Chicago’s “Worst Landlord” Sells Hundreds of Lots

Chicago’s long-running fight to reclaim blighted land from one of its most notorious property owners has yielded disappointing results.

After decades of snapping up tax-delinquent land across the South and West sides, Suzie B. Wilson and her sister, Swedlana Dass, agreed earlier this year to auction off their sprawling portfolio to settle more than $11 million in debts, the Illinois Answers Project reported.

Wilson, a Northbrook resident who oversees a number of property management companies in Chicago, has been fined more than $15 million for rat-related reasons since 2010, according to city and state records. The fines are tied to nearly 30 companies, all owned by Wilson.

The city’s bet that the bulk sale would spark reinvestment and fill its coffers, however, fell short.

Roughly 800 properties once controlled by the sisters went to auction this spring. Only about a third found buyers, generating just $3.4 million, far below the $12 million Wilson once claimed the “top 150 to 200” parcels could bring. More than 500 weed-strewn lots remain unsold, many in Englewood, West Pullman and Greater Grand Crossing, where years of disinvestment have sapped private interest.

“Whatever remuneration happens in the end, we have a single goal,” Mary Richardson-Lowry, the city’s corporation counsel, told the outlet. “She should no longer be in the city, owning property in a way that harms communities.”

Wilson and Dass’s real estate empire — assembled through more than 20 shell LLCs with names like Dagny, Dorchester and Discount Inn — grew over three decades from scavenger sales meant to return tax-delinquent land to productive use. Instead, the properties became magnets for trash, weeds and rats. A 2023 Illinois Answers investigation found more than $15 million in unpaid fines tied to their holdings.

The auction, approved through bankruptcy court after the city sued the sisters, was touted by Hilco Real Estate as a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity.

Instead, it exposed how little appetite there is for vacant land in Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. Most lots sold for about $5,000 each, with investors gravitating toward West Side areas like Garfield Park and Austin, while dozens of parcels in struggling South Side districts drew no bids.

Buyers ranged from neighbors seeking to formalize side yards to speculators betting on long-term upside. The city and CTA bought a handful of sites for affordable housing and transit-oriented projects, including parcels slated to offset parkland lost to the Red Line extension.

Even with the disappointing returns, city officials consider the sale a partial victory. Wilson and Dass have been forced to shed hundreds of lots and are now in Chapter 7 bankruptcy, facing full liquidation. A New York lender that financed the bankruptcy with a $4 million loan will be paid before the city sees any proceeds.

If the sisters somehow retain ownership of their unsold holdings, Richardson-Lowry said the city will pursue them again.

“If anyone thinks this is over, they’re not paying attention,” she said.

The case serves as a sizable example of a larger dilemma for the city. That is, thousands of vacant lots, most in private hands, languishing in neighborhoods still waiting for reinvestment.

— Eric Weilbacher