market before purchasing his two bedroom apartment at 1717 S. Prairie Avenue in 2004. His online and in person innumerable inquiries about similar buildings in the neighborhood made him a savvy buyer. At least that was the impression.

Even the closing which fell on the superstitious “Friday 13 Th” didn’t arrows hesitation about his choice. A year later problems with leaking windows outshined the beautiful design of the building, state of the art amenities and relatively low, fixed assessments Dzurison was so lured by.

“It turns out window sets are not designed to be set together,” says Dzurison trying to reserve his laughter caused by an anxiety.

Estimates of repairing the leaks range from $4 million to $8 million. This means that condo owners face a new special assessment of as much as $45,000 per unit.

“These problems are fixable, though, and I am staying in the building,” concludes Dzurison.
Water leakage being one of the major problems for the majority of the residents has affected not only individual units but the base of the building, meeting room, and parking garage.

“Warren knew units had problems and still sold them without a disclosure about the problems,” said Kelly, one of the residents who preferred not to reveal her last name.

Even though Kelly is renting out her apartment she has been involved in the battle against the developers from day one.

“I love South Loop but this has been the biggest stress in my life,” confesses Kelly who will be putting her condo on sale after the resolution with the developers.

Jean Kin moved into the building in 2003. She was soon relocated to another apartment in the building because of the water pouring into her unit every time it rained. Within a year she could move back to her original apartment but the water outflow is still there.

“Chicago City inspectors should have been doing their job. They should have noticed the leakage,” says Kim who suggests allotting association’s flower budget to hire a PR firm to raise awareness about their issues. By this, Kim wants to solve not only their problem but to help future buyers avoid going through what the residents of 1717 S. Prairie Avenue building are.

“There is so much buyers do not know about their (prospective) homes,” says Kim. “There are seven pending law suites against Warren (and his partner) but no centralized information about developer’s record.”

Hesitation versus Determination:
Some of the residents are not sure if the law suite is going to solve their problems. They fear the developer will file for bankruptcy and leave the residents with no financial resolution. Moral side, though, may be soothed. Or, will it?

Other residents are determined to inform people about the frivolity of developers, constructors and city inspectors and ready to go all the way until their demands are met.

Diane Anderson who is a board member of the building association says that all five board members were in favor of pursuing the law suit.

Anderson explained that their end goal is to have the city government issue an ordinance regulating responsible completion of projects and provide a five year warranty for the buyers.

The hearing on the case is scheduled for September 2008. And that is when the residents and the developers will most likely learn about yet another portion of expenses. Will the noble end goal be reached? Remains a question.