Strategies for Nuisance Properties: Examples of "Health & Safety" Receivership Across the U.S.

Local government officials and economic-development professionals in states around the country, as they try to reinvigorate their communities, are sometimes faced with challenges presented by decaying or vacant properties which present a risk to the wellbeing of community residents or visitors. This free noontime webinar - brought to you through the collaboration of Landmarks Illinois, the Vacant Property Receivership Consortium, and Illinois Extension – will review the concept of a “health and safety" receivership, offering examples of how such statutory tools are used in various states around the U.S. to address nuisance properties. The presenters will also look at the potential for use of similar receiverships in Illinois and the potential impact of the newly-effective Illinois Receivership Act. There will be a Q&A session with the panel of presenters.

Local government officials and economic development professionals are encouraged to attend, along with any community stakeholders interested in community revitalization.

If you will need a reasonable accommodation to participate in the program, please email mdelany2@illinois.edu. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.

Speakers:

Landmarks Illinois, Regional Advocacy Manager
Quinn Adamowski serves as the Regional Advocacy Manager for Landmarks Illinois, where he advocates for the preservation and reuse of historic and cultural resources across Greater Illinois. Quinn liaises with community groups, cultural organizations, and local officials to build statewide capacity. He provides guidance on advocacy strategies, resource development, and community engagement, and he works to increase public understanding of preservation's role in community and economic development.  Quinn has been instrumental in significant legislative policy efforts, including the extension of the Illinois Historic Preservation Tax Credit.  He plays a key role in helping preserve important historic sites all around the state and enjoys working with communities to save places that matter to them.  Quinn recently earned an M.A. in Community and Economic Development from WIU and is currently working towards a Masters in Public Administration at University of Illinois Chicago. 
 
 Mark Adams

California Receivership Group, President 

Mark Adams began work as a health and safety receiver in California in 1999. His company, California Receivership Group, has completed more than 400 receiverships throughout California. Mark founded the nonprofit CRG Foundation in 2018 with the goal of empowering communities throughout the country to address nuisance properties by providing technical assistance with health and safety receivership. Through the CRG Foundation, and with the assistance of Neighborhood Preservation, Inc., Mark helped establish Tennessee Receivership; Mark and the TRG team have worked since 2019 to successfully remediate receivership properties in the Memphis area. Mark’s receivership work is now also underway in Dallas with Texas Receivership Group, and he’s working hard to bring the remedy to Virginia and elsewhere.

 

The Works, Inc., Vice President & General Counsel 

Steve Barlow is a leader in neighborhood and community development in Memphis, Tennessee, where he has worked since 1996. At The Works, Inc., a citywide community development corporation, Steve is an officer of the corporation and directs the legal and policy team. The Works, Inc. is a developer and provider of affordable housing, an urban farm and nursery operator, a grocer, a community service provider, and an advocate for improved housing and neighborhood quality in Memphis. Since 2012, Steve has represented the City of Memphis in civil litigation targeting public nuisance properties. Starting in 2015, much of that litigation has been handled under Steve's guidance by second- and third-year law students enrolled in the University of Memphis School of Law's Neighborhood Preservation Clinic. 

 

Hon. Mathias W. Delort, Ret.
Justice (Ret.) Mathias W. Delort is an arbitrator, mediator, and legal consultant based in Chicago, Illinois. After years in private legal practice in the Chicago area, he served as Associate Judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Chancery Division. While on the bench during the Great Recession in the early 2000s, he handled over 300 receiverships, including on multi-unit residential properties, and on commercial properties such as large office buildings, shopping centers, and hotels.   He was subsequently elected to serve as a justice on the Illinois Appellate Court, from which he retired in 2023. He currently handles mediation and arbitration matters around the country.

Allen Guon 
Attorney - Cozen O’Connor
Allen Guon is an attorney and a member in Cozen O’Connor’s Bankruptcy, Insolvency & Restructuring Group. Allen has over 25 years of experience managing complex commercial insolvency matters including chapter 11 and chapter 7 bankruptcy cases, federal and state equity receiverships, assignments for the benefit of creditors, UCC Article 9 sales, out of court workouts, and related litigation. He focuses his practice on the representation of chapter 11 debtors, chapter 11 and 7 trustees, and chapter 11 plan trustees. Allen also has extensive experience representing federal and state court-appointed equity receivers in both civil enforcement actions filed by the Federal Trade Commission, the Illinois Attorney General, and actions brought by private parties. In addition to his debtor, trustee, receivership, and assignee representations, Allen regularly advises prospective buyers of distressed assets, financial institutions, equipment lessors, landlords, and trade creditors in insolvency-related matters.