All of the news, drama surrounding ‘Windy City Rehab’
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Here’s a look at the issues that have plagued the HGTV series “Windy City Rehab,” which follows Alison Victoria Gramenos and her team as they renovate and flip Chicago homes, from permit trouble to a burglary, civil and city lawsuits, work stoppage and behind-the-scenes drama.
Check out the latest news and happenings here.
Everything you need to know about ‘Windy City Rehab’ ahead of the Season 2 premiere
Sept. 11, 2020
The second season of “Windy City Rehab” premieres Tuesday as the team behind the popular HGTV home flip series continues to face legal drama in Chicago.
Season 2 opens with an acknowledgement of the legal troubles and the city-ordered work stoppages and with a promise to reveal the “full story” behind the headlines. The business partnership between host and designer Alison Victoria Gramenos and contractor Donovan Eckhardt unravels on the premiere with Gramenos saying Eckhardt is “acting like a baby. I want to be gentle sometimes, but then other times I want to rip his face off.”
That’s a shift from last season when Gramenos said Eckhardt was “pretty much like my work husband” as they purchased, renovated and sold North Side homes together. Gramenos was unavailable for comment for this story, per a network representative, and Eckhardt did not respond to a Tribune request for comment. Much has transpired since the 11-episode first season finished airing in March 2019. Here are answers to some questions you may have as you tune into the Season 2 premiere at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
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‘Windy City Rehab’ second season to premiere Sept. 15
Aug. 18, 2020
The second season of the popular, but embattled HGTV show “Windy City Rehab” is scheduled to premiere Sept. 15, the network announced Tuesday.
As host Alison Victoria Gramenos “continues her work to transform historic fixer-uppers, she must manage a strained business relationship, contend with permit delays and battle stop work orders” over five 90-minute episodes, according to an HGTV press release. The network last year greenlit 10 episodes for Season 2.
New ‘Windy City Rehab’ lawsuit: Investors suing host, Season 1 contractor
July 17, 2020
“Windy City Rehab” host Alison Victoria Gramenos and her Season 1 business partner Donovan Eckhardt engaged in a “deliberate and fraudulent scheme” to misappropriate funds owed to a group of investors in some of their Chicago home renovation projects, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Cook County court.
Michael Ward Jr., Thomas Ward and Michael Ward Sr. said they paid $3 million as part of an agreement with the pair that the money would be used to purchase homes for renovation on the popular HGTV series “Windy City Rehab.” The three men say they are owed more than $1.7 million, which includes $1.1 million of their principal investment and more than $600,000 in interest.
“At various points in (home) closings, Alison and Donovan, through their respective entities that they owned or controlled, were taking out money before the investors got paid. So effectively they were using these other corporate entities as vehicles to pay themselves before making sure that the investors got paid,” said Lance Northcutt, an attorney for the Wards.
Daniel Lynch, an attorney for Gramenos, said in an emailed statement that Gramenos “has her own complaints and hopes the process started by the Wards is a positive development that will allow the entire matter — including her concerns — to be resolved.” Eckhardt did not return a Tribune request for comment.
‘Windy City Rehab’ host drops fraud lawsuit against Chicago-area notary public
July 6, 2020
“Windy City Rehab” host Alison Victoria Gramenos has dropped a civil fraud lawsuit against an Oak Park notary public she accused of forging her name on financial documents, according to paperwork filed last week in Cook County court.
As part of the June 30 agreement, notary public Adriana Rodriguez will not sign Gramenos' name to any document or notarize any document with Gramenos' purported signature for five years. Gramenos said she was “engaged in a cooperative enterprise with Rodriguez’s employer,” but did not name the employer in her Feb. 18 suit against Rodriguez.
‘Windy City Rehab’ host seeks dismissal from Wicker Park couple’s fraud lawsuit
May 26, 2020
A Wicker Park couple is suing “Windy City Rehab” host Alison Victoria Gramenos over home renovations “perhaps out of a hope” that Gramenos would be “bullied” into paying a settlement to avoid legal fees and bad press, her attorneys said May 21 in a court filing asking for the claims against her to be tossed from the lawsuit.
