Little Rock authorities have petitioned a Pulaski County circuit judge to take control of a city apartment complex they say is so poorly maintained that it is ruining the neighborhood where it's located.
Fair Park Gardens LLC has failed to correct more than 100 building code violations over the past 2 1/2 years, according to a lawsuit filed by the city.
The city wants Judge Mary McGowan to declare the apartments at 1100 Fair Park Blvd. a common nuisance, a finding that would require her to deem the 52-unit complex detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the city, according to the lawsuit.
City officials are asking McGowan to order the three-quarter-acre property between West 11th and West 12th streets cleaned up to meet city standards -- with the possibility that the tenants could be evicted and the apartments closed, sold off or torn down -- if the judge finds that remedy to be necessary, according to the 10-page lawsuit filed Monday.
"Under the present circumstances, the real property is a threat to the health, safety and welfare of the citizens and residents of the city of Little Rock," the lawsuit by Assistant City Attorney Cliff Sward states. "The activity at the real property, and the condition of same, contributes to the lawlessness and deterioration of the neighborhood in and around these premises and adversely affects the use and enjoyment of the surrounding lands by the adjacent neighbors and property owners."
Code enforcement officers have inspected the property 45 times since October 2012, and the complex has been found guilty in the city's environmental court of 103 municipal code violations but has yet to make any substantial repairs. Violations include sewage leaks, faulty electrical wiring, mold, defective stairs and railings, broken windows, damaged floors and ceiling, nonworking plumbing, inoperative smoke detectors, exposed fiberglass insulation and improper disposal of garbage and waste, the lawsuit states.
Many of the code violations that the complex has been cited for need repairs that require building permits, but Fair Park Gardens has not obtained a permit or applied for one since about 2006, the lawsuit states.
It also has not obtained the certification of compliance required before a housing unit can be occupied, but 28 of its units have tenants, according to the suit.
The lawsuit also contends that the complex is delinquent in paying property taxes. Records with the county treasurer show the complex owes $50,709 in property taxes for 2012 and 2013, with another $20,968 due for 2014.
The lawsuit does not complain about specific criminal activity at the apartments, but a 27-year-old Star City man, Charles Hall Jr., was found fatally wounded there in his running car in October 2012. Two men have since been convicted and sent to prison for his murder.
In January, 19-year-old Tevin Lee Mills was found outside Apartment 44 shot in the chest, left shoulder and leg. Police arrested a man, but formal charges were not filed.
Two men were robbed at gunpoint in an apartment in August 2013, with the tenant telling police the motive could have been revenge for her complaining to police about criminal activity at the apartments and having people evicted.
Fair Park Gardens' incorporation has been revoked, according to records available at the secretary of state's office. The company purchased the complex from FPG LLC in 2007 for $1.5 million, according to property records.
The other defendants in the suit are Karen Sena, who incorporated Fair Park Gardens in 2006, and three others who city officials say have a financial interest in the complex -- Keith Holland, and husband and wife Oscar Lewis Holland and Dorothy Jean Holland.
Metro on 05/20/2015