HGTV's Windy City Rehab Stars Resume Work on Homes 4 Months After Permits Were Blocked, Licenses Suspended

The stars of the HGTV show Windy City Rehab are getting back to work nearly four months after the city of Chicago threatened to shut them down.

After the city issued the show’s co-hosts Alison Victoria and Donovan Eckhardt several stop-work orders due to many building violations, the house flippers are beginning to resume work on multiple properties, Block Club Chicago reported Tuesday.

According to Gregg Cunningham, a spokesman for the department of buildings, nearly a dozen of the stop-work orders issued this summer have been lifted.

The co-hosts, however, are still unable to file new work permits as they were first blocked from doing so in July.

According to Cunningham, Victoria and Eckhardt are only able to go back to work on existing buildings as the work orders were lifted “to correct past violations.”

The decision to lift the previous stop-work orders is “in effect indefinitely until the issues at all these properties have been addressed to satisfaction of the Department of Buildings,” Cunningham added.

“We’re still monitoring the work closely, watching for any attempt to file a permit using a different name. [We are] watching closely for any attempt to circumvent our process here,” he said.

The two projects that the business partners remain able to work on are 1803 W. Wabansia Ave. and 1906 N. Hoyne Ave. in Bucktown, according to the outlet.

Twelve other properties are still under inspection, and the final property associated with the show — the former Miko’s Italian Ice building — remains under an active stop-work order.

In the notice sent to Eckhardt regarding his license suspension, the city said that he had worked without a permit at 11 different properties, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Block Club Chicago reported that the Windy City Rehab projects also failed to adhere to safety codes and hired workers who were not properly licensed or certified by the city, among other violations.

“Issues related to Windy City Rehab have been carefully reviewed,” HGTV told PEOPLE in a statement at the time. “Appropriate parties are in communication with local building officials and working to resolve any outstanding issues.”

The network also added that season two of the series “is currently in production.” The show first premiered on HGTV in January 2019.


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