Artist community divided
Mark Siska, a resident of the 25-unit condo development at 2418 W. Bloomingdale, says the developer, the Near Northwest Arts Council, plans to "illegally" convert one of the building's five commercial spaces to residential without a proper zoning change. But that's just the latest complaint from Siska and other residents of the arts building.
Siska said Laura Weathered, the executive director of NNWAC and the developer of the artist housing, has failed to pay assessments on the building and is sticking condo owners with roughly $120,000 in repairs to the building's leaky roof.
Weathered, who also lives in the building, originally agreed to an interview but later declined, directing all inquiries to the vice president of the condo association, Kevin Monahan. Monahan also declined an interview.
Mary Anne Cataldi, a painter who lives at the condo building, said problems began almost immediately after she moved there in 2003.
"Very quickly, within the first few months, several units started to experience construction problems," she said.
Cataldi said several units on the first floor of the two-story building have experienced significant water damage, due to an inadequate plumbing system and shoddy roof construction.
Cataldi and Siska said the condo association is split on their support of the developer, but a majority of the tenants approved a plan to split the approximately $120,000 cost of fixing the roof. Assessments for the new roof will run owners $36 to $55 a month for the next two years, Cataldi said.
"The roof is finally getting resolved, but we're getting stuck with the bill," she said.
"For
four years, we've had various outside inspectors come in and city
inspectors that have said, 'This is a bad roof,'" she said, calling the
development a "failed artists' community."
Cataldi said she believes the city and the developer are culpable for the roof construction code violations, because of their approval of the converted building, which formerly operated as a tool and dye factory.
"This building should have been done before the artists were allowed to move in," she said.
Edgar Bajaña, a painter, writer and former treasurer of the condo association, said NNWAC also owes thousands in back assessments on the property and still has not paid. He said he sought legal advice about two years ago, but realized that a lawsuit could run tens of thousands of dollars.
"If we had an executive board that was full of people that really supported all the artists to come together instead of trying to protect the interests of the developer, I think we would see some type of lawsuit," he said.
Cataldi said she would like to see a bank take over the commercial space and sell it to a "responsible commercial entity."
"And then that commercial entity will pay assessments and, of course, demand that we finally, for once, get an outside property management company to run this condo association the way it should be," Cataldi said.
Meanwhile, Siska said he is trying to prevent NNWAC from converting a commercial space in the building to residential housing without the proper zoning.
"This means leaving the purchaser with a mortgage for a piece of property they can't live in-zoned commercially not residential-or afford because the property taxes would be commercial taxes, which are higher that residential taxes," Siska recently said in a letter posted to the Chicago Artists Resource Web page at www.chicagoartistsresource.org.
Siska, a filmmaker, says he has neither the time nor the financial resources to prevent the conversion or to recoup his money for the faulty roof and plumbing.
Cataldi, who has repeatedly contacted city officials and newspapers about the problems, similarly said she's tired of all the animosity.
"I actually didn't even want to come [to this interview] because I'm so burned out, and I'm so tired of all this," she said.
Another article which appeared in the Chicago Reader
view video statement to the press
