This wretch gets tired of writing about the same thing, but there is no getting around it. The Autumn Ridge apartments at the south end of Park Forest are an ongoing insult to the community and to those who still live in those dilapidated units.
That was the unwritten but acknowledged portion of the first six-month update on the Third World conditions of the housing complex presented last week to Will County Judge Victoria Breslan by Frontline Real Estate partners of Chicago and Deerfield.
Last March, Judge Breslan named Frontline as the receiver of the property, wrestling control away from Red Oak Management Company.
The new report by Frontline is a sad litany of neglect to the residents who still live in this kind of threadbare environment.
In summary, the report noted nonworking elevators, leaking roofs with “areas of water seeping into apartments and hallways” which helped account for the growth of what the report called “areas of dark green organic growth, creating damaged drywalls, and the deterioration of interior surfaces.”
One of the six-story buildings, 333 Arbor Trail, was condemned for its rundown conditions. Its renters, for now, are living in other apartments in the complex. Despite that, Frontline noted in its summary the overabundance of poor living conditions in the three remaining structures at both 111 and 177 Sycamore Drive and at 55 Arbor Drive.
“Elevator deficiencies remain a high priority,” the report states, adding only one of the two lifts was operating at two sites and that there were no working elevators at 55 Arbor Trail.
More Top Picks Best Portable Monitors For Students
In summary, Frontline said it is working to finalize proposals and looking for enough money to start needed work.
Then there is the “vandalism and damage to property” to the structures, which will require private security services and the need for better lighting in parking lots and stairwells as well as repairing parking lots that are in severe disrepair, the report states.
During last year’s hot summer and again this year, the cooling systems failed in the buildings. In 2025, angry residents publicized their concerns on television and at a Park Forest Village Board meeting.
In a hot spell early in July of this year, air conditioning systems again failed and a frustrated Park Forest Mayor Joe Woods demanded improvements in living conditions in the complex be made “as quickly as possible.”
That is an expected response, but it is not quite that easy and there are no quick fixes.
In its 14-point report, Frontline said there are no recent complaints about the cooling systems in the three buildings but said the shaky systems “are in need of substantial maintenance.”
Both Frontline and the village understand it will take lots of time and heaps of money to fix all the problems that beset residents.
In its response, the village pictures itself as “a second set of eyes” and wants repairs made faster and sooner.
Village Manager Jon Kindseth said in the years Red Oak controlled the property it racked up about $900,000 in unpaid water bills. For both health and safety reasons, the village cannot cut off water to residents who sent their water payments to Red Oak.
Village personnel also continued to write numerous citations for code violations, and it is estimated Red Oak owed Park Forest about $212,000 in unpaid fines.
We get it. Red Oak never mailed the check.
Did someone forget to put a stamp on the envelope or did no one care about the welfare of the residents?
More Top Picks Beyerdynamic Lagoon Anc
I think I know the answer to that question.
Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.