Shane Jones and Samantha Mostaccio filed suit in April against Gramenos; contractors Donovan Eckhardt and Ermin Pajazetovic; companies run by Gramenos and Eckhardt; and the parent company of HGTV, which airs “Windy City Rehab,” for fraud over “defective and incomplete work” performed on their $1.3 million single-family home at 1700 W. Wabansia Ave.
The property was featured on a “Windy City Rehab” episode that first aired in January 2019. The Wicker Park couple says the home has a litany of issues, including various leaks, mold in the basement, and cracking concrete, load-bearing columns. Gramenos' attorney, Daniel Lynch, said in a statement that she and the couple were working toward an “amicable resolution” before the lawsuit was filed.
“Now that plaintiffs and their counsel have commenced litigation, attorneys' fees have needlessly been spent addressing misleading and baseless allegations, many of which should have never been brought at all, and none of which should have been brought against Gramenos or Alison Victoria Interiors,” Lynch said in the statement.
Contractors who worked on ‘Windy City Rehab’ facing new fraud allegations
April 30, 2020
Two contractors from the first season of “Windy City Rehab” committed fraud by diverting money from other projects to help fund work done on the popular HGTV show, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Cook County court.
Space Builders — owned by Ermin Pajazetovic — sued Donovan Eckhardt, his Greymark Development Group, 612 West Stratford LLC and Lakeside Bank in December 2019 over $108,500 he says he was owed for work he performed and materials he provided during renovation of 612 W. Stratford Pl.
612 West Stratford LLC and 2530 North Orchard LLC are countersuing Pajazetovic and Space Builders, alleging that Pajazetovic “overcharged and conspired with others to overcharge” them for renovation of 612 W. Stratford in Lakeview East and 2530 N. Orchard St. in Park West, according to paperwork filed April 22.
The property owners “believe that there were deficiencies in the work performed on several ‘Windy City Rehab’ projects, and that Space (Builders) and Mr. Pajazetovic conspired with Eckhardt and Greymark in a scheme to divert funds from Stratford and Orchard to prop up the high-profile ‘Windy City Rehab’ projects,” the filing reads. The attorney for the property owners did not return a Tribune request for comment, nor did Eckhardt.
April 16, 2020
A Wicker Park couple is suing “Windy City Rehab” host Alison Victoria Gramenos, contractors Donovan Eckhardt and Ermin Pajazetovic and the parent company of HGTV, which airs the popular Chicago home flip series, for fraud over work done to their $1.3 million single-family home.
The renovation of 1700 W. Wabansia Ave. was shown on a “Windy City Rehab” Season 1 episode titled “House of Horrors.” Shane Jones and Samantha Mostaccio, who purchased the home after the episode aired in January 2019, say they agreed to pay extra so Gramenos could turn the garage into a workout studio for Mostaccio, according to the lawsuit filed last week in Cook County court.
The couple said Gramenos initially quoted $15,000 for the garage work before upping that price to about $37,000 three days later. The homeowners say they were provided an estimated completion date of June 2019 for the garage. Not only did the “Windy City Rehab” team not complete the work on time, they caused water damage in the garage, according to the lawsuit. The homeowners allege the team didn’t have proper permits when it started demolishing the garage in April 2019, and a stop-work order was issued the following month.
Contractor who appeared on ‘Windy City Rehab’ facing new fraud allegation
March 4, 2020
Yet another fraud allegation has surfaced in the legal drama surrounding the popular HGTV renovation series “Windy City Rehab.”
A company behind a Lakeview project has until the end of March to gather what it says is “substantial evidence” to back up its claim that affidavits signed by contractor Ermin Pajazetovic and notarized by his wife were used to “fraudulently extract loan proceeds ... for work that was never performed” at 612 W. Stratford Pl.
Attorney Timothy Patenode, who represents 612 West Stratford LLC and Lakeside Bancorp, was given 28 days by a judge Tuesday to prepare a counterclaim to a lawsuit brought by Pajazetovic’s Space Builders company in late December.
In that suit, Pajazetovic contended he was owed $108,500 for work done at the Stratford location. Pajazetovic alleged that Donovan Eckhardt “fraudulently and wrongfully collected and kept money due to Space Builders for construction work that Space Builders had performed as part of a scheme to defraud Space Builders.”
