Apartment Residents Have Year To Quit Smoking
UPDATED: 1/5/2011 1:35 p.m.
CHICAGO (WBBM) -- Tenants at a River North apartment building have a year to quit smoking or find another place to live.
WBBM's Mike Krauser reports, the 420 unit apartment building is going smoke free.
The building, Kingsbury Plaza, at 520 North Kingsbury Street, is managed by The Habitat Company.
Property supervisor Gary Lundemo says it's going smoke free by popular demand.
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"This was really precipitated by the residents," he said. "There's an overwhelming majority of residents who are non-smokers in the building, and this really came on the heels of a resident survey that was sent out a while ago and we responded to that."
The first time a resident is caught smoking, they will be fined. A second offense will lead to eviction. About 15 percent of the residents are reported to be smokers.
It's not the first apartment building in the city to go smoke free, and it likely won't be the last.
Habitat manages eight apartment buildings with a total of about 5,000 units, and is using this one as a test case.
Lundemo says the rental market is on the upswing, so there's no concern about occupancy, but that wasn't a consideration anyway.
