Quote:
Originally Posted by UrbanLibertine
Did I say any of that? Or did I simply respond to his comment by saying that the neighborhood wasn't likely just leaving the building to rot due to the fact that the vast majority of Little Village residents do not have the financial means to renovate an aging building?
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The building was actually in great shape according to all the neighbors for years until a shithead gangbanger threw a molitov cocktail through the stairwell window because a member of a rival gang lived there. The owners then took the insurance money and embarked on a totally unpermitted illegal renovation where they lowered the basement floor and added a two story masonry addition literally inches from the L line in the alley and somehow expected not to get caught. They were trying to turn it into a 10 unit building by adding units in the basement and attic. They obviously got caught because the city is going to notice when you add a huge brick wall within reach of moving L trains.
So they got a stop work order and the recession hit and before you know it the bank (a local community bank, not evil Wall Street ) just leaves it totally unsecured and rotting. Homeless and gangbangers move in. That's when I first saw it listed on the MLS for $125k. I'm a stupid 24 year old at this point and actually went inside to check it out. It still had it's gorgeous original copper cornice and brand new aluminum frame windows at this point. Unfortunately I couldn't afford to pay $125k for an abandoned shell (or anything really lol) at that point so I forgot about it.
Then about a month later I saw the listing price drop to $25k and thought "well what's going on with that". I drove by again and the cornice and windows were gone. The cornice was ripped from the building and the windows were smashed for the aluminum frames. I figured it was just scrappers, but later found out it was the original owner who lost it to the bank who decided to come back and strip the property for whatever he could get. I ended up giving the bank an offer for $5,000 and they countered that they would quit claim it to me for free if I took it subject to all city actions and would pay my closing costs. So, being a green 24 year old, I went with it, took a massive risk, and, after 3.5 years of fighting with the city to get it out of court cases, get a zoning change (because they wouldn't let me keep the commercial component that had been then for 130 years since it went vacant for 5), and getting permits (took the city a year to issue them to me, you can see how helpful the city is!) I finally got construction started at the beginning of last year and finished it in fall.
Gee this poor neighborhood just having such a hard time maintaining buildings. I mean throwing Molotovs, doing illegal renovations, leaving it totally unsecured, and then coming back to strip whatever life the building had left in it just makes me feel soooo bad for this "poor neighborhood"... No, most urban deterioration is the result of a plethora of shitheads acting in chorus. No one gives a fuck and my experience here is living proof. I've single-handedly cleaned this whole corner of the Neighborhood up by just giving a shit. And frankly, most of little village is very well maintained, they might not have been gut rehabbed, but "too poor to maintain the building" isn't really a thing down there because the local population is very adept at keeping these things at least in habitable condition. Sure the historical features might suffer and there's always deferred maintenance, but at the end of the day they fix what must be fixed which is why the area lacks vacant lots in general.
Also, to be fair, most of the neighbors are great and absolutely support me. The little old pastor on the other side of the block, the big Mexican family next door (who saw me trying to cut the banks locks off the door the first day I owned it and brought me an extension cord and angle grinder to cut them despite barely being able to communicate with me), the families across the alley who called me every time they saw someone trying to mess with it. They all are great, they love me and I love them.
But there is a constant tide of shitheads crashing on areas like this, terrorizing the good people that live there, yet I'm the on who gets shit on as evil and all the malicious forces in the area get is protection from the landlord tenant ordinance and a light slap on the wrist if they ever get caught (which is rare).
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