Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Chateau To Be Gutted, Rehabbed

Lake View Patch has the scoop:
Although officials have yet to announce who the new owners are, their lawyers announced Tuesday plans to completely gut and rehab Hotel Chateau.
Mitchell Asher, the lawyer representing the newly formed LLC behind the building’s buyers, told the judge during Tuesday’s hearing that his clients have the funding to do a gut and rehab. However, he also said that means residents will need to find somewhere lese to live.

“This building will be completely gutted,” Asher said. “…(Which means) it has to be vacated.”
So is it better to live in squalor, in an unsafe building, or to be relocated to another area with a safer, yet unfamiliar, setting? That seems to be the eternally debated issue.

The story quotes Ald. Cappleman saying, “We reviewed the living situation at Hotel Chateau and it’s much worse than I ever dreamed possible, and I’m alarmed. …It is not safe for those people (living at Hotel Chateau), and my focus now is saving people’s lives.”

Although the Chateau is privately owned, and receives no government assistance or funding, the Department of Family Support Services will be stepping in to relocate the tenants and find other options for them.  No timeline was given in court today.

The entire story is here.

17 comments:

  1. Now, how about the Sheffield House? Is that another problem building? Or am I off base here?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sheffield House is yesterday's news, Ray. That place was sold for rehab last year.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Sheffield House has already been gutted and completely rehabbed into "boutique" apartments with condo quality finishes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you!

    Have you guys also noticed that beautiful greystone by the gas station just north of the starbucks there has FINALLLLLY been fixed up?

    That greystone on Clarendon has been boarded up for 20 years that I remember.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Amazing what a change in local leadership can do!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wilson Men's Hotel next?! That POS needs to go NOW!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the update. I hadn't heard that (or just don't remember) about Sheffield House. And I haven't walked down that way for a while.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is how the ward is going to improve. Taking on one problem building at a time and putting in high density market rate housing where appropriate.

    As for the arguments against such improvement I can only respond with a nonsensical Monty Python clip.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Big victory. Cap knows how to use housing court to get stuff done. Wilson Men's Club next? I can only hope.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy day for Lakeview and Uptown!

    I wondered how long it would take for this place to be vacated and rehabbed. Answer: would never happen with Schiller in office.

    Amazing what a truly caring and effective alderman can accomplish in such a short time.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This rehab will be extensive. Is this building required to meet modern fire safety codes? I know there is a "Grandfather Clause" for older buildings due to the high cost of retrofitting residential high-rise buildings with sprinklers and fire alarms.

    I was expecting a teardown.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Does anyone know what will happen to all the low rent type businesses on the ground level? Will those be vacated and rehabbed to?

    ReplyDelete
  13. There is no money in Lawrence or WIlson...prospective post rehab rents in Lake View are a different world. This is great for Lake View but means little for Uptown's future.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Speaking of Lakeview, lest we forget the Diplomat Hotel is also getting gutted and renovated: http://lakeview.patch.com/topics/Diplomat+Hotel

    I really hope the Wilosn's Men Hotel is next so that it's redevelopment corresponds to that of the Wilson 'L' stop.

    ReplyDelete
  15. My thought here is that if DFSS is going to be involved these people will probably end up in homeless shelters.

    ReplyDelete