Elaine Place Tenants Fume Over 'Drastic Rent Increase'

Residents of Lake View’s Elaine Place Apartments say that in addition to the complex’s new owners removing its iconic giraffe and goat statues, they're now imposing substantial rent increases that are forcing some to move.

Chicago Apartment Finders, which own rental buildings all over the city, purchased Elaine Place Apartments from Milton Zale of Zale Realty in November. While the statues are reportedly being restored and could potentially return to Elaine Place, residents say they just received a new surprise.

Tenant Amando Navar, who has moved every year since graduating college, was hoping to stay at Elaine Place for a while, he says. But new rent rates—an increase of more than 20 percent for Navar—may not make that possible.

He said he signed his single-bedroom apartment lease for $950 per month last year. The new rate will be $1,150, which is more in line with the real estate company’s website that identifies the average one-bedroom rate in Lake View as $1,050.

“I’ve moved every year for almost 10 years,” Navar said. “I was set on staying here because it’s an apartment that I really like. When we still had our old leasing company, I heard rumors of a rent hike, but I wasn’t too concerned. I was imagining something around $50 or $100. But in mid-January I received a letter asking whether I wanted to renew my lease for an extra $200 a month. I was given two weeks to decide.”

A representative with CAF didn’t immediately return Patch’s calls Tuesday to answer questions about the rate hike. But when Navar called the rental office to ask for the reason behind his nearly 25 percent rent increase, he said he was told the apartments were priced under market value and they were trying to increase the rates.

Other residents like Guy Zakrzewski also received notice of an increase, announcing on CAF’s Facebook wall that his rent is getting a 35 percent increase.

But according to Chicago Real Estate Daily, this is a part of a continuing trend in the city. Investors and developers are cashing in on the renting boom by purchasing and building apartment buildings in what Crain’s calls a “red-hot rental market.” Developers are expected to build 7,200 new apartment buildings by the end of 2014, Crain’s reports.

The residents at Elaine Place are the latest victims of what Crain’s calls a broad shift in the housing market where landlords are benefiting. And according to tenant Brett Beckerson, renting at Elaine Place was more appealing when Zale owned the buildings.

“I could afford the rent hike, but why would I stay in the apartment when I’m not getting the same level of service I was getting before?” Beckerson asked. “We used to have people who shoveled right when it snowed, people on site doing maintenance. … It’s a drastic rent increase without any perks.”

Navar and Beckerson said they both plan to move when their leases expire at the end of March, Navar potentially with a roommate to cut the cost of rent in Chicago’s booming renters market.

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