Faith writes:
I have lived in Hyde Park off and on for more than 30 years. Last April or May when Mac Properties bought the building I was renting along with 42 others, I thought nothing of it. Then I had to deal with their lack of communicating, even where to pay the rent.
When I read a few articles on-line about the man who owns or operates Mac Properties, I got concerned. He's from New Jersey, not Chicago.
In the building where I live, everyone has to vacate by this summer. Mac has closed down at least 4 buildings on Greenwood alone. So, if you wanted to stay in Hyde Park, you cannot because they are closing all these buildings down AT THE SAME TIME to make them luxury apartments-- at least that is what I heard my building will be.
If this is the case, Hyde Park will become a place where no one knows your name. No one will care if the trees are uprooted or someone is changing the physical landscape of the neighborhood because it will be cold and clinical and the habitat of folks who do not know the culture of Hyde Park.
So I am asking why you haven't done a story on this phenomena, this company taking over Hyde Park?
Well, this morning I called up Peter Cassell, who's just signed on as Mac's liaison to the neighborhood. He assured me that Mac has more apartments currently available than there are tenants displaced. That doesn't guarantee, of course, that there will be plenty of apartments in your price range.
Peter also wanted to get across that Mac has the organization in place to manage its buildings, the financial wherewithal to improve their acquisitions and a plan of succession to deal with what we all assume to be a given-- that Eli Ungar is mortal. Ungar has committed to appearing at an HPKCC forum devoted to Mac Properties on Tuesday, May 6, at 7pm at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club. At the last Ungar forum, he promised to stay until every question was answered, so this will be a great chance to grill him.
I've been very impressed by Ungar myself. His Solstice on the Park project is amazing and he met just about every possible objection head on; the alderman's meeting to consider the development was a love-fest.
Sure, I also have concerns. Mac has very quickly taken on a large share of the rental market in our neighborhood. And those first large acquisitions were carried out clumsily. At buildings like the Del Prado, will the newly renovated units be more expensive? Of course.
But, as Cassell noted in our conversation, "affordable housing through unsafe buildings" is a bad plan. He asserted that many apartments Mac has acquired were uninhabitable, vacant due to substandard conditions. Given that so many rental units have been converted to condos here-- something Mac Properties has never done-- the acquisitions and renovations should mitigate the conversions somewhat and leave us with more rental units than we otherwise would have.
It's certainly possible that this new 800-pound apartments gorilla could end up harming Hyde Park in the future and I'm concerned that folks like Faith will probably find fewer and fewer affordable apartments. But I'm not willing to neglect buildings just to keep them affordable. I'm of a mind to congratulate Ungar on his efforts and otherwise wait to see what happens.
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