Chicago builder, Neumann Homes, closes branches, prepares bankruptcy filing -- chicagotribune.com
I won't be shedding any tears for this development firm. A few years ago there was a vast, beautiful tract of land in Antioch, just north of where I live in Lindenhurst. Neumann Homes acquired it, sued the Village of Antioch to force approval of their enormous development plans, and then did a fine job of butchering the landscape for a zillion tract homes called "The Clublands." They festooned the main road with signs saying cheesy things like "Bring your fishin' pole!" Don't you love the way developers invoke the sense of place--in this case, rural landscape--that they just destroyed? So now the Clublands will remain partially built and the enormous, ugly, bulldozed landscape that Neumann Homes created will sit there until some other developer(s) buy it.
Adios, Neumann Homes. Don't let the door hit you where the dog should have bit you.
4 comments:
They plowed paradise, and put up a gated gulag. (All due apologies to Joni Mitchell)
I shed not one tear for these mega developers who buy up land, rip out every tree or other evidence of nature, and put up these crammed together and ugly developments complete with the ultimate scourge of contemporary housing, the HOA regime. Neumann and its ilk are receiving the well deserved wrath of the marketplace.
One can hope that the current wrath of the marketplace will lead to more housing choice, specifically homes with NO HOAs!
Does the fishing pitch mean the developers stock the HOA-maintained retention basins for the first year. (After it's fished out, it's up to the HOA to restock, of course)
If there are any readers here, don't be misled by the bias and the bile in the post and the comments.
As these things go, Clublands is a reasonably attractive suburban development.
How did you folks get to be so angry and hateful?
Disclosure: my son bought a home at Clublands a year ago.
If I lived in the area of Lindenhurst just south of Clublands I would be jealous too.
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