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Chicago

Front-porch murder finally prompts Chicago to demolish Roseland home

The home was torn down Monday, watched by neighbors who had pleaded with the city for years to do something about it

(Google Maps, iStock/Photo Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal)
(Google Maps, iStock/Photo Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal)

Three years after a derelict home on Chicago’s South Side was ordered torn down, it took a murder on the front steps for the city to finally act.

The Roseland home at 160 E. 111th St. had drawn complaints about everything from fires to squatters, as well as 77 violations from building inspectors, Book Club Chicago reported. Property taxes went unpaid since 2016. It was demolished at last this month, five days after the unidentified man was shot and killed.

Neighbors who had pleaded with the city for years to do something watched the home turn into rubble, disappointed that it took a death to prompt intervention from the city, the web site said.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Tony Flowers, who has lived next door with his brother, David, for 38 years. “I’m happy about it, and it’ll make the community look a lot cleaner and a lot stronger. We won’t have people lingering and just sitting out for no reason at all. And there’s a lot of negativity which took place, which is why it’s coming down now.”

The victim was shot at about 5:15 p.m. March 20, police said. He died at Advocate Christ Medical Center, police said. Detectives are investigating, and no one has been arrested.

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Congregants of St. George and St. Matthias Episcopal Church next door had long ago reported the building to the city and began working in earnest last year to have the property demolished. One wrote to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office in April 2021 and received only an auto-reply. They unsuccessfully tried to contact the owners, who owe about $10,000 in back taxes.

County courts authorized the city to demolish the house in November 2018. A separate demolition order was also issued by the Department of Buildings for the property’s garage in 2017.

An “emergency demolition” for the house was ordered March 25. A spokesperson from the city’s department of buildings didn’t respond to Block Club’s questions about why the building wasn’t torn down earlier.

[Chicago Block Club] — Miranda Davis

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