Page 4 - The Chicagoland Cooperator Summer 2020

4 THE CHICAGOLAND COOPERATOR
—SUMMER 2020
CHICAGOCOOPERATOR.COM
Industry Pulse
Events
The
Chicagoland Cooperator
Introduces
FREE Webinars—a New Resource for
Boards and Managers at chicagocooperator.
com/events
The Chicagoland Cooperator,
a Yale Rob-
bins publication, has been a resource for the
boards, managers, and residents of co-ops,
condos, and HOAs for nearly two decades,
both in print and online—and we are pleased
to announce a new addition to our toolkit.
Yale Robbins Productions has launched Co-
operator Events, a new series of FREE educa-
tional ‘town-hall’ style webinars, sponsored
by leaders in the multifamily industry and
focusing on issues and challenges facing to-
day’s boards. We have assembled expert pan-
els on everything from legal questions around
the COVID-19 pandemic to optimizing your
insurance coverage to disinfecting your com-
munity’s pool. Registration and attendance
are FREE to all—just visit chicagocooperator.
com/events, choose the webinar you’d like to
attend, and sign up. It’s that simple. You’ll get
an email link and reminders for the event, and
will have the opportunity to submit questions
for the panelists before AND during the webi-
nar itself. Past events are archived and avail-
able on-demand on chicagocooperator.com/
events. Serving on your board is a big job, and
a big responsibility, but sound, timely advice
from industry veterans can help lighten the
load and make your building or association
run more smoothly. We’re committed to help-
ing you achieve that, and look forward to ‘see-
ing’ you at an upcoming webinar!
Law & Legislation
Lincoln Park Condo Sues Neighboring
Private School Over Alleged Covert Take-
over
The
Chicago Tribune
reports that a
months-long controversy involving elite
private school Francis W. Parker and its
neighbor to the north and east, 327-335
Belden by the Park, has progressed to a law-
suit filed by the condo association. The suit
alleges that the school used straw buyers to
acquire condos in the building on its behalf
in a bid for a voting majority it could use to
effectuate an expansion of its campus.
In addition to the school, notes the
Trib
,
other defendants named in the suit are cur-
rent and former owners in the building and
Michael Demetriou, president of Baum
Realty and a Francis Parker parent. The
lawsuit also names Matthew Kirst, former
president of Belden by the Park’s board, as a
defendant, alleging he breached his fiducia-
ry duty by assisting Parker with its efforts.
The
Tribune’s
reporting on this matter
began last July, when the school’s offer to
acquire the building, along with its offer
to acquire another neighboring century-
old condominium, was rejected. Instead,
the school began buying individual units
at Belden on the Park to move toward its
intended goal of taking over the property.
As the paper notes, Parker would need
85% approval of unit owners to gain con-
trol of the building. By January, reports the
Trib,
the school or its affiliates held deed to
six of the 15 units in the condo.
In its suit, filed in Cook County Circuit
Court, according to the
Trib
, the Belden by
the Park condo association alleges that the
school committed common-law fraud and
conspired to commit fraud when it hid its
identity and bought those units “under the
cover of night”—first by using two sepa-
rate trusts to purchase two units without
disclosing that Parker was the beneficiary,
and then, after its bulk offer was rejected,
using a company called Belden Acquisition
to buy the other four units. Demitriou, who
presented the bulk offer to the unit owners
at its annual meeting and who told the
Tri-
bune
last year that he was volunteering his
services in deals involving the school, is the
sole member of the company.
“In this way,” alleges the lawsuit, “Park-
er planned to covertly take control of the
Plaintiff’s residential board and ultimately
force those residents unwilling to sell out of
their homes.”
The lawsuit comes after more informal
community opposition to the school’s ac-
tions, including a group who distributed
thousands of flyers earlier this year to in-
form neighbors about what it considers to
be the school’s predatory purchasing prac-
tice. According to one resident of Belden by
the Park, protests have also occurred, says
the
Trib.
The condo association hopes the law-
suit brings unit owners some certainty
about their futures in the building, said Ja-
mal M. Edwards, an attorney representing
the association. “Many of our homeowners
bought these homes with the expectation
that they would stay there and raise their
children,” he said. “Our view is that our
homeowners ought to be able to stay un-
til they decide they want to go, not when
Parker decides they go.”
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Assembles
COVID Considerations for Condos
The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
cites data
from a handbook published by the Illinois
Department of Financial & Professional
Regulation’s (IDFPR’s) condominium and
common-interest community ombudsper-
son Adrienne M. Levatino that estimates
that around 3.7 million people in Illinois—
about 30% of the state’s population—reside
in a condo development as of 2015.
Describing condo associations as “a sort
of highly-local mini-government” with
their own declaration, bylaws, and internal
rules set under the framework of the Illinois
Condominium Property Act, Levatino sug-
PULSE
continued on page 11
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