Residents at the Bel Air Hotel single-room occupancy hotel in Lincoln Park are still in limbo after being provided a notice Aug. 17 that they must leave immediately.

The hotel’s new management — under the name Diversey III, LLC — has provided assurances that no tenants will be forcefully evicted. Also, Diversey III, LLC has pledged to help tenants find new accommodations.

However, the building, at 420-24 W. Diversey Parkway, is crumbling and bereft of security for the 36 tenants that reportedly remain. And on Sunday evening, leaking from a second floor Bel Air room apparently was the cause of the roof falling in at Phase One Hair Designers, at 422 W. Diversey.

In mid-July, the six-story, 250-unit Bel Air was sold and tenants were told that they had 30 days to leave.

The Legal Assistance Foundation, a Chicago advocacy group, has contended that the Bel Air, by not notifying each tenant individually and being sensitive to each individual rent payment situation, is in violation of the Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance. The foundation has subsequently worked to ensure tenants who don’t have alternative accommodations can stay in the hotel.

Meanwhile, Bel Air’s new ownership did not identify itself to tenants and the community until last week, when the 30-day deadline passed. Then Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) learned that BJB Partners and developer Jamie Purcell had purchased the building.

BJB and Purcell own dozens of Lakeview properties — including the recently acquired Sheffield House Hotel, a single-room occupancy hotel at 3834 N. Sheffield Ave. As with the Bel Air, tenants at the Sheffield House were informed they had to leave. But the eviction demand was never enforced and, as with Bel Air, about three dozen tenants remain at Sheffield House.

The new ownership created the management company Diversey III, LLC for the Bel Air. On Wednesday, Aug. 17, a letter from Diversey III informed Bel Air tenants that “The hotel is being closed effective today” and that “All hotel guests must leave immediately.”

At the same time, though, BJB Partners got in touch with Tunney, and according to a statement from the alderman, there’s a “commitment from the new owner that no one will be forcefully evicted” from either the Bel Air or Sheffield House hotels.

Tunney added in the statement that he has assurances ownership will help residents relocate and “ensure that residents will be treated with respect.”

Julie Harcum, an attorney at the Legal Assistance Foundation, also said that she has received assurances from Cary Schiff, an attorney representing the Bel Air ownership. “Schiff is pretty familiar with the eviction process and he assured me there would be no violation of that process,” Harcum said.

Indeed, Schiff’s Web site’s URL is www.evictionlaw.com. A call to Schiff’s office was not returned and attempts to contact Diversey III were unsuccessful. A representative at BJB Partners headquarters in Park Ridge quickly hung up the phone and did not return subsequent calls.

These assurances, though, come amid a chaotic scene at the Bel Air. There was no management or security in the building throughout the day Sunday and, according to tenants interviewed, management has been scarce since the Wednesday eviction notice. “No one has been around the last two days,” said LeAndrew Johnson, who said he has lived at the Bel Air for 20 years.

There are 36 tenants left in the building, according to Cedric Mahaffey, who said he has lived at the Bel Air for seven years.

A tour of the hotel’s first three floors Sunday revealed that the remaining tenants must contend with bedbugs, cockroaches, broken smoke detectors, a broken elevator, an almost unbearable odor and leaky plumbing.

It was leaky plumbing from a second floor room that seemed to be the cause of the roof falling in at the hair salon. Salon owner Lisa Mondragon said she had to call the fire department on Sunday evening to deal with the fallen roof and ground floor flooding. The leaking also threatens to spill into Duffy’s Tavern, at 420 W. Diversey Parkway.

Tenants and Bob Zuley, a volunteer at the Lakeview Action Coalition — which has advocated for both Bel Air and Sheffield House residents, said they were holding meetings with Ald. Tunney.

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By Boyee from Mid-North in Lincoln Park
Posted: 08/31/2011 4:03 PM

What are these 2 SRO Hotels being turned into? Apartments? Condominiums?

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By Boyee from Mid-North in Lincoln Park
Posted: 08/26/2011 2:32 AM

Both of these hotels are in Lake View and not Lincoln Park as they are both north of Lincoln Park's northern border of Diversey Parkway.