South Shore retailer forced to close after property tax hike, as nearby Obama center set to open

After a swell of public support and fundraising, a community store in South Shore may still close after the building’s landlord finalizes a sale to a South Side-based nonprofit supporting veterans.

For five years, Mama Africa’s Marketplace, 2100 E. 71st St., has sold African cultural products from vendors, primarily on consignment, and acts as a community space.

But due to significant property tax hikes, the building's landlord sought to sell the property, prompting a community effort to prevent the "displacement" of store owner Lakiesha Williams.

The location, in the 71st Street business corridor, has been the subject of conversation in recent years, being about 2 miles from the Obama Presidential Center, slated to open in June. The $800 million center has caused concern for nearby residents, who say it will potentially lead to higher property taxes and rents, and result in gentrification.

Williams also offers a youth employment program and various events like food giveaways at her store. An estimated 300 organizations have used the 4,000-square-foot space, she said.

“It’s just been a home to those who don’t have a home,” Williams said. “We try to make it easier for folks who want to serve the community to have a space to serve the community without worrying about finances.”

Williams, 43, moved into the space in 2021 without a business plan. The mother of four said she intended to use the store to create a clothing line, largely from fabrics purchased during a monthlong trip to Africa.

A friend connected her with John Lewis, the building’s owner. He offered Williams the space for $700 a month.

“It was such a small amount, but I wasn’t prepared to pay it,” Williams said. “I decided that I would just open my doors and just sell a few things that I had available as people were walking past, so that I could continue to make the money to pay the rent as I figured out what I was going to do with the space.”

Mama Africa’s soon blossomed.

“The idea of the marketplace has started to manifest, even without me being intentional about it,” Williams said.

Over the years, rent increased to $1,100 a month. In the fall, Williams said, Lewis notified her that he was looking to sell the property.

One potential buyer — Eli Williamson, a born-and-raised South Shore resident and founder of the Leave No Veteran Behind — said Williams was informed in October that her lease wouldn't be renewed.

Williamson needed a larger space in the area for his nonprofit and hoped to secure the building. Founded in 2008, Leave No Veteran Behind employs 40 to 60 people in transitional jobs. It's focused on violence prevention and food access for veterans.

The Sun-Times has reported that property taxes in the city’s predominately Black and Brown neighborhoods — like South Shore — were set to see large hikes, as a larger portion of the tax burden shifted from Loop businesses to homeowners and business owners in the city’s neighborhoods.

In 2022, property taxes on the 71st Street building were $16,463. By 2025, the bill had risen by 255% — to $58,592.

Lewis was asking $550,000 for the space, but Williams wasn’t in a position to buy the property.

In mid-December, he notified Williams of a cash offer and he would “have to turn over my lease to them,” she said.

Lewis, who didn't respond to requests for comment, told Williams that an appeal on the building’s taxes was pending.

“He needed to get rid of the building. He had to let it go. He had to take the offer," Williams said. "And I was like, 'That's understandable.'”

It wasn’t until a Dec. 24 phone call with Lewis that Williams realized her lease wouldn't be renewed, due to the building’s impending sale.

“The building needs major renovation, and it’s impossible to have tenants while that work is done,” Williamson said.

Lewis and Williams planned to meet in person to discuss details of the sale, and she asked community members to show up to support. About 40 people came, she said.

“I felt like if we had community support and backing us, that maybe he would give us an opportunity to see if maybe we can raise the money to stay in the space and to beat the offer that he currently had,” Williams said.

Lewis gave Williams until Jan. 5 to raise the funds to purchase the space, later extending it to Jan. 23.

“I didn’t understand what buying the building entailed,” she said. “But we tried.”

Williams said she's raised $25,000, and a GoFundMe launched on Dec. 28, has raised more than $16,000. But private lenders required $100,000 cash, she said.

“We are looking for a location but still keeping the faith we could purchase by the 23rd,” Williams said.

Originally believing the buyer was “this investment group that was trying to grab a property in South Shore with the Obama Center thing coming,” Williams was shocked to learn the buyer was a community member, someone whom she had met before.

“This was someone who supposedly cares about the community, who knows me, who knows I have children, who knows of the work that I do,” she said of Williamson. “I was just like, ‘Who does that to someone on Christmas?'”

Williamson refused to meet with her, she said. According to Williamson, who is on the board of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, the chamber reached out to Williams to “provide alternative locations.”

But the rent for Mama Africa’s was subsidized, and similar spaces offered to Williams cost three times more.

Williams is currently fighting an eviction case at her home on the West Side.

Williamson said the narrative that outsiders are coming in to purchase the building is “inaccurate.” He said the deal is likely to close soon, and declined to provide details of the sale.

“Our goal is to make sure that it’s a community asset, not just for the next five years, but for the next 20 years,” he said. “We’re trying to preserve property in South Shore, not displace it.”

While Williamson is from the community, operating a nonprofit helping veterans, Williams said her organization helps everyone.

“That's a difference between organizations that come with funding … versus people who do it from the heart and do it because they care,” Williams said. “And it's not to say that people who have those organizations don't, I'm just saying it's a different type of dynamic when it comes to pouring into a community.”

It would have been more “humane” of Williamson to let her know in advance that she would have to leave the building, Willams said.

"I just felt like it could have been handled differently without displacing me, giving me a week's time to ... vacate a building that I had been in for five years and a community that I have supported for five years,” she said.

The issues leading to the store's potential closure were Lewis's property tax bills, according to Williams.

“If his taxes wasn't $60,000, we will still be there,” she said. “He would not have to be forced to sell his building.”