St. James II set ablaze
Update: Housing Director Andy Scott said the city plans to board up the property on Tuesday. Contrary to reports by the Fire Department, the complex is still legally owned by the St. James Housing Board, the nonprofit affiliated with the St. James Baptist Church. The city council voted to foreclose on the property in January, but the property hasn't legally changed hands yet.
Fire investigators said squatters broke into and set fire to part of the St. James Homes II apartment complex Sunday evening. The ill-fated apartments are soon to be owned by the City of Greensboro after the original owners, the nonprofit St. James Housing Board, failed to keep the property maintained and occupied. The city loaned St. James nearly $1 million to fix up the apartments, a debt that was written off when the city decided to foreclose earlier this year.
The fire only did minimal damage to one of the three buildings, and the apartments are officially vacant. However, a quick inspection of the property found that most of the apartments in the three buildings had their windows broken, wide open or the doors were not closed. Local Ordinance Chief Danny Nall said that despite their condition, the city lifted all the condemnation orders on the property right before the city decided to foreclose. Therefore, there was no legal requirement that the property be kept secure, as is normally the case with abandoned buildings.
Read more about the fire here.
Comments (1)
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Boy the "Fire Investigators" sure got to the bottom of this particular arson quickly didnt they? Doesnt that make ANYONE but me SUSPICIOUS? Normally, how long when any other structure catches fire in this city does it take for the "Fire Investigators" to figure out EXACTLY what happened? Please provide some stats, or tell me where I can obtain them for myself. I smell something fishy.... *sniff* *sniff*
Posted on April 13, 2005 9:21 AM