Woodlawn Tenants Unionize Against Potential Sale

Tenants at a low-income apartment building in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood have formed a union to oppose a potential sale that could lead to their displacement, amid rising development pressures from the nearby Obama Presidential Center.

Residents of the Chaney Braggs Apartments, located at 1554-56 East 65th Street near Stony Island Avenue, rallied outside their building earlier this month to protest the prospect. The group, representing about 20 households, fears that a California-based investor seeking to purchase the property plans to renovate or demolish it, which could drive rents well above the current $700 to $800 monthly rates many families pay. Some residents have lived in the building for 20, 30 or even 40 years, and they describe a recent offer of $2,000 per household to vacate as insufficient to cover relocation costs in a neighborhood undergoing rapid change.

The tenants discovered the possible sale through court filings related to a Cook County receivership appointed last September. The receiver, Community Investment Corp., has addressed some deferred maintenance while the transaction advances. Residents say they have handled basic upkeep themselves since the...