A group of homeowners in a Bronzeville condominium have filed a lawsuit against real estate investors who own a majority of the building’s units.
Residents of the three-building complex, called Woodland Park, at 3243 South Cottage Grove Avenue claim brothers Jon and Julian Mickelson are forcing costly improvements as part of their plan to take full control of the property and turn all of the units into rentals, Crain’s reported.
The property, which encompasses a six-story and two seven-story buildings on nearly 7 acres, is in a prime location. It’s near the massive Bronzeville Lakefront redevelopment site, the Lake Meadows shopping center and the 35th Street pedestrian bridge to the lakefront.
The Mickelsons, who operate a property management firm called South Side Stories, bought 168 units at Woodland Park for $23.5 million in 2019 and have since acquired at least 15 more. They currently own 188 of the complex’s 240 units. The size of their ownership has allowed them to gain three of the five seats on the HOA board.
The Mickelsons have made 33 improvements at the site, which has forced other condo owners to make similar investments, some of which they don’t want or can’t afford. While some of the improvements were “things we needed,” according to Woodlawn Park resident Lauren Sterling, many of them are seen as ways to chase residents out.
“Fixing the elevators, we needed. But if you look around at our buildings, they need tuck-pointing. That’s more important than a fountain,” Sterling told the outlet, referring to a waterfall in a tree-and-shrub garden the HOA board installed at the west end of the property.
Ebony Lucas, an attorney at the Property Law Group in Bronzeville who represents the individual unit owners, filed the lawsuit on June 2, claiming the investors are in breach of their fiduciary duty.
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“The board is supposed to be a fiduciary of the unit owners,” Lucas told the outlet. “It’s supposed to make decisions in the interest of all property owners. This is what the statutes say. But the actions they’ve taken have not been in the interest of all owners.”
—Quinn Donoghue