M. Fishman & Co., which owns numerous multi-unit buildings in Logan Square, issued notices in December to tenants at 2536 N. Sawyer Ave. that leases would not be renewed without a minimum $200 monthly rent increase. Other residents claim they are being asked to live in less than desirable living conditions.
Tenants Faced with Steep Rent Increase
A studio apartment in the Sawyer Avenue complex, according to Zillow, now will run prospective renters at least $895 per month. Although this price may seem attractive to residents new to the neighborhood, it is out of the price range for many long-time residents who have built ties to Logan Square.
“My son’s in school at Darwin and my lease ends in March. I’m expecting to get one of the 30-day notifications,” says one resident who has lived in the building for three years. “It’s unfortunate because there’s no place to go because rent in Logan Square is so high, it’s unfair. It’s like we’re not good enough for Logan Square.”
Allegations of Construction Without Permits
Residents at 2536 N. Sawyer Ave. have reported construction and remodeling without permits. While crews remodel empty units, current tenants say they are exposed to the fumes and noise that accompany the construction. In December, one tenant was taken away by an ambulance when she was overcome by fumes from the un-permitted construction.
Residents of the building say police have been called on construction crews twice, and tenants have organized with Metropolitan Tenants Organization (@TenantsRights) to address their concerns.
When a City of Chicago building inspector inspected the building on Dec. 24, he said he saw no evidence of construction and claimed he was unfamiliar with Fishman despite working in his district, according to the tenants’ Facebook page. Residents have filed with the city’s Inspector General.
Tenants also alleged construction crews hanging out and partying in the building’s empty units.
Construction Not Benefiting Current Residents
Despite tenants reporting that Fishman continues to carry on remodeling empty units without the proper legal documents, M. Fishman is not offering to rehab units of current residents, according to tenants.
Like other tenants, Marmi, a three-year resident at 2536 N. Sawyer Ave, has reported severe issues with her unit to M. Fishman & Co., but has not seen problems resolved. The building’s elevator has been out of service for months, according to tenants, and many have issues with plumbing and pipes, she says.
“I have only hot water in my bathtub. I don’t even have fixtures in my tub, I have to use a wrench to turn off my bathtub,” Marmi says of her unit. “This is false advertising. There’s no working elevator, and no intercom. It’s unacceptable for them to not fix the elevator. I am disabled and hindered by it. They think it’s their option to keep paying fines and ignore problems. I don’t know who to go to to get fixed. I feel violated.”
Some tenants say this construction will attract new residents while the company fails to meet the everyday needs of current tenants.
“He’s remodeling apartments and he has no permits for them. When he remodeled the Logan Theatre, he found the time and his wallet to pay for permits and it was an empty theater,” says a tenant. “Now, doing the remodeling here, he gets no permits. He doesn’t take time to do something legit and the building has elderly, disabled people and kids living here. The empty theater got more respect than a tenant-filled building.”
Actions Being Taken Based on Resident Concerns
Rey Colón, 35th Ward Alderman and a contributor to the original beginnings of I AM Logan Square, the arts organization Mark Fishman helped launch, says he heard from multiple 2536 N. Sawyer Ave. tenants at one of his ward nights. He said he tried coordinating a meeting between the tenants and M. Fishman & Co. Tenants and organizers allege the alderman has not done as much.
M. Fishman & Co. refuses to meet with 2536 N. Sawyer’s organized tenant association, and will only meet with tenants on an individual, case-by-case basis. This, according to tenants and organizers, would put already-vulnerable tenants in an even weaker and less transparent position to fight for their homes.
The tenants association serves as a way for residents to organize together and present a stronger fight to keep their homes.
“We’re pretty solid now. That’s all we can do is try to make the best of it, make a better outcome while we try to weather the storm. At worst we’ll have to move,” says Marmi.
Tenants are partnering with the Logan Square Ecumenical Association tonight at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 2649 N. Francisco Ave., at 5:30 p.m. for a discussion on affordable housing and its effects on the community and city. Further information can be found on the Fight Mass Eviction in Logan Square Facebook page.
Mark Fishman’s Ties to Logan Square
Mark Fishman, owner of M. Fishman & Co., owns 48 properties including the Logan Theatre (@TheLoganTheatre, 2646 N. Milwaukee Ave.), is the founder of I AM Logan Square (@IAMLoganSquare, 2644 N. Milwaukee Ave.) and invested in Parson’s Chicken & Fish (@ParsonsCHI, 2952 W. Armitage Ave.).
Despite being a heavy investor in the Logan Square community, Fishman lives in Deerfield, Illinois. Fishman was unavailable to be reached at press time.
I looked at an apartment in another one of his buildings, and while the unit was nice, the rent was ridiculously high. I remember the guy showing me the building was even amazed, and said he’d get back to me to make sure it was right. It was. The entire building was empty, and some units were in the process of being remodeled. I passed.
Unfortunately, it’s true, the rents are going up all over the neighborhood. As each unit in my building turns over, the rents are increasing $250. Luckily my landlord (independent) isn’t raising rent on existing tenants, or I would have to move…
I wish luck to those of you fighting to keep the neighborhood diverse. I grew up in Rogers Park and loved it. After 30 years I moved to Ravenswood and couldn’t take how suburban it was. I didn’t last two years there. I moved to Logan Square specifically because it is still a diverse neighborhood, just like Rogers Park. Sadly, I do realize that for better or for worse, that very fact is what is accelerating the change. I don’t make apologies for this, I don’t view neighborhoods as anyone’s to own, but I do recognize it as an issue facing our city that needs to be dealt with in a better manner. Skin color doesn’t define the livability of a neighborhood, but crime and cost certainly do. They are separate issues that need to be dealt with independent of each other. Fighting for affordable housing is just of the many things that needs to be done.
