Alderman, neighbors stop trespassers from stripping abandoned building in Chatham

CBS News

04-08-2025

An abandoned building on the South Side was gutted over the weekend.
Neighbors in Chatham caught people inside the former restaurant, tearing it apart, apparently wanting to sell the metal.
Ald. William Hall (6th Ward) got wind of it and caught the suspects in the act on Sunday. He said they were going to sell the metal for their own business.
"We do more action than talking," Christopher Hicks said.
Hicks is very vigilant about his neighborhood. He's the president of Chatham United, a neighborhood block club.
Last week, he and other neighbors saw people gutting out the building.
"I kept getting calls from the neighbors saying, 'Hey, they're still working, they're still working." From there, we contacted the alderman's office and let him know what was going on," Hicks said.
The building was formerly known as "Oooh Wee It Is," a soul food restaurant that was abandoned over a year ago.
"Once we got word back, no permits for demolition. There was no license or application for business. It was then, at that point, I recognized it was an illegal operation," Hall said.
Hall saw with his own eyes people illegally yanking metal out of this vacant building.
"When I turned down the block, was mayhem. I saw individuals going in and out, trucks rather lining up, cars going in and out, trucks lining up to begin to take scraps," he said.
Hall said he immediately called the Department of Buildings Commissioner, Marlene Hopkins, and got them shut down in less than 30 minutes.
The orange notice was placed on the building, stating that all construction work must stop immediately.
"I called her at 5:30-ish. Before 6 o'clock, this was resolved and that's because that staff of building inspectors, they work all hours of the day," said.
Hall said the holes in the walls lead to questions about whether the building is structurally sound. He said the building must be up to code.
"It could collapse," he said.
He said it's unclear who owns the building because a trust hides it.
According to the Illinois State Bar Association, a property, like a house, might be placed in a trust primarily to avoid the probate process, maintain privacy, and potentially offer some level of asset protection.
"Whoever owns this, the trust, we don't trust you. We've been catching you do illegal things. So until this trust is trustworthy, our office is going to make sure that nobody steps on this premises to do whatever they want to continue to do," Hall said.
"We are lights, camera, action. We have lights on our houses, we have cameras around here, and we take action when we need to take action. This is an example of taking action," Hicks said.
Hall says to keep them from coming back, he had a concrete barrier placed in front of the parking lot, to prevent anyone from driving inside.