10 years later, vacant NEIU properties fuel frustration in Albany Park

Residents urge NEIU to act on vacant properties 10 years later

It's been 10 years since Northeastern Illinois University used a legal tool to forcibly remove people from their homes and businesses. That legal tool is called eminent domain. Bret Buganski is live in Albany Park.

CHICAGO - Ten years ago, Northeastern Illinois University acquired several properties in Albany Park by declaring eminent domain. To this day, several of those spaces are still vacant.

What we know:

Eminent domain is the "power of the state to take private property for public use with payment of compensation to the owner." 

In May 2026, ten years after all of the businesses and tenants vacated the properties, NEIU still has not developed the property it acquired by legal force. Right now, the university does not have any public plans to develop it. 

On Wednesday, the Hollywood North Park Community Association held a "10th birthday party" to highlight what they consider to be broken promises by NEIU to develop a 500-room dormitory. They posted signs on the former businesses that moved out to remind the university of what used to be there, and what is still possible.

Besides two storefronts occupied by NEIU as training centers, there are 12 properties that are vacant. 

The neighborhood association said the condition of the buildings on the south side of Bryn Mawr are in such poor condition; NEIU is considering spending state money to demolish them.

"Certainly, members of our neighborhood feel like the cruelty is even deeper because the university fought us in order to do nothing with the significant piece of property in our neighborhood," said the chairman of the association, Andrew Johnson.

His group also argued that NEIU has created blight by not developing the properties. Some of the former owners grew up in those buildings, like Bill Tong. He said his grandfather built a Chinese restaurant that once occupied the space. The family later rented it out to a Chinese diner.

In 2015, Tong talked about being forced to vacate a space his family has known for decades and didn't want to sell.

"It was my understanding that eminent domain was to be invoked as a last resort, not as a tool of convenience," said Tong.

Rosemary Beil and her son Garrick were also kicked out of their commercial property in 2015. They leased the space to a bank. They argued then, the university already had plenty of room on campus without taking theirs.

"The university refers to this project as a dream," said Beil. "However, for those who are going to lose a home, a business, a property, this is not an American dream certainly, it's an American nightmare."

The backstory:

The university said then it was using eminent domain as a last resort. At the time, NEIU said it did not have student housing available. It became a legal battle, where NEIU prevailed. 

However, shortly after that legal victory, the university built a 400-room dorm on campus. It was a move that surprised neighbors, who were told by the university that wasn't possible.

"We're also a university that is committed to a certain amount of green space on campus," said Mike Bizon, then NEIU spokesperson. "We have taken a very close look at our existing land, and we've determined that we simply can't accommodate all of the phases of our student housing project."

Back then, the university said all the land was spoken for and added there were plans to build other things on campus. At the time, the majority of space on the 67-acre campus was filled with parking lots, green space and athletic fields.

10 Years Later

The Hollywood North Park Community Association is asking NEIU to develop a plan to redevelop the vacant properties or sell them. They're also calling on state lawmakers to intervene on a project that never came to be.

The other side:

Fox Chicago has reached out to the university, including NEIU president Dr. Katrina Bell-Jordan and chairman of the board of trustees J. Todd Phillips. We are still waiting to hear back. 

We also reached out to State Senator Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago and State Representative Mike Kelly, D-Chicago. We are also still waiting to hear back from them.