He's Both Developer & "Charming Young Man"

Eli Ungar, spokesman for the sibling companies Antheus Capital & Mac Properties, answered questions at the Neighborhood Club tonight.  The forum was presented by the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference and moderated by its president George Rumsey.  About 75 folks showed up.  (That's Eli on the left and George on the right.  The pics are from a little before the event started.)

Eli's companies have purchased a huge number of apartments in Hyde Park and Kenwood, but, unlike others developers, Mac doesn't do condo conversions.  They do plan to construct condos next to Bret Harte School on the Windemere parking lot, a project Eli said just couldn't be financed as apartments.  The rapid growth of the Mac portfolio has the potential for problems, but only the crankiest Hyde Parkers accuse him of anything worse than biting off more than he can chew.

The acquisition by Mac of 48 K&G properties this summer was indeed too much to handle (Eli admitted they made plenty of mistakes) and several residents from Mac units complained about poor communication, slowness in handling work orders and administrative problems.  I'm guessing it's telling that the complaints were typically Mac tenants who once were happy with their service but have felt let down lately.  No one identified themselves as former K&G tenants who were unhappy with their new landlord Mac.  Eli's explanation that the problems were mostly growing pains seemed believable to me.

Only a couple questions involved the soon to be constructed condo building.  One woman complained that the new alley would be right across from her house and we heard the usual gripe about parking from a woman who I assume was concerned about the future availability of her city-subsidized street parking.

Some interesting facts came out.  Eli said there were about 22,000 apartment units in HP-K in 2002 and now there are about 17,000 (although he maintained that it was hard for him to find accurate numbers on this and depends on how you define the area.)  He blamed the loss of units on condo conversions by other developers and registered his concern that this will continue to have a negative impact on affordability.  He also complained that Cook County still assesses apartments at about a 30% higher rate than owner-occupied units-- although some progress has been made.  He reiterated how unfair this is to lower income people.  And higher assessments from converted condos are therefore somewhat mitigated by that higher tax assessment rate for apartments.

A woman asked what charitable contributions Mac has made to the community and Eli answered that they wrote a check to Kenwood Academy for $80K for replacement of seating in the gym (IIRC).  No one asked if he would be asking to use Kenwood's parking lot for his Windemere tenants during the upcoming construction and Eli did not volunteer that information.  (Eli later addressed this; see comments for more.)

He said that several of the recently acquired buildings had basement boilers that could be replaced by single unit heating systems and, if Mac did that, then he thinks some of those basements could be divided and rented out as apartments.  I'm very much in favor of that because that would eke out a little more density and probably means a few more affordable units (for when people like me are old & gray but still ambulatory).  His biggest worry about the new units would be-- guess what!-- the city's parking regulations for new abodes.  One rather nasty fellow then related a story from probably 30 years ago where a single unit heater blew up and killed a coworker of his (admittedly a tragic story) whereas the old boilers were usually surrounded by 2-foot thick walls and therefore much safer.  This isn't an area I have any expertise in, but I'd be willing to take my chances in a basement apartment with the new heaters if it means I can stay in HP.

Since construction costs are related to affordable housing, I've twice asked Eli questions designed to let him complain about unusual costs in Chicago, things like permits or regulations (thinking mostly of required parking), but neither time has he taken the bait.  Tonight, he replied that we could lower the cost of construction if we could get China to stop using so much steel.

K&G's motivation for selling has been irresponsibly asserted elsewhere, but Eli implied that it was mostly a matter of an older man wanting to simplify his estate.  And probably the oddest thing Eli stated was that many of his early Hyde Park building purchases were from Croatians who had decided they could make more by selling here and investing in booming Croatia.

Folks pretty much behaved themselves, so George's duties as moderator mostly consisted of making sure everyone got to ask one question before anyone asked a second question, which he did a fine job on.  Of course, Eli's charm tends to soothe all but the crankiest Hyde Parkers.  One woman said he was a "charming young man" and his mother could be proud of his manners. 

Eli continues to be the perfect model for developers wanting to make money in Hyde Park.  He admits mistakes (although he will get testy about untrue allegations).  He assertively responds to neighborhood requests, even promising tonight to stay as long as people had questions.  And Eli exudes sincerity and concern.  What more can you ask for?

Comments

[Nancy Baum]

which kenwood parking lot are you referring to with regard to the windermere? They are pretty far apart, aren't they?

[Withrow]

It's just a rumor. Could be completely unfounded.

Still, it makes some sense, and, though I could be wrong, I thought someone at HPKCC asked him where he might have Windemere residents park during construction and he told us that the Museum of Science & Industry and Kenwood Academy were his first two thoughts, with a shuttle bus to Kenwood.

MSI would seem like his first choice, by far, but it's handy for negotiations with MSI if he has a second choice available.

Plus, MAC & Antheus aren't just his money. He has other backers he has to report to. It's much easier to justify to them the contribution to Kenwood if he can point to some non-altruistic possible benefit, besides helping the schools his tenants send their kids to.

[withrow]

Addendum: Eli has since denied that he'll want to use the Kenwood parking lot during construction of Solstice on the Park. The Museum of Science & Industry and possibly a University parking lot (for night and summer parking, I assume) would end up being more useful. It's possible, however, that some future project might lead to Antheus paying to use the Kenwood lot, though.

[Liz]

What is the status of the Del Prado building and when and how soon is the relocation going to start?

[withrow]

No idea. You might try the website for Mac Properties and then let us know what they tell you. There's an e-mail link on their page.

http://www.macapartments.com/mac/a_ch_hp_overview.html

Mac/Antheus has a growing stake in HP with every passing month, don't they?

[Jimmy]

I am a former employee of Mac properties and have resided in Hype Park for quite some time. For anyone seeking truth and perspective, here it is. Mac is a proactive, progressive, and forward leaning company, and holds Hyde Parks interest at heart. Many of the properties they have purchased were rapidly becoming substandard. I personally witnessed the pains they would go thru when major repairs had to be undertaken, and the lengths they went to to restore property to its orignal design. For any one that loves Hyde Park, Please consider Mac a blessing. They will restore this beautiful part of the city, then give it back to us, and our generations to come. The checker board of previous owners DID NOT contibute to the revitalization. I am a FORMER employee. I have never felt that Mac has recieved credit for what it is doing.How could they be viewed any other way? Thank You!