City to pay nearly $10 million for Mayfair Lumber site, ending 6-year condemnation case

The City of Chicago will be paying $9.625 million for the six-acre Mayfair Lumber site, 4825 W. Lawrence Ave., bringing an end to a condemnation lawsuit filed against the property’s owners in 2014.

A judgment in the eminent domain case was issued a few days ago in Cook County Circuit Court.

In 2018 the two sides were as much as $12 million apart on the property’s fair market value, with the highest appraisal at $17 million.

The city is looking to use the site for salt storage during the winter, parking for 60 trucks and 24 pieces of other equipment as well as a construction staging area for when the nearby Mayfair Pumping Station, 4850 W. Wilson Ave., is converted from steam to electric power, according to court records. Several city departments will be using the site.

The Koenen family operated the lumberyard for about 80 years before its closing in 2013. At its peak. Mayfair had about 50 employees and a dozen delivery trucks, and train cars carrying lumber used to enter the site. Since the the business closed, there have been problems of graffiti on the property.

Several years ago the city purchased the former Leprecan Portable Restrooms site, 4808 W. Wilson Ave., which is adjacent to the lumberyard.