LITTLE ROCK — The 52,000-square-foot building on Lee Avenue in the Hillcrest neighborhood is nearly empty. The paint on the outside is flaking off and vines are growing up the sides.
It once housed the rehabilitation center for Easter Seals Arkansas, a nonprofit organization that provides services to disabled children and adults. But now, 14 years after the organization moved to a new building on Woodland Heights Road, the building is likely to become the subject of a lawsuit.
The Board of Trustees for the Arkansas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and the Arkansas School for the Deaf leased the building to Easter Seals for $1 a year. Its 50-year lease expires in 2047.
Earlier this month, the board sent a letter to Easter Seals claiming that the organization is in violation of its lease, and that if the keys to the building are not returned to the board by Oct. 3, it will file an unlawful detainer complaint.
The board recently received a letter from Mitchell, Blackstock, Ivers & Sneddon PLLC, the law firm representing Easter Seals, denying that Easter Seals is in violation of its lease and that it plans to continue to occupy the building. The letter also states that if an unlawful detainer complaint is filed, the issue will go to court.
While questions regarding the building’s lease are hashed out, many residents worry about such a large, nearly empty building deteriorating in their neighborhood.
Charles Field moved into his home three doors down on Lee Avenue 23 years ago, when the building was still full of children. He said he remembers heavy traffic on his narrow street, and buses stopping frequently in front of his driveway. He recalled his wife holding umbrellas for children in wheelchairs waiting for the bus.
“There were a lot of traffic and parking problems, but everyone was very supportive of the program and of the kids,” Field said.
Along with the building, the Easter Seals lease includes nine acres of neighboring green space, but most of it is not usable because of a large ravine. The School for the Blind sits just across the ravine.
The lease requires Easter Seals to operate a rehabilitation facility for people with handicaps “and uses incidental thereto.” The lease also requires that Easter Seals render its services to any students at the deaf and blind schools who might have a need for its services at no charge.
The building is mostly empty except for the offices of two psychiatrists, but attorney David Ivers said the building is still used for rehabilitation, since one of the doctors contracts with Easter Seals and serves its patients. Ivers said that because the organization continues to offer its services to the students of the schools for free upon request, it is in compliance with its lease.
Ivers released a statement calling the eviction attempt “misguided and without merit.”
And although the building would be expensive to demolish - at least $400,000 - or refurbish, Ivers said, Easter Seals is exploring the possibility of using the property to provide apartments for adults with disabilities.
The board of trustees for the two schools has rejected proposals by Easter Seals to sell its leasehold to one of two interested buyers.
One of the offers was from someone who wanted to use the building for a single-family home. His offer of just over $400,000 was too low, the trustees decided, as the building is appraised at $600,000. The other offer was from someone who wanted to use the building for commercial purposes, but the trustees turned it down, citing residential opposition and that it did not comply with the mission of the schools.
The building “is surrounded by either the School for the Blind, private homes or park lands on all four sides. You could never get it zoned for a commercial property there now,” Field said. “Lee Avenue is a very narrow street, and it is the only access to the building and the property.”
Parking is allowed only on one side of Lee Avenue, and two cars still don’t have room to pass each other if cars are parked in the street. Field said he believes the only appropriate use of the property is for a single-family home.
Glenn Borkowski, former president of the Hillcrest Residents Association, said the property has become a public safety concern over the years. The large amount of nearby woods became a problem a few years ago during a particularly dry summer when neighbors found a camp in the woods, he said.
“Campers, meaning campfires, and who knows what else,” Borkowski said. “It’s a little scary to have all those woods in that area there. No one goes through there unless they have a reason to be going through there, and campfires could go wrong.”
Ivers said Easter Seals spend $40,000 per year on maintenance, insurance and utilities for the building, and that the maintenance staff checks the grounds daily, along with the doctors who use the building.
Douglas Watson, chairman of the board of trustees for the schools, said the board cannot take any action until Oct. 3, according to a 90-day notification requirement in the lease.
“They [Easter Seals] have never shown any intent to come back and honor the lease as it was written,” Watson said. “They have 90 days. We hope that better judgment will prevail and they will vacate the building.”
For at least one Hillcrest resident, the conflict over the property is unsettling.
“Indecision could result in it getting worse and worse and it just further deteriorates,” Borkowski said. “You don’t want to have an abandoned building next to your property.”
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 07/23/2012