Collapse of South End building raises public safety concerns over vacant buildings, absentee owners

The collapse of a condemned building in an upscale South End neighborhood on Wednesday has neighbors complaining the city “did nothing” to force the owner to fix the delinquent property — something they say has to change.

“I wasn’t surprised, the building has been condemned for years and years. It was just a matter of time that something like this would happen,” said Upton Street resident Leslie Frank. “The city just does nothing to penalize a building owner who is delinquent and doesn’t maintain a property.”

No one was injured when a five-story building at 23 Upton St. came tumbling down into the back alley just after 10 p.m. on Wednesday. Exterior brick fell away in the collapse to expose interior walls. A fire escape could be seen hanging from a tree and a mound of debris was on the pavement below. Five people in a building next door, which shared the emergency egress, were evacuated.

James Alan Fox, a sociology professor at Northeastern University and resident of Union Street, said he tried to get the city to cite the owner over the “dilapidated” building that he said was taken over by squatters and in such a state of disrepair pieces of it were falling off.

“There wasn’t much they could do,” he said.

Commercial real estate developer Navem Partners bought the building last February and James Heffernan, partner and chief legal officer for the company, said construction to renovate the building into luxury condos was supposed to begin next week.

“We’re not in the business of acquiring properties to sit on them or to be absentee landlords,” Heffernan said. But he said the company was “unaware” the property had such significant structural deficiencies. The city issued a violation order on Thursday giving the owner 30 days to complete emergency repairs to “provide protection of adjoining public and private property and control water runoff.”

The Inspectional Services Department would not say on Thursday how long the property has been condemned, and Director Dion Irish did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Mayor Martin Walsh said Boston ISD will be proactively reviewing the history of the other properties owned by Navem Partners and doing onsite inspections. Owners are responsible for maintaining their properties and ensuring they are structurally safe.

Neighbors said it has sat empty for “decades.” The previous property owner was issued an emergency building permit in 2015 to repair loose bricks on the facade, city records show. It’s unclear if the repairs were ever made.

District 2 City Councilor Ed Flynn said public safety concerns associated with vacant and condemned buildings as well as properties under renovation are on the council’s radar for the upcoming session.

“It is critical that we have the tools and the leverage to work closely with landlords who are leaving their buildings unoccupied so that public safety is not impacted,” Flynn said. “It’s also critical that public safety always remains a top priority when projects are being renovated.”

Navem Partners has three other large-scale development projects in the works that will bring a combined 176 new condominiums to the city. All three have been approved by the Boston Planning & Development Agency: 44 condos at 457-469 West Broadway in South Boston, 16 units at 425 Border St. in East Boston and 116 condos at 270 Dorchester Ave., also in South Boston.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2sGPd6g