Does a lawsuit at Museum Park benefit anyone? It shall soon be told, and according to the outcome of this suit, this may be the new standard in condo buildings. According to Crain’s article below, the residents at Museum Park and the developer’s are in an all out war. This essentially halts any sales or leasing opportunities, which seems to hurt all involved. To add salt to the wound, the move-in fees for renter’s is reported to have jumped to $1000, which is unprecedented in the Chicago market. We will need to stay tuned, to see how this will impact future developments. Hopefully, they will find a middle ground, or this could lead to issues for buyers and renters in the future. And this certainly will put the residents and developer, in a precarious position, until it is resolved.

Central Station developers sue condo board

By: Andrew Schroedter December 29, 2010

(Crain’s) — A joint venture including Ronald Shipka Sr. and Gerald Fogelson has sued the condominium association of One Museum Park East in the South Loop, alleging that the board is trying extract money from the Chicago developers by jacking up moving fees and falsely claiming that nearly $450,000 was misappropriated.

Their venture, which also includes Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises Inc., still owns 41 units in the 298-unit tower at 1211 S. Prairie Ave., which was completed in 2008, according to a complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court. Amid slow sales, the developers want to rent out about half of those unsold units but have been stymied by a recent tenfold increase, to $1,000 a unit, in the fee charged for moving in and out of units being rented, the complaint alleges.

The condo board also has falsely told condo owners in a letter that the development venture improperly used nearly $450,000 in reserve funds to pay routine expenses, according to the complaint, filed Dec. 16.

And the board has tried to thwart any new sales by refusing to issue accurate “assessment letters” to prospective buyers saying the development venture is up to date on monthly fees, the complaint says.

As a result, the developers can’t sell or rent their units, according to the complaint, which seeks several remedies including an accounting of assessments and court order forcing the board to retract the misappropriation allegation.

Liens filed against the unsold units by the condo board would likely bring sales to a halt. A lawyer for the developers says they had no choice but to sue.

The association doesn’t “want them to rent the units and they’re creating issues to get extra money,” says Michael Pomerantz, a partner at Chicago-based law firm Brown Udell Pomerantz & Delrahim Ltd., which represents the developers.

The condo association’s lawyer, David Kluever, managing member of Chicago-based law firm Kluever & Platt LLC, declines to comment. Steven J. Roeder, the condo board’s president and a defendant in the suit, didn’t return a message.

The lawsuit isn’t the first time Messrs. Shipka and Fogelson have taken a hard-nosed approach amid the deep slump in condo sales.

Last year, they took the unprecedented step of filing lawsuits against about 100 home buyers who didn’t close on contracts for units in One Museum Park East and other condo buildings in Museum Park.

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READ MORE HERE…http://brittaj17.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/lexington-park-still-in-the-dark-2011/