:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/NGN3VPQXWJBYZPSGKD7EBN6FFI.jpg)
DeKALB – In about two weeks, the Hillcrest Shopping Center on DeKalb’s north side will be demolished, part of a yearslong plan by the city of DeKalb to rehabilitate the space which once housed businesses and residents alike.
Followed by a round of applause led by Ward 1 Alderwoman Carolyn Morris, a unanimous vote by the DeKalb City Council set in motion the demolition plans Monday. The city hopes to put the soon vacant land at 1011 through 1021 Hillcrest Drive up for sale, along with a parcel of land adjacent to it where once sat movie theater Campus Cinemas.
DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes applauded city staff’s efforts, including City Manager Bill Nicklas and city attorney Matthew Rose, over the years to secure the building and other’s like it, from former owner Evanston-based Hunter Properties. The property management company was once the city’s largest landlord, and during its ownership of Hunter Hillcrest and others, including Lincoln Tower and Hunter Ridgebrook apartment complexes, had accrued hundreds of unresolved city code violations for unkempt properties and security failures.
“We should do a happy dance,” Nicklas said to the council Monday, smiling ahead of the demolition vote.
A year ago, the city announced a settlement had been reached with Hunter Properties in the ongoing legal disputes over the code violations and other legal matters. The city subsequently purchased the shopping center from Hunter for $1.18 million in August of 2021.
“I am excited,” Barnes said. “That’s pretty awesome all the work that you all did long before me, getting that agreement with Hunter, allowing us to be able to force a transaction with this, which is just one piece of the overall puzzle that we’re working on. I can’t say enough about that.”
Barnes, who’s 2021 mayoral campaign included promises to address ongoing issues between Hunter Properties and its tenants, voted an “emphatic yes,” Monday to approve a demolition bid of $237,883 to Rockford-based contractor Northern Illinois Services Company.
The city will host a news conference to kick off the demolition process at 3 p.m. May 9 at the Hillcrest Shopping Center site.
Tenant relocation
All tenants of the mixed-use commercial and residential building in the 1000 block of Hillcrest Drive are expected to be relocated by Saturday, according to city documents.
According to city records shared with the Daily Chronicle Tuesday, nine business owners were aided in their relocation efforts from Hillcrest Shopping Center. That includes America Dream Tax, a beauty salon owned by Paula Espiritu, Northern Fresh Market, ClothingIt2, La Salsa, Red Fish and Chicken, Huskies Tobacco and Rocky’s. There also were five residents who relocated from the residential units on the upper levels of the building, according to documents.
Since the city purchased the building nine months ago, some work needed to be done to ensure the building remained viable for those still utilizing it until the demolition could begin. Tenants were given notice at the time of the building ownership change and a six-month grace period to relocate, city documents confirmed at the time.
“We wanted to be a fair landlord to the people still in the building,” Nicklas said. “In that six months we can’t stop being a responsible landlord.”
Work to help keep the building running for its current tenants the past nine months included some roof, heating, plumbing and electrical repairs, Nicklas said.
In a photo shared with the Daily Chronicle by city staff Tuesday, animal feces can be seen on the floor of a condemned upper residential unit in the Hillcrest Shopping Center building after a tenant had relocated.
“We had to be a responsible landlord while tenants occupied their units, but given the deplorable condition of the premises overall the demolition was sensible as a constructive step toward redevelopment of the area,” Nicklas said Tuesday.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/AKQ53HK7KJF73G62OB6MNOZLUU.png)
To help offset relocation costs for both residential and commercial tenants ahead of the demolition, the city of DeKalb also approved last year a plan to reimburse those tenants for the costs, according to city documents. That includes reimbursement for the first and last months’ rent and a damage deposit at a new rental location, as well as reimbursement for moving expenses.
The city also used $1.5 million in federal American Recovery Act funds to aid residents and businesses in relocation efforts.
According to city records, commercial tenant relocation reimbursements totaled $109,394, and residential relocation $11,331. The city also spent $44,018 for work to the building while tenants were still inside it, including $19,807 for asbestos abatement by DeKalb-based Indevcon Inc. and various repairs on utilities such as gas and electric, and the roof.
Up for sale
No price has yet been determined for the parcel of land Nicklas said the city expects to put up for sale, to solicit development offers for the land once demolition is complete.
The site sits near another empty lot owned by the city, the former site of the Campus Cinemas building at 1015 Blackhawk Road. The city was granted a lien for $400,000 on the theater property in 2020. It was demolished in October 2020.
The Hillcrest Shopping Center and the former movie theater create an L-shape east on Hillcrest Drive and north toward Blackhawk Road, which city staff said they believe will encourage positive development in the area. The land was also highlighted in the city’s Annie Glidden North Revitalization Task Force, which has since morphed into local group Opportunity DeKalb, as a potential space for future development.
The mixed-use rental retail building at 1011 through 1027 Hillcrest Drive is one of four rental properties owned by Hunter Properties that the landlord must sell as part of the approved settlement agreement between the landlord and the city. Hunter Properties is required to sell the buildings by April 2023 after years of controversy involving concerns expressed by city staff, officials and tenants over poor quality of living in the spaces and hundreds of city code violations.
Per the settlement agreement with local landlord Hunter Properties the DeKalb City Council approved a year ago in April 2021, the buildings that Hunter Properties is required to sell include Hunter Ridgebrook, Hunter Tri-Frat, Lincoln Tower and Hunter Hillcrest.
In December, the DeKalb City Council approved a $1 million incentive for Chicago developer Clear Investment Group LLC to buy more than 400 Hunter Properties rental units in the city, including Lincoln Tower, Hunter Tri-Frat and Hunter Ridgebrook.