Farbman is being sued in Chicago for racial discrimination

[illwill]

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.co...discrimination

[corktownyuppie]

I'm not a fly on the wall in their meetings, but my gut reaction isn't that HCP is being discriminated against because their clientele is mostly black. I think it's being discriminated against because their clientele is mostly poor, and the building is trying to present an upscale image.

The first is a civil rights violation. The second is definitely a lot more grey. Would be interesting to see how this shakes out.

[Bham1982]

My guess is that this has no merit, but I don't really know.

I can tell you that the Farbman family is very known for its support of Jewish causes and leans somewhat left. They're also fundamentally nice, low-key folks, and Andy Farbman is a smart, savvy guy.

That, in itself, doesn't really present a rebuttal, but I'm just saying...

[Gistok]

This has nothing to do with the issue of the lawsuit... but should a non-profit trying to help the poor really be housed in a downtown Chicago highrise?

I bet the bang for the buck for contributions to that non-profit has a high percentage of "administrative" costs. I choose my philanthropic contributions with an eye on where they are located and their balance sheet of donations versus administration percentages...

[Bham1982]

This has nothing to do with the issue of the lawsuit... but should a non-profit trying to help the poor really be housed in a downtown Chicago highrise?

Probably, yes.

Nonprofits helping the poor need to be in central, transit-accessible locations, so the Loop makes perfect sense.

And Farbman's Chicago portfolio is all low-rent Class B buildings. It isn't like these are fancy buildings. They're all marginal real estate, undesirable to corporate tenancy.

[9mile&seneca]

They should start government re-education camps and make corporate aholes like this live in them until they are convinced that diversity is the most important thing in the world.