Recent events involving a number of Unit Owners have prompted us to remind everyone:

MAKE SURE We have your current contact information, designated emergency contacts and in the event the worst were to happen make sure you have a Will or some form of written instructions for how your property and belongings are to be handled in the event you become incapacitated or worse.

Over the past two years, the Association has run into multiple situations where Unit Owners were confronted with very challenging events or emergency situations – even death, and we did not have emergency contacts and/or heirs to the estates were not named. And we can’t just let any supposed friends or family into such units without some reasonable and appropriate documentation.

We’ve actually had three Owners’ units taken over in recent years by the Cook County Public Administrator, because there was no heir named or family that could be located. These end up being very messy transactions that can take years to resolve. However, what we feel is saddest is watching someone’s home and belongings be sold off by the County or even worse – just thrown out.

The best we can suggest for the worst case scenario is to draft your last will and testament. You can find ample examples online, but to be truly well prepared, hiring an estate planner or attorney would help you make sure you get things buttoned up as seamless as possible.

But even just getting your intentions down on paper and in writing, with a date and signature – even notarized if possible – would be much better than nothing at all. And, we know – we dealt with the “nothing at all” scenario multiple times now.

We’ve also had emergency situations arise, where there was no indication at all on file, of who Management could contact such as a friend or family member. You may have seen our Posts in the past about updating your Emergency Contact Information. We do these at least annually, and for very good reason. There are stories we could tell everyone about complicated and challenging situations that have come up, where we are at a complete loss to help because we don’t have any direction. Again, we can’t just let anyone into your unit no matter how much they insist that’s what the Owner or resident would want us to do.

Below is the most recent such post we did. Please take the time to read this and consider carefully who you want to designate as emergency contacts, so that if something happens and you are unable to communicate, we have someone you trust designated to help us navigate the situation. Or even just simply for us to let people important to you know what is going on.

ORIGINAL POST July 22nd

Dear Owners and Residents of Park Tower,

We need your help to make sure our records are as current and accurate as possible!

In the event of an emergency, we will do our best to communicate any instructions owners or residents might need to receive from either management or the authorities.  In order to accommodate this flow of information, we need to be able to contact you or someone close to you as soon as possible.

Please complete the contact information form on the back side of this letter (Resident Contact Info Form 07.2021), including a home phone number, cell phone number, and work phone number for yourself and any individuals we can contact on your behalf in the event of an emergency, or any other time that it may be necessary.

Join The Park Tower E-Mail List!

Over 950 residents and owners participate in our E-mail List Program. Park Tower maintains an email list for building news, notices, updates and announcements, to communicate quickly in emergencies and to distribute regular updates on business and projects. Keeping you informed makes PT a stronger community! If you’re not a member already or have a new e-ddress, please include your email address on the reverse side, and indicate whether you would like to be on the list.

Once the contact form has been completed, please return it to the management office.  Completed forms can be returned via mail, or fax to 773-769-0047, or email to parktowercondo-mgmt@habitat.com.

ALSO – Join The Park Tower Messaging Service!

We have over 500 subscribers! There are three categories to which you can subscribe:

Emergencies – Fires, floods, active shooters, power outages etc.

To subscribe to this notification service, text “PTCAalerts” to 94253

Notices – Meetings, business and activity announcements and reminders.

To subscribe to this notification service, text “PTCAnotices” to 94253

Maintenance – Elevator, water and other service outages, as well as repairs, construction and project announcements. To subscribe to this notification service, text “PTCAmaintenance” to 94253

Thank you for your time.

Park Tower Management Office