The judge in a long running case involving substandard living conditions at Nob Hill Apartments in Syracuse pushed the two sides in the case for a faster resolution during a hearing Wednesday. State Supreme Court Justice Robert Antonacci, II told a lawyer for the apartment complex that a fast resolution might save it some money in fines.
Nob Hill Apartments has been the subject of more than 100 code violation complaints from residents in the last few years, after a new company took over ownership of the four building complex and installed a new company for day-to-day management. Residents complain that safety systems such as smoke detectors, stairway lights and door locks aren’t maintained, cleanliness issues such as cockroaches and a lack of garbage pickup, squatters, crime and more. The issues came to a head after a fire in February resulted in a tenant’s death and the closing of one of the four buildings.
Antonacci’s court was the scene of a hearing Wednesday in the city of Syracuse’s lawsuit against Nob Hill’s owners. The city is seeking fines for each of the approximately 100 violations it is alleging which could total hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nob Hill is counter-suing, claiming selective enforcement.
The city filed suit nearly a year ago.
Judge Antonacci urged a faster resolution of the codes violations. “If we move towards this, we can figure out what's not repaired,” he said. “Triage it and get the most important stuff fixed sooner rather than later.”
To Nob Hill’s lawyer, he warned, “I think the sooner that any of these alleged violations are fixed, the more lenient I'm going to be.”
The case returns to court in six weeks. That bothered Jake Dishaw, Syracuse Deputy Commissioner of Code Enforcement and Housing.
“Seven days is too long, 21 days is too long, 45 days is too long for these people that live there to be continuously impacted from the lack of progress from ownership and management," said Dishaw. "My take is they need to be held responsible immediately and strictly.”
Before the court session, residents of the apartment complex held a news conference outside the courthouse to demand, among other things, repairs, access to the burned-out building to retrieve belongings and one-on-one lease negotiations.
They said that problems in the buildings were not fixed despite court orders to do so. “People who pay over $1,000 a month and still are not provided a safe and habitable place to live,” said Tracey McClellan, who lived with her mother at Nob Hill until displaced by the fire. “We are not asking for anything unreasonable. We are asking for safety. We are asking for accountability.”
Kona Lisa Mahu, head of the Nob Hill tenants group, said Nob Hill’s investor-owners are very wealthy people who could have spent what was needed to fix the building’s problems, but chose not to.
“So why would you buy an apartment and commit to a $50 million loan only to neglect it, withdraw resources, put people through misery if you didn't have an escape plan, if you didn't have an exit plan?” she said. “Figure out what's going on and what their exit strategy is and why they would purposely tank a property and put people's lives at stake.”
Residents say they’ve seen some small signs of improvement lately because the apartment complex is now being run by a court-appointed receiver. Dishaw said management is creating timelines for work to be done and lining up contractors to do the work. He expects they will focus on safety-related issues first.
