Status of HGTV’s ‘Windy City Rehab’ Is Up In The Air
The city of Chicago threw a wrench in the filming of HGTV’s hit show, Windy City Rehab.
On Wednesday, The Chicago Tribune reported that Chicago blocked stars Alison Victoria Gramenos and Donovan Eckhardt from filing new work permits.
The second season of the show is up in the air after the Chicago Department of Buildings notified the stars that their permit applications were suspended, as well as Eckhardt’s real estate and general contractor licenses, due to “a variety of alleged violations.”
Buildings Department spokesman Gregg Cunningham told The Tribune that officials met with Eckhardt, of Greymark Development Group, on Monday to discuss his appeal of the license suspension. A lawyer for Gramenos also met with the department on the permit issue.
No decisions have been made in either matter, according to The Tribune, but Eckhardt did lose his appeal on May 28 to restore his permit privileges.
Under city rules, Eckhardt can appeal again and ask for his permit privileges to be reinstated, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
According to the Sun-Times, the city said that Eckhardt had worked without a permit at 11 different properties. The city has now issued stop-work orders at all those properties. The contractor failed to get final inspections at four properties, according to the citation, and two condo units were sold and occupied before inspection.
The city also said that unlicensed tradespeople worked at the properties, explaining that the work was not up to code and “poses an immediate or imminent threat to the health and safety of workers or the public,” the Sun-Times reports.
The citations also stem from complaints from neighbors.
Windy City Rehab follows Gramenos and Eckhardt as they buy, sell and flip properties.
According to the Sun-Times, neighbors on the North Side of Chicago were not happy with the filming of the first season. They complained about trash, noise, and a burst water line at one location.
The show wrapped its first season on HGTV in the spring and got 9.3 million viewers in its first month, according to The Sun-Times. Gramenos said Season 2 could premiere in early 2020.
“It only took one person to believe in me and to give me that shot to prove that I could do it,” Gramenos said about her start in design.
It seems as if not all of Chicago hates the show. Gramenos, a Chicago native, threw out the first pitch and sang during the seventh-inning stretch at a Cubs game on June 20.
BREAKING: The stars of the hit TV show “Windy City Rehab” may lose their contractor’s license entirely following months of illegal work and neighbor complaints. https://t.co/AM0VOaM5c2
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) July 9, 2019
