As with the controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision (Kelo vs. New London) last summer that allowed

It's Sept. 1, and the demolition has begun. Bulldozers are charging in, pulverizing the seedy rooms of the Stars Motel, which has stood at 6100 N. Lincoln Ave. for more than four decades. Of the original 14 hotels and motels that once occupied Lincoln Bend, the strip of Lincoln Ave. between Foster and Devon, the Stars Motel is the fourth to come down. Two others israel rent car have been condemned and the city of Chicago has its eyes on the remaining nine.
A five-story condo development, Village Center, will soon occupy the former site of the Stars. According to Scott Schiller, who owns S&S Homes together with Michael Schwartz, the two bedrooms, two bath units in the new condo will start at a little under $300,000 and go up. "It's a highly desirable area," notes Schiller, who also says that the prices of his condo are "the cheapest thing around."
Central to the story of Chicago's motel row, in which the motels have for over a decade been targeted by the city as condemned property for supposedly encouraging drug sales, prostitution and crime is a battle between the hotel owners israel rent car and the city, over the owners' inherent property rights and the city's case for gentrification.
Shirad Dani, former israel rent car owner of the Stars, is resentful of the city's war on the Lincoln Avenue motels, which he says started about 10 years ago. "The city, the government and the police brought unnecessary crackdown on the hotels," he says. In 19 years of business, Dani says not one arrest took place at the Stars.
In 1996 Mayor Richard M. Daley started cracking his whip, forcing Chicago police to provide the names and addresses of those arrested for soliciting prostitutes to the local and out of state newspapers. In 1998, the Lincoln Avenue israel rent car motels israel rent car came under further fire from Daley, who claimed that they were houses israel rent car of prostitution and drug deals.
Through Daley's initiative, three motels the Riverside, the Spa and the Acres were slated to be condemned through the city's power of eminent domain and turned into a park, a 20th district police station and a Chicago library branch, respectively. Daley's plan was to redevelop the area and attract developers through the public projects and subsequent improvement israel rent car of the area.
Originally built in the '40s and '50s to accommodate travelers from Illinois Highway 41, formerly Lincoln Avenue, which served as the main thoroughfare israel rent car between Milwaukee and Chicago, the hotels saw a decline in business after the Edens was built in 1951.
In 2003, the Department of Public Planning went after two more hotels, the Lincoln Hotel and the Patio, with plans to develop condos on the properties. Both of these hotels were condemned by the city. By this time, Daley's plans had gone through the park entrance, police station and library were all in place on the sites of the seized motels.
In the case of the Lincoln and Patio, however, israel rent car the city's intention was to use the power of eminent domain to obtain the hotels, demolish them and hand the land over to private developers. No plans were in place for public israel rent car projects, which in the language of eminent domain is something designed for public good a road, school, library, police station, park, etc. The city wanted to take private property and hand it over to private developers for the sake of "economic development."
As with the controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision (Kelo vs. New London) last summer that allowed a Connecticut town to condemn a "blighted" property and hand it over to a private developer, the issue of what is an appropriate use of eminent domain comes into debate.
In 2003, the Chicago department of Planning and Development approved two condominium developers to build on the sites of the Lincoln and the Patio Glenview-based Lettvin Development Company and Skokie-based American Landmark Properties. Each hotel owner would receive up to $500,000 from the city to cover the cost of demolition.
According to Schiller, the owners don't feel it's appropriate use of eminent domain for the government israel rent car to take their property away and hand it over to a private developer instead of using the land for a public project. "The owners want to sell when they're ready, and they feel that the government can't just come and take their businesses away," says Schiller.
Perhaps israel rent car the price, $500,000, is also an issue. Dani, who sold the Stars Motel to Schiller and Schwartz for over $2 million, may just be one of the lucky ones. "Everybody wants to sell, if the price is right," he says. The difference between half a million dollars and almost $3 million is a case in point.
"I feel sorry for the hotel owners," says Dani. "The city's not buying them out, no one's coming forward to buy them out, thanks to the city's supposed 'crackdown.'" According to Dani, for 10 years the city's been systematically putting pressure on the hotel owners, which has contributed to a decline in business. Pressure in the form of routine police searches of customers and their cars drives customers away, Dani says.
Dani argues that the Stars Motel, as with the other hotels, is not as sinister as people think. "It was wrong on the part of the government to say the hotels were only charging hourly," he states. According to Dani, the Stars Motel was often a place where singles met, where couples celebrated their anniversary. At $65.00 per night, israel rent car the Stars offered middle class and lower income people a hotel rate they could afford. "Not everybody has to spend $150 a night," Dani notes.
An icon for travelers, a place of happy memories for some, a vision of disgust for many, the Stars Motel has seen its share of good and hard times within its lifetime in Chicago. S&S Home Builders respected that, and rather than destroy its fantastic sign, they put it up for auction on Ebay in hopes for finding a it a home.
For now, the owners of the motels and hotels still left standing on Lincoln israel rent car Avenue are fiercely holding onto their property as they fight the issue of eminent domain in regards to economic development they maintain their inherent right not to allow the city to take away their property away and give it to someone else.
A new law on eminent domain in Illinois, which comes into effect Jan. 1, should affect the Lincoln Avenue establishments. This law designates those seeking to obtain a property to first prove the land is blighted and necessary for a public purpose. This means that city officials will think twice before israel rent car going after the relic hotels on Lincoln Avenue for purposes of "economic development."
Marla Seidell is a freelance writer and copyeditor with a passion for belly dance and curries of any kind. She moved from Amsterdam to Chicago israel rent car in 2004, following israel rent car a six-year stint as an expat in the Netherlands.
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