Whither Hyde Park? Ask Eli Ungar. He owns much of it.

If you care about the future of Hyde Park, you need to come to this meeting--Tuesday evening October 16 at the HPNC at 7 p.m. Eli Ungar will meet with whoever comes, to explain what his plans are for Hyde Park.

Eli Ungar from New Jersey owns more of Hyde Park than anyone except the University of Chicago. He is the head of Antheus Capital, the Corporation that owns more than 85 properties in Hyde Park, including the Windemere and the Algonquin (6 buildings, 14 stories each), the Windemere West, the Village Center Shopping Center, and all the other buildings that have "Mac Management" written banners out front.

What does he plan to do with all these properties to make money for his investors? Will he "amenitize" them with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances so that he can raise the rents and remove the middle class tenants? Will he reduce services and let employees go to increase the bottom line? Some questions have already been raised about the decline of service in the Algonquin and the Windemere. What about buildings in your neighborhood with the Mac Management banners outside? What is going on there?

What is going to happen to Hyde Park? Who is going to move in to replace those who can't afford to pay $1500/month rent? North Siders? Where will our friends who can no longer afford to live in Hyde Park move? Will it matter when someone you have known for years has to leave Hyde Park? Will we be priced out of our homes?

Even if we own our homes, we need to come to this important discussion, because if Mr. Ungar intends to upscale our "hot" neighborhood, that means our taxes will go up. We may find ourselves with tax bills that look more like North Side.

Does Mr. Ungar view Hyde Park as a market under-achiever? Coming from New Jersey, is he seeing us as a bargain basement investment that has yet to yield its potential? Do we like feeling like we're owned by someone out of state? Do we want ONE PERSON deciding where we have to move? By all means, come to meet Mr. Ungar, who was kind enough to agree to meet with us. Let us take the opportunity.