Apartment owners get deadline for demolition
A Toledo housing court judge has given the owners of the Ira Apartments until Oct. 27 to come up with a credible development plan, or face demolition of the distinctive central city structure.
The boarded-up building at Parkside Boulevard and Dorr Street has been vacant almost 15 years.
Municipal Housing Court Judge C. Allen McConnell issued an order Friday giving the city permission to raze the Ira, but not before Oct. 27.
"If the owners present any viable information regarding rehabilitation or contractors who are prepared to refurbish the building, I'd be willing to look at it," the judge said yesterday. "It's been pending since 2001, and the court felt it was pretty much at the end of the line in terms of trying to get this done."
City Law Director John Madigan said owner representative Lewis Ellis has said he has a developer interested in the project, but the city has seen no concrete proof of the developer's interest or expertise in such a project.
"They gave us three or four addresses of housing projects he built in Chicago, but we haven't been able to verify any of them," Mr. Madigan said.
The Tudor-style building on the edge of Toledo's Westmoreland neighborhood is owned by Ira Apartments Limited Partnership. Mr. Ellis, executive director of Preferred Properties Inc., is the registered agent.
The owners had estimated a cost of $3.2 million for full restoration of the 1928 building, but that figure is several years old.
Toledo City Councilman Wilma Brown, whose district includes the apartment building, said she and the neighbors want it torn down because its is a blot on an area of Dorr that has experienced some improvements recently.
"It's lowering the property values for people around there. They keep coming forward with different plans and saying they have the financing and they really don't," Ms. Brown said.
"The judge should go ahead and let us demolish it," she said. "It would be cheaper to build something than restore it. That's a gateway for the whole community."
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