Boo Hoo "Windy City Rehab" Is Making Everyone Richer Along The Blue Line

(Chicago Sun-Times)–A reality TV show that transforms Chicago fixer-uppers into million-dollar homes is creating lots of buzz — but angry residents and at least one alderman say the show is a bad neighbor.

Complaints abound from residents upset about trash, noise and unsecured work sites — and how the older homes rehabbed by HGTV’s “Windy City Rehab” have changed the character of neighborhoods.

One of the show’s projects got slapped with two stop-work orders for doing work outside the scope of city permits.

The city Department of Buildings said Friday it will ask the show’s co-star, builder Donovan Eckhardt, to meet with department officials “to make sure they are meeting our standards and to bring the concerns of neighbors to their attention,” spokesman Gregg Cunningham said.

“We will continue to monitor their work closely and will take further enforcement action if necessary,” Cunningham added.

Besides the complaints, some viewers are scratching their heads over the reality show’s purported profits, wondering in online forums how the rehabbed homes, some of which haven’t sold yet, could be making profits in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for the developers.

This is the type of thing that pisses me off. Firstly, the show is great so shut up. About a month ago I did a blog about the things to watch while sports are terrible in February. I had House Hunters on that list, but since the time of that writing it’s been subplanted as the best HGTV show by Windy City Rehab. The host is this spitfire woman, Alison Victoria who seems fun, but tough as shit and this guy Donovan who looks as if he belongs at our table on Friday for March Madness. Two people as Chicago as it gets. And this is the second article in a few weeks taking them to task for things like “construction” and “trash”. I’ve seen every episode the majority of the homes they’ve redone are walking distance from me and the Barstool Chicago HQ. Bucktown, Wicker, UKV, Logan Square, etc. West part of town.

And this is what I don’t understand…why do people have such an issue with rebuilding parts of a neighborhood? Like attention morons, when people take an old home that is for sale and literally crumbling in decay and build it into a multi-million dollar home your property value goes up.

Oh no people are remodeling houses at an alarming rate. Now crime is down and I’m rich…whatever will I do?

Kindly, fuck off. The show is great. Progress is great. My nextdoor neighbor is roughly 100 years old give or take a decade. Nicest guy you’ll ever meet. He’s been in his home since 1972. He was there when he was surrounded by Polish and Ukrainian people. Then he was surrounded by the Latin Kings. Now, as soon as he sells, he’s fitting to be rich. Someone will take that house when he sells, bulldoze it to the ground, and sell it to some nice young woman with her first kid on the way for a guy on his second marriage for 2 million dollars and my neighbor will enjoy his golden years with a pot of gold. Win, win, win. The neighborhood will still have all the charm, but maybe it’ll also have a WholeFoods. That is progress.