Quadrel Realty Group is asking a Cook County judge to throw out $185,500 in fines the city levied for the landlord's failure to provide required affordable apartments at Hampton Parkway, a 91-unit building in northeast Evanston.

The case, filed July 23, is the first known court challenge to fines issued under Evanston's Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, according to the Evanston Roundtable.

Quadrel and parent company North Park Ventures bought the building at 2730-2766 Hampton Parkway in 2020 and converted it from condos to rentals. Under the 2018 version of the ordinance in effect at the time, that conversion required nine units be set aside at affordable rates for lower-income tenants.

The city did not begin formal enforcement until October 2025, when staff issued nine violations. Quadrel failed to appear at the subsequent hearing, resulting in $94,500 in fines the company never appealed and has not paid.

A second round of nine citations followed on Jan. 29. This time Quadrel contested. At a June 18 hearing, city hearing officer Jeffrey Greenspan found the landlord liable on eight of nine violations and initially set fines at $196,500. He later reduced one penalty to $50,000, the maximum allowed under city code for a single violation, bringing the total to $185,500.

Quadrel attorney Tim Herman called the new fines "punitive and duplicative" at the June 18 hearing and filed for judicial review, asking the court to void them entirely. In the filing, Herman argued the citations lack "any supportable basis" and were issued when leasing the affordable units was outside Quadrel's control.

The dispute hinges on when compliance begins. The city's position is that its $500-per-day-per-violation fine runs until a required affordable unit is actually leased to a tenant. Quadrel argues it should be considered compliant once it registers the units, regardless of whether they have been rented.

City spokesperson Cynthia Vargas confirmed on Tuesday, Aug. 11, that Quadrel has now registered all nine required affordable units and that seven have been leased. The remaining two are listed on Quadrel's public listings page. Evanston's Inclusionary Housing program is managed by nonprofit Community Partners for Affordable Housing, which maintains waitlists of pre-screened applicants and matches them with available units.

Combined with the earlier $94,500, Quadrel owes approximately $280,000 in unpaid fines. None has been paid. Herman told the Roundtable the company "will be responding to those in short order" but offered no further details.

The landlord faces separate scrutiny over its dealings with tenants in southeast Evanston. The Quadrel Evanston Tenants Union, which formed in March 2025 and covers buildings on Judson Avenue, Michigan Avenue and Hinman Avenue, reached a lease deal with the company in April 2026 after the City Council approved new fines for landlord-tenant ordinance violations.

An initial case management call in the Hampton Parkway fine dispute is scheduled for Sept. 28.