Deluge of new condo buildings can be neighborhood scourge
Posted 3/22/2007 by Barry Pearce
Sorry for the biblical headline there, but yesterday's relentless rain and peals of thunder put us in a biblical frame of mind. Noah, no doubt, would have been prepared for the flood created by the newish, condo building at the southeast corner of Hermitage and Lawrence avenues. We haven't checked the city building code, but something about the way the gutter on this four-story building empties directly onto its sidewalk, which forms a tributary feeding the main sidewalk on Hermitage (now a swamp) doesn't seem quite right.
In addition to flooding the sidewalk yesterday, this oddly placed gutter appeared to be damaging the lawn of neighbors who should be given a medal for their lavish gardening. By way of background, the developer who built this condo building damaged this same neighbor's house during construction and refused for some time to pay reasonable damages. The city, to its credit, shut the project down until the adjacent homeowner was satisfied. Meanwhile, the shell of the condo building sat half-finished month after month, a blight on the block. At least that's what neighbors thought before they saw the way this thing looked after completion. Then they were nostalgiac for the shell.
Less than happy with the construction standards and manners of the developers and contractors who have become your temporary neighbors? Click on "Comments" below and tell us your tale.
Comments
3/22/07
Neighbor said:
Gosh, but this building's ugly! A testament to everything that was wrong about new residentail construction in the 1990s. I have to walk/drive by this monstrosity every day and marvel at the idea that anyone actually bought units in here. Awkward layouts, little curb appeal, no landscaping to speak of…I'm not surprised at this item; the developer probably cut corners all the way around. All in all, only marginally better-looking than the old supermarket it replaced.
anon said:
Maybe some cops bought in here since it's across the street from a Dunkin Donuts :-)
Devyn said:
Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't buildings like this supposed to dispose of their rain run-off directly to the storm drains?
This doesn't look good for the health of the building. It is too easy to have that standing water seep back into the basement.
All that is completely aside from the fact that this is one ugly ass building. Perhaps the owners are all sight impaired?
3/23/07
Kuz said:
I think you're right about the storm water code, Devyn. This building should get tagged. And what a waste of valuable fresh water.
Carter said:
anyone know the house on approx 29xx N Damen where the residents always have a colorful banner decrying some aspect of gentrification hanging on the front? featured in the Chicago Tribune magazine in maybe 01 or 02?
I watched as over a period of a few years the knucklehead condo builders on each side of her sloped their 100%-paved-front-to-back lots so they drained in her yard when it rained.
I think she eventually built some kind of fence that kept the water back in their yards (I'm sure that's not good for their foundations, as Devyn points out for this one).
on a very positive note, the City has been piloting a "green alleys" program, which will help get rainwater back into the ground & should massively decrease basement flooding.
the handbook available online is very
encouraging:
http://egov.cityofchicago.org/webportal/COCWebPortal/COC_EDITORIAL/GreenAlleyHan\
dbook_Jan.pdf