CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Residents of a 60-unit apartment building in Oak Park have to act fast to move out by tomorrow night because the village said the building appears to have major structural concerns.
The village of Oak Park said the apartment building at 930 North Boulevard is in “imminent danger of failure or collapse” and that all residents must be moved out before Thursday.
The village said in letters to residents and the property management company, 33 Realty, that an inspector found residential floors slanting three to four inches and structural repairs on a concrete beam above the swimming pool.
“People have been here 40 years and, it’s not just a building. It’s like family,” Debra Leonard-Porch, a 65-year-old who has lived in the building for 15 years, told WBBM Newsradio.
Leonard-Porch said residents got the notice Friday they needed to be out by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.
“I’m trying to find movers because everyone’s scrambling. There’s only one elevator,” she said.
Leonard-Porch said she’s been concerned for some time about the building’s stability, adding that “the building has always been kind of lop-sided, in my estimation.”
John Moyner, 37, has lived in the building for three years.
“There is a slant on seemingly both sides of the building,” he said. “We’re all scrambling. I was lucky enough to be able to get a moving company in on such short notice.”
Related
Moyner said he is moving in temporarily with family in the western suburbs.
He said the whole issue has been “a nightmare” for every resident however, “in light of what happened in Florida earlier this year” with the collapse of a high-rise condo building, he’s glad action is being taken.
“I’m glad that the structure is, at least, being looked at. I am not glad that we’re all being kicked out,” Moyner continued.
Debra Leonard-Porch said the property manager has offered residents the opportunity to move to one of its other buildings if they have vacancies. She’s moving into one of them about five minutes away from her current apartment.
Related
