Apartment owners rebuilding

HALFMOON The Twin Lakes apartment complex has had its share of fires over the last decade, but the Solomon Organization, which owns it, has always been willing to rebuild.

Construction began about two months ago on Lakeview Drive to replace a 12-unit building destroyed by an October fire, according to Sean Depew, Solomon's managing director. He said framing began recently and he expected the roof to be sheeted this past weekend.

According to a Twin Lakes resident, the old burned-out structure was demolished to make room for the new building.

"Our plan was to rebuild the entire time," said Depew.

Fire spread through the 12-unit building at 56-58 Lakeview on the morning of Oct. 29, leaving 12 residents homeless.

A barking dog roused a sleeping tenant who awoke to the smell of smoke around 2 a.m. Everyone safely fled the building, which was declared a complete loss after the roof collapsed.

At the time, Steffen Buck, Halfmoon code enforcement director and a volunteer fire chief, told the Times Union a wood-burning fireplace sparked the blaze.

Solomon is replacing all 12 units, with six one-bedroom and six three-bedroom apartments. Renting for the new units is under way, but occupancy won't begin until mid- to late October, Depew said.

Twin Lakes, which was built in the 1970s and currently has 693 units, has had three other fires in the last 10 years in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

The 2006 blaze destroyed a 16-unit building, and was caused by a mouse chewing on a wire, said Ron Simoncini, Solomon Organization spokesman. Solomon rebuilt the building with 20 units. The 2008 fire was small grease fire within a unit causing minor damage.

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Apartment owners rebuilding