Chicago daycare center being forced to shut down amid dispute over rent and leaking pipes
Parents in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood are scrambling to find babysitters, after learning their daycare is shutting down next week because the longtime owner is being evicted.
A Step Ahead Learning Center owner Tanneh Parker, who goes by TJ, admits she owes tens of thousands of dollars in rent, but said she stopped paying her landlord her full rent after gross leaking water made much of her rented space unusable.
Parker's eviction next Wednesday might be the end of her nearly 10-year fight with her landlord. The battle began when the daycare operator was preparing to do some renovations in 2015. That's when she said she heard a dripping sound.
"Drywall, the ceiling, everything's began to fall down," she said.
Leaking pipes ruined not only the walls of the daycare, but also toys, books, and kiddie chairs.
"It doesn't hold love anymore. You don't see how much children enjoyed it," she said.
Parker's mother founded A Step Ahead Learning Center in Uptown 35 years ago. It expanded to several storefronts on Broadway, welcoming more than 60 children until the water damage.
"This space, for me, is essentially closed off. We don't use it. We don't access it," she said.
Babies can still play in another section of the daycare, but enrollment has drastically dropped.
Parker estimated it's safe to use only 40% of the space she rents. She said that's why she stopped paying her landlord her full monthly amount in 2019.
"I admittedly reduced the rent, because I was also reduced in revenue, reduced in capacity size," she said.
That argument didn't work in court, and a judge issued an eviction order. By next Wednesday, Parker's daycare will be shut down.
Michael Cotey and other parents are now scrambling.
"It's devastating. I mean, because it's so hard to find childcare. I mean, the waitlists are always so long," Cotey said. "I feel for Miss TJ, but I'm furious that so much has failed her when she's just tried to take care of our kids."
"It's completely forcing her not only to give up 35 years of devotion this community and this space, but it's also putting her in a position that she can't move forward," Cotey added.
The property manager isn't just kicking Parker out. He's also suing her for $400,000 in back rent.
He testified in court that she didn't give repair crews access to fix the mess, but Parker said that's not true.
"Maybe there's some way to overturn this ruling, because with this, I lose everything," she said, crying.
An independent eviction attorney said residential tenants are allowed to withhold rent if repairs aren't being made, but it doesn't work like that in a commercial lease.
The law requires business owners to pay the full rent amount, and allows them to sue a landlord for lost income.
A GoFundMe has been set up for legal support for the daycare.
