New owner of Waukegan’s troubled Lakeside Tower apartments plans $20M in improvements

After more than four years of neglect by the owners of the 150-unit Lakeside Tower apartments near downtown Waukegan led to conditions Mayor Ann Taylor called “inhumane,” a new owner plans to spend more than $20 million overhauling the building and grounds.

Starting with security and acute maintenance needs — like assuring both elevators in the 14-story building work — Ernst Valery, who is part of the new ownership group, said every apartment will be renovated, including a new kitchen and bathroom.

Valery, the president of Baltimore-based Aequo Foundation, which is the charitable arm of SAA|EVI, said every American deserves an affordable, comfortable home. His first act as an owner was meeting with residents.

“It’s in our DNA,” Valery said about tenant relations. “We are partners. We have to hold each other accountable, and care for each other. They are our allies, partners and friends.”

Aequo took title to Lakeside Tower on Genesee Street, just north of Grand Avenue, Tuesday as Lakeside Phased, planning to invest more than $20 million to create livable conditions for the residents.

Bianca Jackson, a resident since 2019, is one tenant who is thrilled with the attitude of Aequo and its plans. It will give her an apartment with a new kitchen, bathroom and a view of Lake Michigan for no more than 30% of her annual income.

“It feels like a dream,” Jackson said. “I feel like it’s too good to be true. I’m excited to see someone who will update this building, and will make improvements for the people who live here.”

As an affordable housing project under the Federal Housing Administration, Valery said tenants pay no more than 30% of their income for rent and the rest comes to the landlord from the government.

Before individual units are renovated, Valery said he is going to enhance security in the lobby, make sure both elevators work permanently — Jackson said only one was operating Wednesday — and make the unlivable units livable. He anticipates the project will take two years.

When Valery met with a group of 20 residents Tuesday afternoon, he said there was a moment of silence for Dorothy Wright. She died in her apartment June 25 at 61.

“We’re naming the community room for her,” Valery said. “There will be a plaque so everyone knows who she was.”

Jackson said Wright co-chaired the tenants’ union with her. The organization brought the conditions and lack of security to the city’s attention. Their advocacy led to a lawsuit by the city against now former owner Apex Waukegan IL, and eventually the sale.

“None of this would have been possible without her,” Jackson said. “We had to make sure her work was not in vain.”

Just as ownership and residents consider the Lakeside Tower community a partnership, the nearly yearlong effort to remove Apex involved collaboration between the city, its attorneys, tenants and two federal government agencies.

Wright, Jackson and other tenants approached city officials about the conditions at Lakeside Tower last July. Along with living conditions, there was a history of regular visits by Waukegan police and fire department personnel for code violations and reports of crimes. Taylor heard enough.

“I was fed up with the deplorable and inhumane conditions existing at Lakeside Towers,” Taylor said in an email. “Screens were missing from windows and trash was thrown from the upper stories of the building because the trash chutes were chronically clogged. Plumbing issues resulted in some residents not even being able to use their bathrooms.”

Taylor got the city’s attorneys involved. Kelley Gandurski, an attorney with Waukegan corporation counsel Elrod Friedman, got a firsthand look at the conditions of the property before initiating lawsuit against Apex and it property managers. She described the conditions as “dangerous and hazardous” in an email.

“I experienced the terrible conditions at Lakeside Towers first-hand,” Gandurski said in the email. “I wanted to understand the needs of the residents and their experiences in order to meaningfully advocate.”

Though Apex made some improvements after the lawsuit was filed in August, they were not enough and a settlement required Apex to sell the building. Gandurski said the ultimate result of the sale was meaningful because of its impact on the residents.

“I can think of no (more) meaningful result than fighting for those community members who are most vulnerable, and to see real, positive change occur for (them). I hope this sends the message the city will not tolerate a business model that allows a landlord to profit while neglecting the basic needs of the residents of a building.”