Part of apartment complex in Park Forest, Illinois condemned due to lack of heat

Insufficient heat is just one of many problems residents say they face in a troubled apartment complex in Chicago's south suburbs, where the Village of Park Forest has condemned one of the buildings.

Tenants at the Autumn Ridge Apartments have complained about mold, bug infestations, and a lack of air conditioning in the summer or heat in the winter.

Last week, the village condemned one of the buildings, and on Thursday, some of the tenants of that building moved into another building on the property, which also has many problems.

LaQuita Wright shared photos of flooded hallways in two buildings of the apartment complex where she's lived for two years, and previously had to switch apartments because of black mold.

Thursday was moving day again for her family of four and their dog. Their building was condemned last week because the heat hasn't been working.

Last summer, families at the complex had the opposite problem. Babies had to nap beside fans at full blast because the air conditioning didn't work.

"It's always in the summertime, there's no air. So I won't be surprised if we don't have air in the summertime. Always in the wintertime, there's no heat," Wright said.

In the meantime, Wright and her family of four are simply moving from one problem to another.

While floors in the building where she moved to are flooded, at least the heat is on.

"The buildings are terrible. They're just patching them up, putting Band-Aids over them," she said.

As Wright and her family made their move, they had to use the stairs, because the elevator was out of service.

Village Trustee Randall White has fielded complaints about Autumn Ridge in both summer and winter.

"Enough is enough. Something needs to take place. We dealt with this summertime and now we're dealing with this in the extreme cold of the winter," he said.

He said the best-case scenario is new ownership.

"We're not playing anymore. Something is going to take place, and if I had a perfect wish or a wand, I would press the issue of taking this from them, giving it to someone that can actually put some updates into this facility," White said.

Village officials said they pressured the property owner to provide hotel rooms for displaced residents. The village also said it will follow up on any complaints and will hold the property owners accountable.

Park Ridge Mayor Joseph Woods said the village has tried to force the sale of the apartment complex to new property owners, and he's hopeufl that sale will happen within the next month or so.