City orders W. Toledo apartments closed

Published: Tuesday, 11/11/2014 - Updated: 12 hours ago

BY TOM TROY BLADE STAFF WRITER

An apartment complex in West Toledo is called Riviera Maia, apparently after the exotic Mexican resort area. All the apartment layouts have Mexican names, such as Acapulco and Playa.

But right now, about the only thing the two have in common is water. In the Toledo case, its leaking through the ceilings.

The city of Toledo last week ordered the closure of eight out of 63 buildings at the garden apartment complex, declaring them unfit and uninhabitable, after the owners, Kidz Real Estate Group LLC of Chicago, had voluntarily closed 19 buildings.

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Toledo filed a lawsuit against the owners over the buildings one year ago, and recently obtained a court-ordered assessment of repair needs. Chris Zervos, director of the Department of Building Inspection, said the repairs will cost millions.

A recommended repair, he said, is installation of pitched roofs to better shed the rain.

Its beyond us why anyone would purposely allow their asset to be devalued, he said. We can make them make the improvements or tear down the nuisance. He said the city would like to work with the owners to restore the buildings because rental apartments are in demand in Toledo.

The buildings are basically in decent-enough shape. Theyre salvageable, Mr. Zervos said. He said the city started issuing repair orders in 2009 when inspectors learned that the owners had been making repairs without obtaining permits for inspection.

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City orders W. Toledo apartments closed