Levin on the ropes at Thorndale Beach North

June 9, 2013 – A notorious condo attorney in Chicago is about to lose his last condo association client, many believe, as a new board president was elected last week at Thorndale Beach North.

For more than ten years, former state representative Ellis Levin (left) has been the attorney for the 151-unit condominium in the Edgewater community north of downtown Chicago.

During that time, unit owners have complained of alleged abusive treatment, bills for services that were over budget, and reinforcing the “bullying” of a 75-year-old board president described as “manipulative” and “a megalomaniac.”

Sigrid Ingold had been president of the TBN board of directors for about 20 years. For the past six years, she was also the building’s property manager, a part-time position paying $43,000 per year.

But at the June 4 meeting of the condo board, Ingold was finally replaced as president. She was also suspended as property manager until she obtains new licensing now required of professional community association managers in Illinois.

Unit owners who attended the meeting say there was applause, cheering, and heckling when Levin left the room at the request of Omar Ghaffar, the new board president.

One of the first things the new board had to do was change the lock on the management office after Ingold allegedly refused to give up the key.

A motion to fire Levin did not pass. While Levin is still the association’s attorney of record, board member Catherine McCarty says, “He will not be the one called for services.”

McCarty says she once received a letter from Levin informing her she would be fined $450 for talking with the former board president about a roof repair project. Other owners report receiving long letters from Levin when they wanted to organize a meeting or use a recreation room. Levin, said McCarty last year, “is one of the main causes of many of the troubles faced by unit owners” at TBN.

“He lets [Ingold] go off on her tangents and her power trips by writing these types of letters that reinforces her…bullying.”

In the past two years, Levin has been fired as attorney for Thorndale Beach South, a condominium at 5855 North Sheridan Road, and Marina City in River North. Levin served in the Illinois General Assembly from 1977 to 1995. In 2012, he lost an election for Circuit Court judge, finishing fourth out of six candidates.