Dilapidated apartment complex grabs Fayetteville's attention

FAYETTEVILLE -- Some residents say they are too poor to leave a dilapidated, crime-ridden apartment complex.

The Southmont Apartments have been crumbling for years, but nothing has been done, residents said.

The 88-units at 1101 S. Curtis Ave. are moldy, rotting or falling apart. Christina Annis, a resident of three years, said she could feel the joists under her bathtub giving out.

Sewage ran out of doors about a year ago after a sewer line collapsed, but no one finished the repair, Mark Whitaker, city building safety director, said. The apartments that flooded with raw sewage are boarded up or vacant, Whitaker said.

Police estimated about half the complex is empty.

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City officials are considering citing the property owner, getting the property fixed or condemning it, Whitaker said.

The owner is a company called Southmont Apartments, according to county property records. The company was incorporated by Carl Yaeger, president of Yaeger Architecture in Overland Park, Kan. A message left for Yaeger at his office wasn't returned Wednesday and Thursday. A secretary said he wasn't in his office Thursday.

Some units are OK but others looked like "a bombed out shell," Whitaker said. Some residents have water that doesn't turn off, holes in walls and doors that don't close, he said.

The property rents to low-income residents who are part of a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program.

The federal government's Project-Based Section 8 program contracts with private landlords and provides a rent subsidy. Unlike vouchers, the subsidy doesn't go with the renter, said Patricia Campbell, regional public relations spokesman for HUD.

"If you leave, you lose your rental assistance," Campbell said.

Whitaker is evaluating the property and has contacted HUD officials, he said.

The city planned to cite the property, but the managers change frequently, Whitaker said. The process for citing or condemning a property takes time, he said.

The property last sold in 2015, but several residents said management companies turn over quickly. That makes figuring out who to cite difficult, city officials said.

Every time the city starts research and the property changes hands or management companies, the process -- including inspections -- must start again, Whitaker said. The process states a letter must be sent to the correct person, then the owner is to talk with the city and can go to the City Council to discuss the citation, Whitaker said.

Condemning and razing the buildings is the last option, Whitaker said. If the property is demolished, the city wants to have a plan for how to help anyone displaced, he said. The city is contacting nonprofit organizations, Whitaker said.

The property owners seem to want renters gone so newer, more-expensive apartments can go up, said Amanda Wawrzaszek, whose cousin lives at the complex. Other renters said they felt pressured to move.

"The only thing that's worth anything on the property is the land," Wawrzaszek said.

Only several units are occupied in each of the buildings, said Brenda Risley, who lives there with her three grandchildren. She said empty units aren't being rented.

Risley said the apartments were nice and safe when she moved in about 10 years ago. Not anymore.

"I just want to find a nice place to move and leave," Risley said.

Crime magnet

Annis pointed out bullet holes in her walls. The bullets came through the front wall above the living room window and went out the back wall near the kitchen. Risley said two apartments were shot at earlier last month.

"It's very scary," Annis said.

Police receive a lot more calls for help from Southmont Apartments than other complexes with fewer tenants, said Cpl. Dallas Brashears, police spokesman. In the past six months, police fielded 308 calls from the complex.

Police investigated at least five calls about shots fired in May, police said. Someone shot Annis' building May 2 or 3. Police beefed up patrols around May 16 and detectives started visiting the complex regularly, spokesmen said.

Residents said drugs, thefts and other crimes are up. People break into abandoned units and sleep, Annis said.

"The condition of this building is ridiculous," she said.

Recently, six juveniles were arrested in connection to crimes at the complex, including robbery and criminal mischief, police said. The crimes are possibly gang related, police spokesman Sgt. Craig Stout said.

Wawrzaszek said methamphetamine is a big problem at the complex and children are often left unsupervised. The complex is "crime ridden," Annis said.

"We want to see a safe area that residents can live in," Stout said about Southmont. "(People) have the right to live in peace and safety."

Fixing the problem

Brashears said the complex obviously needs repair. Updates to the 1970s-built buildings aren't regular, and even liveable units are dilapidated, residents said.

Annis said it took about a year before a working lock was installed on her front door. The lock was installed this week.

Wawrzaszek said when the sewer line collapsed at her cousin's apartment raw sewage bubbled up through the floor.

The city was notified twice about sewer problems in the past year, said Mark Rogers, manager for the city's water and sewer operations. The Arkansas Department of Health was notified about sewage surfacing at the apartment complex in July 2016, said Richard Murphree, environmental manager of the Northwest Region.

A state environmental specialist called city officials who said they were working with the property owner to fix the issue, Murphree said. No one ever called the state department back to ask for help, he said.

City officials told the resident on Dec. 12 the sewer issues were in a building, on private property, so the city could do nothing, according to city records.

Residents say they have complained about the conditions at the complex for years. The state Health Department had another complaint about sewer issues that couldn't be confirmed in 2014.

Whitaker said the city is taking action and has wanted to in the past, but finding the person responsible has been difficult.

"It's like trying to play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, but somebody keeps moving the picture of the donkey," Whitaker said.

Yaeger's company bought the property in 2015 from the Phillip D. & Pamela N. Reed, who bought the property in 2005 from Ashco Investments, which owned it for about a year.

And, it's likely to sell again soon. Residents said the grass was recently cut.

Two men were taking notes and inspecting buildings Wednesday afternoon. One of them confirmed a company is buying the complex. He said he didn't want to comment further or identify himself.

Campbell said a buyer is interested in the property, but she didn't know the buyer's name.

New owners have promised to repair the complex, she said.

NW News on 06/02/2017