Village of Park Forest officials said residents of a dilapidated apartment complex in Park Forest who have been without air conditioning during a heat emergency this week should be getting some relief.
Village manager Jon Kindseth said Wednesday afternoon he expected conditions at Autumn Ridge Apartments to improve by the end of the day. He said the apartment’s community space would serve as a cooling center until then.
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The response comes three months after a Will County judge appointed a receiver, Frontline Real Estate Partners of Chicago and Deerfield, to take over day-to-day operations.
The real estate group staff also offered hotel stays to residents without air conditioning and provided cases of water, Frontline CEO Eric Jacobson said Wednesday afternoon in an emailed statement.
“We currently have vendors on site at the property, including an HVAC vendor who has three teams currently working on chiller repairs at the property. Efforts are also being made to bring in temporary cooling systems while repairs are ongoing,” the statement said.
The Chicago region has an extreme heat warning in place through midnight Friday, with temperatures in Park Forest reaching 94 degrees Wednesday.
“We have a large team dedicated to addressing all issues at the property and all residents are encouraged to reach out to us for assistance,” Jacobson said.
Judge Victoria Breslan in March removed property owner Red Oak Property Management from collecting rents and utility payments from tenants of the 384-unit apartment complex, appointing Frontline as receiver.
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.
Despite dealing with what he said were an “antiquated” set of buildings beset by a lack of care for years, Park Forest Mayor Joseph Woods said Wednesday his main concern was the current welfare of the residents.
He said some 110 units remain occupied by residents, and he is concerned by the “extreme condition” of some of the apartments, calling current fixes, which included tarps being placed on leaky roofs, a “Band-Aid approach.”
Pastor and Park Forest Village Board member Randall White said after visiting the apartment complex on Sycamore Drive on Tuesday, he was appalled by not only the lack of air conditioning after residents complained of similar issues last summer and heating failures in the winter, but other general maintenance concerns.
“I’m looking around and I’m like, the condition of the facility is worse than it was before,” he said. “If we want to say it was unlivable before, it is condemnable now.”
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White said issues include holes in floors, broken elevators and a permeating odor of mold.
“It is so horrific,” he added. “I really have never seen anything like this in my life.”
Regardless, Woods said he understood the village’s hesitancy to condemn the building, calling the situation “a catch-22.” He also recognized that the Frontline group would need more time to address deep-seated issues stemming from years of ignored maintenance.
“If we condemn the buildings, where do the residents go?” he said. “I think it is this fear of the unknown that is an unfortunate part of the problem.”