Our Landlord: Drew Millard

Our building is owned by real estate developer Andrew Millard. In 2009, Millard founded 33 Realty, which he has contracted as our property manager. In 2022, Millard sold 33 Realty to California venture capital firm Poplar Homes, a real estate conglomerate with ties to Google.

On his LinkedIn, Millard brags that he intends to acquire 650 middle-market units in Chicago in 2025. This represents 650 instances of upheaval for families, working-class individuals, the elderly, and others. The purpose of these acquisitions is to flip the units and drive up the rent so that Millard and his various enterprises can profit.

In a January 2025 Block Club article, Millard claimed, “I’m a new company, I’m not some corporate conglomerate...” This is a lie. Millard has been active in the real estate industry since the early 2000s, operating under the names of various companies. He is currently affiliated with a company called Concord Capital.

In the same article, Millard stated that he cannot keep the rent stable at our building, because “I literally [won’t] be able to pay the bills.” This statement offers an alarming window into Millard’s finances — if he can’t afford to pay the bills, then why did he buy the building?

The answer is simple: the current residents have to be removed so that more affluent residents can replace us and pay Millard’s bills and mortgage.

Residents of our building should not have to re-structure our lives around one man’s greed. Email Millard at drew@ConcordCapitalRE.com and tell him that it’s time to meet with the Belden Sawyer Tenant Association and to accept our requests: annual one-year lease renewals, reasonable rent to be negotiated with our union, no renovations, and good-faith negotiations with our partner union, the Fuerzas Inquilinos de Broadway y Cuyler.