The garage door at Westwood Square remains open around the clock while the carbon monoxide detectors are brought up to code.
LAKE FOREST —mAfter losing tenants and receiving citations from the City of Lake Forest for code violations, the owner of Westwood Square is meeting deadlines imposed by the city to repair the property.
Catherine Czerniak, Lake Forest’s director of community development, said ADF Capital, has brought some things up to code and others are in the process of reparation. ADF Capital owns the owner of the shopping center at the northwest corner of Western Avenue and Woodland Road.
“We’ve been regularly working with them and communicating with them to monitor the progress,” Czerniak said in a Daily North Shore interview Feb. 12.
The city had issued a citation for ADF to bring its fire alarm system up to code as well as the carbon monoxide detectors in the garage, according to Czerniak. She said city inspectors approved the fire alarm system during an inspection Feb. 12 and is awaiting proof.
“Once we get documentation that will clean up the fire alarm issues,” Czerniak said.
Czerniak also said ADF has entered into a contract to get the carbon monoxide detectors brought up to code and the city will monitor the progress.
Tony Fox, the president and CEO of ADF, said he took remedial steps to ensure there would be no risk to tenants or the public while the work is done on the carbon monoxide detectors. He said the protection was put in more than three months ago.
“There is no life safety issue,” Fox said. “The garage door has been open around the clock for the last three months. We’ve had two powerful fans blowing 24/7 for the last 10 years. If there was any problem the bad air will be sucked out 24/7 365 days a year.”
Fox said the open door and fans were more effective than the detectors because they blow the carbon monoxide emitted from automobile exhaust out of the garage. He said he was now working to bring the garage up to code.
Czerniak said the other outstanding issue with ADF is the condition of the vacant space that is partially built out for a whiskey bar where the King Maa Chinese restaurant once operated. She said the violations there were the subject of an administrative hearing at City Hall Feb. 10.
Fox said the space is in limbo because the tenant has not told him it is ready to open. Czerniak said the heads must be affixed to the fire sprinklers even though the space is unoccupied. Fox said he would comply.
Meanwhile, Jeff Schnoll, the managing partner of the company that owns Westwood Bistro at the north entrance to the shopping center and has the lease for the former King Maa space, said a food and beverage operation will open there.
“We’ve changed the concept to something different and that’s why we’re not opened yet,” Schnoll said.
Westwood Bistro began serving customers in October 2014, with plans to open the whiskey bar shortly after that, according to news reports at that time.
A food and beverage operation is planned for the former King Maa space.