Bucktown home connected to ‘Windy City Rehab’ facing foreclosure
Feb. 26, 2020
Belmont Bank & Trust has initiated foreclosure proceedings on a Bucktown home connected to the popular HGTV renovation series “Windy City Rehab.”
The bank is seeking $925,000 plus additional interest from 1727 W. Ellen LLC — which is managed by “Windy City Rehab” contractor Donovan Eckhardt and real estate broker William Fisher — for mortgage due at 2147 W. Moffat St., according to a lawsuit filed last month in Cook County Circuit Court. A hearing is set for March 9.
The bank says 1727 W. Ellen LLC defaulted on its loan when it failed to make a payment due Oct. 5, 2019. The Ellen LLC purchased the single-family home on Moffat in September 2017 and refinanced the mortgage twice — the last time a year ago for an $865,000 loan, according to the lawsuit. The full amount now owed includes interest and late fees, the lawsuit states.
‘Windy City Rehab’ host suing notary public she says forged her signature on documents
Feb. 20, 2020
Alison Victoria Gramenos, who flips Chicago homes on the HGTV renovation series, accuses a notary public of either forging her signature on financial documents or notarizing documents that Gramenos says she did not sign.
Gramenos filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against notary public Adriana Rodriguez and is seeking a temporary restraining order against her. A hearing is scheduled for Friday at the downtown Daley Center.
Gramenos said she learned during an audit that “her signature had been affixed by others without her knowledge or consent to a large number of documents, including loan documents, operating agreements and lien waivers,” according to the lawsuit.
Gramenos said there is similarity between her forged signature and Rodriguez’s own signature. “Rodriguez, at a minimum, notarized documents purportedly executed by Gramenos, which Gramenos did not sign,” according to the lawsuit.
Chicago couple suing ‘Windy City Rehab’ stars want HGTV’s parent company added to lawsuit
Jan. 30, 2020
A couple upset with the work the stars of “Windy City Rehab” did on their Lincoln Square home are trying to add the parent company of HGTV, the network that broadcasts the popular TV show, to their Cook County lawsuit.
Attorneys for show host Alison Victoria Gramenos and the couple, James and Anna Morrissey, appeared briefly in court Thursday to discuss the Morrisseys' motion to amend their complaint to include Discovery Inc. The issue was not decided Thursday, but the parties were already scheduled to return to court Feb. 13 on other matters. Gramenos has been trying to get the lawsuit dismissed in favor of mediation.
“If Discovery Inc., were ever a proper party to this case, it seems strange that (the) Morrisseys did not include Discovery Inc., as a party in their original filing,” Gramenos' attorney, Daniel Lynch, said in a statement to the Tribune. “If the Morrisseys are going to keep expanding this case, what’s next, a lawsuit against the providers that carry ‘Windy City Rehab’ or the manufacturer of the TV sets on which people watch the show?”
‘Windy City Rehab’ host wants homeowner lawsuit dismissed in favor of mediation
Jan. 14, 2020
Attorneys for “Windy City Rehab” host Alison Victoria Gramenos are asking a Cook County judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a North Side couple unhappy with their home purchase so the issues can be worked out with a mediator. Gramenos has also expressed interest in buying back the home herself.
Gramenos attorney Daniel Lynch and an attorney for homebuyers James and Anna Morrissey appeared briefly in court Tuesday to set a schedule for the case. The Morrisseys' attorney declined to comment.
Gramenos' attorneys argue that the purchase and sale agreement for the home at 2308 W. Giddings St. in the Lincoln Square neighborhood require the Morrisseys to bring any disputes “to mediation as a condition precedent to bringing litigation,” according to paperwork filed last week. The Morrisseys did not engage a mediator before suing Gramenos and her contractors Donovan Eckhardt and Ermin Pajazetovic last month over alleged problems with their roof, windows, exterior wall masonry and an upstairs hallway bathroom, according to Gramenos' attorneys.
‘Windy City Rehab’ team facing multiple lawsuits, adding to HGTV show’s troubles
Jan. 7, 2020
There’s more trouble for the team behind the popular HGTV series “Windy City Rehab.” Though Season 2 is expected to premiere later this year, the TV stars face multiple lawsuits, and they are starting to turn on each other.
