![]() (The building had failed the previous five inspections under prior ownership as well.)Ī building inspector came by the building again on January 21, 2021, just two days after a 311 complaint was called in. The building failed six of the eight inspections conducted since 312’s purchase of it in 2015. The obstructed floor drain wasn’t the only issue city inspectors identified. As of press time, the complaints remain unresolved according to the DOB data portal. They ordered the company to replace the drain and to employ a licensed and bonded plumber. On May 13, 2019, a city inspector found that there had been a sewage backup in the rear basement units due to an obstructed floor drain. 312 bought the building in June 2015, according to city permits. Records from the Department of Buildings (DOB) suggest that 312 management were informed and aware of the unit’s potential to flood when Dabney moved in.Īccording to the DOB inspection reports, the building had experienced flooding issues in its garden unit for at least two years prior to Dabney’s arrival. “I had lost my everlasting mind,” she said. Her boyfriend cleaned up what he could before they eventually got a call back from 312 on Monday, Dabney said.ĭabney had experienced delays in emergency work orders before, but not like this. “Dennis is refusing to come and the situation is getting worse,” she wrote at 4:53 p.m. “I thought he was the emergency plumber? Why is this not communicated to the tenants on who to contact since neither one of you answer your phones either.” “My shower just backed up and apparently Dennis is off until Monday,” Dabney texted to the Lowensteins at 3:42 p.m., along with a video of the backup. (312 does not have an online platform for tenant service.) Dabney provided footage of videos from both the sewage backup and the February floods to the Herald.įrom Saturday until Monday, Dabney said she couldn’t get a hold of owners Ariel and Raphael Lowenstein, who she said can only be reached via cellphone. Later that year, on October 16, sewage backed up into the unit, coating the floors of her apartment. They went to stay in a hotel for most of February and deducted the cost from the next month’s rent. One month after Dabney and her boyfriend moved in, the apartment started flooding. She also noted that the building doors were often jammed or broken, allowing nonresidents to come into the building at any hour of day. This was the third 312 property she had lived in.Ī broken fridge and broken oven were the most immediate issues, she alleged. Michigan Ave., where she lived from January to October 2021. “The moment I stepped in, there were seventeen things that were wrong with it,” said Kamiah Dabney, referring to her garden unit at 4320 S. When reached at the company’s South Loop office on July 22, Ariel Lowenstein acknowledged receiving the Herald’s requests for comment and said he would not respond to questions on the record. The Herald previously reported that during the eviction moratorium, 312 began a full interior gut rehab at a former cooperative building on Drexel Boulevard while there were still residents and children on the property.ģ12 Real Estate did not respond to the Herald’s repeated requests for comment, for this story or the previous one. Across eight different buildings, ten tenants told the Herald about their experience moving into a 312-owned building or living in a building that 312 took over, alleging structural, plumbing, security or rodent issues, which some said were affecting their health unresponsiveness from management about urgent issues and difficulty relocating from 312 buildings due to the tight rental market. Records compiled and analyzed by the Herald show that 312 has spent at least $51 million on approximately twenty residential properties between Bronzeville, Kenwood, Woodlawn and South Shore, with more than half of that amount spent in the last two years alone.īut their building management has not kept up with their property acquisitions. For other problems-mice “flying out the walls” broken doors, lights, and security cameras mold garbage in the alleys-tenants allege months came and went with no fix from owner and manager 312 Real Estate.ģ12 Real Estate, a real estate company owned by Ariel and Raphael Lowenstein, has expanded rapidly through south lakefront neighborhoods since 2014. Several weeks for the property manager to respond to texts about a broken back door. It took a weekend for a sewage backup to be cleaned up. This story is co-published with the Hyde Park Herald.
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