Judge Rules Improve or Demo for Purple Hotel

LINCOLNWOOD, IL-A judge has ordered Village Resorts Inc., the owner of the famous Purple Hotel here, to either improve the property or face demolition by Aug. 1. Cook County Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Pantle confirmed a consent judgment that declared the eight-story building “dangerous and unsafe.”

The hotel, consisting of four connected buildings, was built by Hyatt in 1960, and was then called the Lincolnwood Hyatt House. The building at the corner of Lincoln and Touhy avenues featured local music acts, and had notoriety as the place where Teamster official and convicted felon Allen Dorfman was allegedly murdered by mob members in the parking lot in 1983.

The site changed hands and brands, but has since 2004 been known as simple the Purple Hotel, because of the color of the building. Chicago Title Land Trust Co. is a trustee of the property.

The village of Lincolnwood started legal action against the hotel in September 2006 regarding health and safety issues, including mold, according to the consent judgment. The village alleged in the judgment that no remediation work was done; instead, the owners just closed the hotel building.

In March 2010, the village again filed suit, accusing the owners of violating 31 building regulations. The owners denied all claims, according to the consent judgment. On Feb. 7, 2011, the parties signed the consent judgment.

In the judgment, Judge Pantle ruled that “no defendants have put the hotel building in a safe condition.” She further ordered that the owners either “bring the subject property into complete compliance with the building regulations, including remediation of each and all of the 31 separate building regulations (sic) violations,” or demolish the building.

According to the judgment, to prevent the village from demolishing the building itself after Aug. 1, the owners must “have actually obtained a court order (as opposed to filing a motion, etc.) on or before the building surrender deadline, finding that all violations cited in the amended complaint have been fully and completely remediated, and that the hotel building is in complete compliance.”

Cellular providers Nextel, SprintCom and US Cellular are also parties to the suit, as the companies have towers on the hotel.

Steven Elrod with Holland & Knight represented the village. He tells GlobeSt.com that the village is drafting a tax-increment finance district for the property in case the building is demolished, to appeal to a future developer. “It’s a prime spot for redevelopment,” Elrod says.

Demetris Kare with Kare & Associates, who represented the owners, tells GlobeSt.com that the owners think the consent decree was fair. He says the owners would like to try to get a buyer for the site before the deadline. “There is a lot of interest in that property. We’re looking at all the options,” Kare says.