R Kelly Studio Fiasco/ code violations

 R Kelly Studio space, 2nd floor, photo from 2015, before Kelly rented there.

R. Kelly Studio Fiasco/ code violations

by Susan Basko, esq.

R. Kelly has lots of legal troubles lately, including that he is being evicted from the studio he rents for over $22,000 per month.  According to the Chicago Reader, the studio is owned by Midwest Commercial Funding, LLC.  Chicago got an inspection order, went in and found 48 building code violations. 

The building is also up for sale for nearly $4 million.  It's not likely a building being sold with a whole roster of major code violations can be sold for that much money. The studio building is a warehouse near Union Park in Chicago.  This is an up and coming area with a lot of hip businesses, internet-based start-ups, cafes, etc.  The area is near the Lake Street el, is a few minutes from downtown, but is dicey.

R Kelly Studio building exterior

This is the exterior of the building, as shown in a realtor ad.  According to the realtors, the building was built in 1928.  The second floor is an open area 40 feet by 100 feet, with a 14 foot ceiling.

R Kelly studio 2nd floor, picture from 2015 before Kelly was a tenant.

Kelly was getting bad publicity after a scandalous news article by Jim DeRogatis was published, alleging that Kelly was running a sex cult and/or holding women captive.  The landlords moved to evict Kelly and were trying to sell the building. The City got this inspection order below.

Chicago building inspection order for the building housing R Kelly's studio

If you know anything about Chicago, you know the City uses building code violations to harass people or to gets its way, if they cannot find a more efficient route.  So, the City building inspector came into the studio and found 48 building code violations.  This is a building up for sale for almost $4 million -- so, either the price must be reduced to allow a buyer to repair the place, and/or it must be sold as is and someone has to fix it, or it must be sold as is for demolition.  In 2010, an inspector found numerous code violations on the exterior of the building, but entry to the interior was refused.  This was before R Kelly was a tenant.  See the notation that in 2010, the building inspector was refused entry to the building.

The report includes the long list of  2019 alleged code violations, which are labeled as being from the Strategic Task Force, which sounds much more dire than just a building inspector.  The building owners are being required to remove plumbing and other work that was done without a permit.  They are required to hire an architect, come up with plans, get permits, and make a lot of structural repairs and improvements.  

Meanwhile, it looks like R. Kelly can take his money and go have a studio somewhere that does not have massive building code violations.   Scroll along the right edge of the report to view all of the alleged violations in detail.

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