Fight against blight continues
Shorty’s Lunch owner Steven Alexas stands outside his West Chestnut Street business. With a blighted property as his neighbor, Alexas is concerned about squatters trespassing in the building.
Shown is a hole in the roof of the former Washington Bar & Restaurant Supply building at 144 S. Main St.
The former Washington Bar & Restaurant Supply building at 144 S. Main St.
Vacant storefronts, crumbling facades and litter aren’t the only enemies of Washington’s blight-fighting posse.
Elusive international trustees, owners who snatch up low-cost properties at auction and limited funds are also major nemeses in the war.
“A lot of people are buying properties sight unseen,” said Rob Phillips, assistant community development director for Washington County Redevelopment Authority. “We’re finding more of that – people buying buildings that are set to be demolished.”
There are 26 properties on the City of Washington’s pending demolition list. Once declared a public nuisance, properties are released to the redevelopment authority for demolition, using the city’s allocated Community Development Block Grant as funding. Over the past year, about 10 blighted properties were demolished.
With a limited amount of grant money available, the properties are put in priority order.
“It’s not cheap,” said city Code Enforcement Officer Ron McIntyre. “One building can eat up a lot of funding very quickly.”
Phillips said the former Pettit building at North Main and East Chestnut streets is under demolition to the tune of $90,000, leaving very little money for other properties.
While properties languish on the demolition list, they can be bought at auction.
Across the street, property listed as being owned by the Main Street Trust, with the main trustee being Kim J. Gobert of Moscow, Russia, continues to crumble.
Steven Alexas, owner of Shorty’s Lunch, 34 W. Chestnut St., is a neighbor of the blighted property. He has called city officials about squatters in the building.
“The police and fire department do anything they can to help us. They boarded up the door and the next day it was open,” said Alexas, sitting at a booth Thursday in his popular eatery. “Someone came out of there just this morning.”
Rich Sonson, owner of Rich’s Barber Shop at 33 W. Chestnut St., pointed to a discarded tire and papers littering the street and sidewalks.
“When buildings are blighted, people feel like they can throw garbage wherever they want,” Sonson said.
Less than half a mile away, 144 S. Main St., a property on the demolition list, was purchased by Strawberry Trust at the Sept. 8 county repository sale for $5,500, paid the same day.
The name associated with Strawberry Trust was W. Sanders, who gave 144 S. Main St., as his address. A deed had not been issued as of noon Wednesday.
According to Debbie Bardella, Washington County recorder of deeds and director of the Washington County Tax Revenue Department, the repository sale is a last-ditch attempt to place properties back on county, local and school district tax rolls. To make a property more attractive to buyers, the court has erased taxes due those three entities. Federal and state tax liens, however, remain.
The former Washington Bar and Restaurant Supply building at 144 S. Main and other properties offered at the repository sale were previously offered at a judicial sale, where properties are sold wiped clean of previously unpaid county, local and school district taxes. Properties that attracted no buyers at the judicial sale move on to the last-ditch repository sale.
If sold, Washington County keeps the entire price gleaned from the auction block to cover costs and interest.
“We’re just recovering costs at that point,” Bardella said. “At least it’s gotten back on the tax roll so they (the school district and city, who did not receive proceeds from the sale of the property) will reap the benefit of taxes again.”
Washington County Chief Assessor Bradley Boni explained the difference between a judicial sale and a repository sale, in which the purchaser has the added benefit of having the assessed value automatically reduced as a reflection of the purchase price.
The temporary reduction lasts until the countywide reassessment takes effect in 2017 or until the buyer sells the property, or constructs a building or other structure.
“Ultimately, (the sale of blighted properties) puts a wrench in the demolition,” said Washington Mayor Brenda Davis.
A wrench, but not an end.
McIntyre said a building can still be razed, even if purchased at auction.
“Just because you bought a property, it doesn’t mean the property is not going to be demolished,” said McIntyre, adding that, in most instances, purchasers of blighted properties give up on the project after they realize the cost associated with refurbishment.
Staff writer Barbara S. Miller contributed to this story.