The Atlas · The City of Chicago
Property Management
in Chicago.
Condominium, HOA, and townhome association management across more than 55 Chicago neighborhoods — practiced from a Chicago office, by people who know these buildings block by block.
- 42
- Associations under management
- 2,450+
- Residences across Chicagoland
- 96%
- Client retention rate
- 2007
- Serving Chicago since
Why Chicago Boards Choose Stellar
A city of buildings.
One standard.
Chicago association management is its own discipline: the Illinois Condominium Property Act, city facade-inspection ordinances, vintage masonry and boilers, lakefront wind and moisture, winter emergency response measured in minutes.
Since 2007 we have managed only Chicago-area community associations — never rentals, never other markets. That focus is why boards from the Gold Coast to Hyde Park keep us at a 96% retention rate.
Request a ProposalCondominium Management
From boutique vintage conversions in Andersonville to lakefront high-rises in Edgewater — daily operations, staffing, and amenity oversight handled to one standard.
Financial Governance
Transparent flat-fee pricing, monthly board-ready reporting, reserve planning, and assessment collection your auditors can trust.
Maintenance & 24/7 Response
Vetted Chicago vendor network, preventive schedules for vintage and new construction alike, and a live person on the phone at 2 AM.
Capital & Reserve Planning
Reserve studies translated into funding plans a board can actually adopt, and capital projects scoped by someone who can read the mechanical plant rather than only the bid.
Violation & Rule Enforcement
Consistent, documented enforcement under your declaration — the process that holds up when a dispute reaches counsel.
Board Support & Compliance
Meeting facilitation, elections, director onboarding, and full alignment with the Illinois Condominium Property Act and Chicago ordinances.
Why Boards Switch
Most firms hire the
engineer.
Every board’s two worst outcomes are a special assessment nobody saw coming and a capital project that goes wrong. Both turn on the same question: can anyone on your side actually read the building?
Stellar’s principal holds a City of Chicago Stationary Engineer’s License and NIULPE power-engineer certification alongside an Illinois CAM licence, CMCA and AMS. From 2007 to 2024 he taught the exam-preparation course for that Chicago licence at the SEIU Local 1 Training Fund — roughly 700 engineers through the city examination. Many of them now run the plants in buildings like yours.
Credentials and verificationWhat that changes in practice
Reserve studies
Read as a building rather than a spreadsheet — which components are genuinely near end of life, and which are padding.
Contractor bids
Scope reviewed against what the plant actually needs, before the board votes on a number.
Emergencies
A boiler down in January is diagnosed, not just dispatched.
Engineering staff
Hired, evaluated and supported by someone who has held the same licence.
The Housing Stock
Six kinds of Chicago
building.
“Chicago association management” covers buildings with almost nothing in common. What a board should expect from its manager depends entirely on which one it owns.
Pre-war courtyard & greystone
Masonry that moves, single-pipe steam or converted hot water, and tuckpointing cycles that decide whether the next decade brings maintenance or a special assessment. Reserve planning here lives or dies on an honest read of the envelope.
Vintage conversions
Two-flats and courtyard buildings converted in the 1990s and 2000s, often with declarations written faster than the rehab. Boundary disputes over risers, roofs, and balconies trace straight back to that document.
Mid-rise elevator buildings
One or two elevators, a central boiler, and a plant small enough that a single failure is an emergency. Annual elevator inspection, backflow testing, and boiler certification all land on the same calendar.
Lakefront high-rises
Facade ordinance obligations, life-safety evaluation requirements, door staff and engineering payroll, and amenity operations. The management question is not paperwork — it is whether anyone on your side can read the plant.
Townhome & rowhouse associations
Shared roofs, private entries, and drainage that becomes contentious the first time a downspout backs up. Usually governed under CICAA rather than the Condominium Property Act, which changes notice and voting rules.
Mixed-use with ground-floor retail
A commercial tenant under the residential units changes everything: shared mechanicals with split responsibility, separate insurance exposure, deliveries and refuse in a residential building, and an assessment structure the declaration rarely explains cleanly.
City Compliance
The calendar boards
inherit.
Chicago regulates buildings more closely than most American cities, and the obligations transfer to whoever is on the board this year — usually without anyone explaining that the clock is already running.
Requirements vary by building height, construction type and use. Confirm how each applies to your property with your association attorney and the Department of Buildings.