Living in Logan for a few years, and changing apartments, I have priced Fishman’s properties. Typically, he came in 10-15% above similar places, albeit without the amenities. Clearly with his real estate power, he is trying to drive up prices in the area, but not quality of living. I was informed, by a friend, that he was charging a mandatory $50 to place A/C units in windows during the heat of the summer. Think of how this affects the elderly. I understand the prospect of gentrification, but this is not that. This is gouging. I refuse to rent from Fishman, and I wish others would follow suit. Raising rent and not reinvesting is pure greed. This does NOT benefit our community in any way.
Yo! PICKET MASS EVICTIONS: Tenants and their allies are meeting Jan 30th
@ 4 pm @ 3215 W. Fullerton to protest M. Fishman. If you’re interested,
email me: amienvelope@post.com
Well, I have been in a Fishman building for over three years, and while it is true that they do not come running immediately when you require a more costly upgrade, I have found them super responsive to all things maintance related. At least in my building they come out super quickly to fix things. When the company needs to make investments, it slows down. Sometimes I agree that they think it will just go away (I have been asking for a new kitchen unit for several years as mine is really shabby at this point) or they will try to fix it themselves first for a couple of times instead of going an buying a new furnace right away. Being a business owner myself, I understand the latter part. The ignoring upgrade requests drives me nuts, but I’ve gotten used to it (and use it as a reason why I should NOT face the rent increases). They have their own crews that quickly fix up vacated apartment to get them ready for the new tenants, but I personally have never had any complaints about or issues with them. Fishman might seem a capitalist villain to some, but he is a business person who invested A LOT of money into this neighborhood and it was these and many of the initiatives he pioneered that made Logan Square the vibrant, fun and safe neighborhood it is today. That he now wants a return on his investment by charging his tenants market rates, I can understand. I do not like it, but I can understand. He is not the salvation army, but someone who took a financial risk, worked hard and now wants to get his return. And he is asking market rates. I have been looking for alternatives over the last two years, and any rehabbed 1 BR garden apartment on the market is slightly over what I pay now (I call it the shabby kitchen discount). So, yes, you can blame Fishman for having a part in upgrading the neighborhood, making it a fun place people want to live in and renting apartments to all the folks from San Francisco and New York that come to live here and think that the Logan Square prices are a gift from heaven. It hurts us that we have been here for years, but it’s the concept of gentrification and it’s happening all over the world, and it’s not really the fault of one Mr. Fishman.
I currently rent an apartment owned by M. Fishman, and I can say without a doubt that this company is horrible and unresponsive to serious maintenance issues. I have e-mails sent by their property managers in which they state that they cannot fix building problems, that cause damage to units. Tenants of M. FIshman should rally together to get this company to change its policies and practices, especially if it insists on charging steep rent.
Having a hard time w how to think about this article.
Bottom line is that good or bad, the neighborhood is changing. As people w more income want to move, any (intelligent) LL is going to raise rent. This is the exact same thing that has happened in Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, and Noble Square over the past ten years. It happened in Lakeview in the mid/later 80s, when the area around Wrigley stopped being an area of frequent muggings. It does force some people out, but with that comes more businesses in the area (b/c all those empty shops on MKE Ave are really, really pretty), less crime, and more stability. Everyone can’t win all the time.
Just want to be sure that people see what this is in a larger context. Is this guy a turd for not getting permits, raising rent $200 on what is probably a $1000-1200 unit (IE 16-20% in one year), etc? Yes, completely. But in the larger context, he’s probably not the only person raising rent and doing semi-lawless repairs on units. As a LS resident I agree that the guy sounds like an a**hole, but I also think about how in a few years there will probably be a lot less crime, better things to do, and a better overall area.
I also wonder how many people who read this and completely agree w everything in the article are people who live in Logan now, but a few years ago were people who showed up in ‘someone else’s ‘hood.’ They just happened to do it before it was cool. You guys paved the way for this stuff. Deal with it.
‘he’s probably not the only person raising rent and doing semi-lawless repairs on units.”
‘how in a few years there will probably be a lot less crime,’
So just because he’s not the only one doing it and you’re afraid of non-white people living in “your” neighborhood this is all a-ok? give me a break. How much is he paying you to post this, M. Fishman social media guy?
Nice job taking my statements to an illogical extreme and making personal attacks, Marcel. How nice of you. Fact of the matter is if I’m looking to settle down and raise a family, I’d prefer the area be free of crime, and I’d like to be able to walk down a street full of businesses that I can patronize (you know, buying local). I could care less what color my neighbors are. The real pity is that you seem to be so stuck in your echo chamber that you’re unable to see any other side by your own.
Nah, you’re just supporting a greedy real estate broker who claims he IS “Logan Square” despite being too scared to raise his own family here. Trust me, more people are on my side than yours.
This guy is the worst. I hope he understands just how unwelcome his properties are in this neighborhood.