A couple who bought one of the North Side homes featured on the first season of the show is suing “Windy City Rehab” host Alison Victoria Gramenos and contractors Donovan Eckhardt and Ermin Pajazetovic over alleged problems with their roof, windows, exterior masonry and hallway bathroom.
Pajazetovic’s Space Builders company, meanwhile, is suing Eckhardt and his company, Greymark Development Group, over work it said it completed on a Lakeview property, but that Greymark didn’t allegedly finish paying for. Both of those lawsuits were filed Dec. 30 in Cook County court.
‘Windy City Rehab’ host Alison Victoria says her Bucktown property was burglarized
Nov. 27, 2019
“Windy City Rehab” host Alison Victoria Gramenos says thieves broke into one of her Bucktown buildings earlier this month and stole light fixtures, a Kohler toilet and a laundry room countertop. She estimated she lost about $20,000 worth of items.
“Obviously, I just want justice,” Gramenos told House Beautiful. Chicago “is hard enough to build in, and now I have two people break in and walk out with things for free that I work so hard to pay for. This is happening all over the city and it needs to stop.”
The building is located on North Wood Street in Bucktown, House Beautiful reported. Gramenos has been rehabbing a building in the 1600 block of North Wood Street for her HGTV show “Windy City Rehab.” Police say officers responded to a call of a burglary on that block at about 5 p.m. Nov. 16.
‘Windy City Rehab’ in limbo as city upholds suspension decisions
July 31, 2019
The Chicago Department of Buildings revealed Tuesday it has suspended “Windy City Rehab” star Donovan Eckhardt’s contractor license for 45 days, which is less than the year-long suspension the department considered for a slew of alleged violations.
The city also upheld its decision to suspend Eckhardt and co-star Alison Victoria Gramenos' permitting privileges, though they can use a new general contractor to fix issues at their properties. The pair buy and flip Chicago homes for the HGTV series, which premiered earlier this year. They had contested their suspension notices, and the city issued its rulings Monday.
Eckhardt, of Greymark Development Group, was accused of building garages at three properties without first obtaining permits and not requesting final inspections, as required by law, in addition to other alleged infractions.
According to the city, Eckhardt claimed the unpermitted work was not at his direction, but it was done by people he authorized to perform work. The city noted Eckhardt is liable for violations because of his ownership interests in the properties. His license suspension is effective through Sept. 12.
Work stopped at ‘Windy City Rehab’ properties as HGTV stars face discipline by city
July 10, 2019
“Windy City Rehab” stars Alison Victoria Gramenos and Donovan Eckhardt are in trouble with the city again, which could affect the HGTV show’s second season. The Chicago Department of Buildings recently notified Gramenos and Eckhardt they cannot file new permit applications, and the city is moving to suspend Eckhardt’s real estate developer and general contractor licenses for a year for a variety of alleged violations.
Buildings department spokesman Gregg Cunningham said officials met with Eckhardt on Monday to discuss his appeal of the license suspension and a lawyer for Gramenos last week on the permit issue. No decisions have been made in either matter, though Eckhardt did lose his appeal to restore his permit privileges, Cunningham said."
HGTV orders second season of ‘Windy City Rehab’
Feb. 13, 2019
Chicago native Alison Victoria Gramenos will renovate and flip homes here for a second season of “Windy City Rehab,” HGTV representatives announced this week.
Season 2 is slated to feature 10 episodes. A premiere date has not been announced. The first season of the show, which follows Gramenos as she transforms North Side homes for profit, premiered last month.
Behind the scenes of the new HGTV series ‘Windy City Rehab’
Dec. 27, 2018
The newest Chicago drama isn’t on NBC — it’s on HGTV. Alison Victoria Gramenos and her team renovate and flip North Side homes amid weather woes, budget concerns and neighbor complaints on “Windy City Rehab,” which is scheduled to premiere at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Gramenos — who goes by Alison Victoria on the show — said filming is still underway as she tries to finish some of the homes that will be featured on this season’s 10 episodes. The Chicago native said her crew was able to work around bad weather, but winning over upset neighbors took time.
“Ultimately, all that my goal is and all my goal has ever been is to be able to really do what I want and do what I love and make a difference in the city because these homes that are going up by other developers — I’m not saying all of them — but some developers are putting up homes just to make money,” Gramenos told the Tribune by phone.
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