Facade — Exterior Wall Program
Buildings 80 feet and taller must run ongoing visual inspections and a critical examination on a four-to-twelve-year cycle depending on construction type, filed with the Department of Buildings. Every report classifies the building as safe, safe with a repair programme, or unsafe — and that classification drives the reserve conversation for years afterwards.
Heat — 15 September to 1 June
Where residents do not control their own heat, which describes most centrally heated Chicago buildings, the ordinance requires 68°F from 8:30am to 10:30pm and 66°F overnight. Fines run to $1,000 per day per violation. A boiler failure in January is a compliance event, not just a service call.
Elevators, boilers & backflow
Annual elevator inspection, boiler certification, and reduced-pressure backflow assembly testing each carry their own filing. Missing one is cheap to avoid and expensive to explain to owners.
Life safety in high-rises
Life-safety evaluation obligations, alarm and sprinkler testing, and documented procedures. Boards inherit these on turnover and frequently do not know the clock is running.
Porches, decks & drainage
Chicago inspects porch construction closely, and wood porch systems age faster than boards budget for. Condition surveys belong in the reserve study, not in the year the inspector arrives.
Comparing firms on this? Our scoring framework for management proposals sets out the questions worth asking, and our pricing is published — rarer in this market than it should be.
29 Chicago Neighborhoods
Your neighborhood, covered.
Chicago · Questions, Answered
What Chicago boards ask us first.
Who provides condominium and HOA management in Chicago?
Stellar Property Management is a Chicago community association management firm serving condominium associations, HOAs, and townhome communities exclusively — 42 associations and more than 2,450 residences across the city and North Shore, with a 96% client retention rate since 2007. Our office is at 5107 N Western Ave #1S, Chicago, IL 60625.
Which Chicago neighborhoods does Stellar Property Management serve?
We serve associations across Chicago, including the Gold Coast, Streeterville, River North, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, the Loop, West Loop, South Loop, Edgewater, Andersonville, and Hyde Park. We also serve North Shore communities through our regional North Shore property-management hub.
How much does condo association management cost in Chicago?
Stellar management starts at $20 per unit per month. We quote a customized flat monthly fee based on building size, amenities, staffing, financial complexity, and scope — never a percentage of your association’s budget. We do not add a separate capital-project planning or management-oversight fee.
What makes Stellar different from national property management chains in Chicago?
One dedicated manager per community, transparent flat fees, a local Chicago office that answers 24/7, and board-ready monthly financials. National firms manage by volume; Stellar manages by standard — that is why boards that join Stellar stay, at a 96% retention rate.
Does Stellar manage vintage buildings and high-rises?
Yes. Our Chicago portfolio spans pre-war courtyard buildings and greystone conversions to modern amenity-rich high-rises. Management plans account for each building type — from masonry and boiler systems in vintage stock to 24/7 staffing and amenity operations in towers.
Does Stellar handle Chicago facade ordinance compliance?
Yes. Buildings 80 feet and taller fall under the City of Chicago Exterior Wall Program, which requires ongoing visual inspections plus a critical examination every four to twelve years depending on construction type, filed with the Department of Buildings. We coordinate the licensed architect or engineer, track the filing cycle, and carry the resulting repair programme into the reserve plan so the board is funding the work before the deadline rather than after it.
Who is responsible when a Chicago condo building loses heat?
Where residents do not control their own heat — which describes most centrally heated Chicago buildings — the city requires 68°F from 8:30am to 10:30pm and 66°F overnight between 15 September and 1 June, with penalties up to $1,000 per day per violation. Heat plant is a common element, so restoring it is the association’s responsibility to fund and the managing agent’s to coordinate. Boards should confirm how the ordinance applies to their specific building with association counsel.
Is Stellar’s principal a licensed engineer?
Yes, and it is unusual in this industry. Mirsad Cerimovic holds a City of Chicago Stationary Engineer’s License and NIULPE power-engineer certification alongside his Illinois CAM licence, CMCA and AMS. From 2007 to 2024 he taught the exam-preparation course for that Chicago licence at the SEIU Local 1 Training Fund, taking roughly 700 engineers through the city examination. Most management firms hire that judgement. Yours would have it on the account.
How does a Chicago association switch to Stellar Property Management?
Through a managed 30–60 day transition: records retrieval from your outgoing firm, banking migration, vendor transfers, owner communication, and portal setup — your board only signs. Call 773.728.0652 or request a proposal at stellarpropertygroup.com/contact.
A Private Consultation
Chicago’s standard,
raised.
Speak with our managing partners about your Chicago association — a free, no-obligation consultation and a proposal tailored to your building.