Chicago Prairie School building auctions at $100,000 opening bid

A 52-unit courtyard apartment building in Washington Park that the city emptied out last year goes to auction this month for a $100,000 opening bid.

South Park Terrace, at 6116-6134 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, is owned by 6116 MLK LLC, a Brooklyn, New York entity, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. A court-appointed receiver, Frontline Real Estate Partners, now controls the property and is marketing the Nov. 16-18, 2026, auction. No Cook County Chancery case number tied to the receivership is on the public record in our data as of this writing, and any path to a judicial foreclosure sale remains unconfirmed; this is a receivership and auction story, not a confirmed foreclosure sale.

Why it matters

The city of Chicago ordered residents out of the building’s middle tier on June 11, 2025, with two days’ notice, after the Department of Buildings said the owners had “completely abandoned” the structure, the Sun-Times reported. A March 2025 fire had already damaged part of the building, leaving boarded-up windows and burn marks. Preservation Chicago has now named South Park Terrace to its 2026 list of the city’s seven most endangered places, citing structural problems, water leaks and rotten floors left by years of owner neglect, according to Preservation Chicago. The building sits in Chicago’s Washington Park neighborhood, where vacant historic housing stock has become a recurring flashpoint between preservationists, the city and out-of-state owners.

Architecturally, the 1905 building was designed by Harry Hale Waterman, described by both outlets as an associate of Frank Lloyd Wright. Waterman modeled the courtyard apartment layout on Wright’s 1895 Francisco Terrace Apartments, which were demolished in 1974. Wright did not design South Park Terrace himself, and neither outlet claims otherwise. Preservation Chicago is pushing for formal Chicago Landmark designation and wants an agency such as the Chicago Housing Authority or the Cook County Land Bank Authority, or a private developer partner, to acquire and restore the building rather than let it go to a buyer with no preservation commitment.

The numbers

The building was built in 1905 for a reported $70,000 and originally held 52 apartments for middle-class tenants. Opening bid at the Nov. 16-18 auction is $100,000, a figure both outlets attribute to Frontline’s marketing materials, far below the roughly $5 million brokers have floated for the property outside the receivership process.

What’s next

The auction runs Nov. 16-18, 2026, through Frontline Real Estate Partners. Whoever wins inherits a building the city has partly vacated and that preservationists want landmarked, which could complicate any redevelopment or demolition plan. Preservation Chicago wants the city and county to steer the property toward a buyer who will restore it rather than strip it for value. We will update if a case number, a confirmed buyer or a landmark vote surfaces.