On July 7, the village of Forest Park posted notice that Hideaway, 7301 Roosevelt Rd., has been condemned and is under an emergency order of demolition.
Director of Building, Planning and Zoning Steve Glinke said bricks had fallen from the façade this week, raising concern that the structure may be unsafe. He hopes the demolition will occur within the next few weeks.
George Grivas, who owned the property when the Hideaway was still an active bar, died in 2016. The Cook County Treasurer’s office website lists the current owner as Vasiliki Grivas, but a relative of George Grivas told the Review on July 7 that the property was in George Grivas’ name only, and no family member owns it today.
In 2018, said Glinke, the village sent an order for demolition to the owner’s last known address but received no response. Now the village will do the work and foot the bill, since ownership of the property is uncertain.
Glinke said he estimates demolition to be around $40,000. The village, he said, will put a lien on the property. “But we might not see that money again,” Glinke said.
Without time for competitive bids to demolish the building, an ordinance waiving competitive bidding will be presented to the village council, hopefully at the July 12 meeting, and approval for the work to begin will be voted on as well, Glinke said.
Safety tape has been put up around the property, and fencing will be erected on July 8 to keep people away from the building.
In its heyday, the Hideaway was a lively bar, but it’s been closed since April 2014 after the village shut it down for over 40 building code violations, both inside and outside. Grivas died two years later. For years, the property has sat empty and boarded up, inhabited only by rats, according to neighbors.
