The deadline for the owners of Whispering Woods to present an upgraded rehabilitation plan for the apartment complex is about three weeks away, community development director Victor Grey-Lewis said, adding he was waiting to hear from the owners about the complex.
Whispering Woods, 780 U.S. 61 North, was placed under the city’s slum clearance ordinance in December after condemning the apartment complex. The city on Jan. 4 held a hearing on the property attended by representatives for Whispering Woods owner Eddie Grosse, Grey-Lewis and city officials. During the hearing, representatives for Grosse presented a plan to rehabilitate the apartment complex.
Community development officials, however, rejected the proposal from the owners because it did not include a construction schedule with projected start and completion dates and failed to provide information how the project would be funded. The owners were given 60 days to develop and present a revised plan. The deadline is March 8.
Gray-Lewis said he has not heard from the owners or their attorney since the Jan. 4 meeting.
“Not one word; not one peep,” he said. He added he hopes to see a plan by the deadline.
Grosse would not comment on the deadline, saying he was on another telephone line with contractors, but said there was work going on at the complex.
“I’ll get back to you in the next day or so and let you know what’s going on,” he said.
When Whispering Woods Holdings LLC, a Delaware-based holding company with offices in Florida, acquired the property then known as Confederate Ridge in February 2013, company officials made plans to improve the complex and change its image from an area where crime and drug sales were common occurrences.
Police calls dropped, and Grosse said in a March 2014 interview the company evicted 70 tenants soon after taking over the property. Two buildings condemned by the city for electric code violations were repaired and the condemnation order on them removed.
Grosse added the company was going to repair the complex’s two swimming pools, club and fitness center and laundry center, and the buildings would be renovated.
Almost two years later, in January, the city condemned 37 units at the complex after building inspections revealed a series of serious city and state building code violations and unsafe conditions for residents, and residents complained about poor maintenance and mold in the apartments.
Another set of units were later condemned after a sewer line collapsed on the back side of the property.
In February, an eight-unit apartment building was destroyed by fire.
The building was neither rebuilt nor demolished after the fire. The burnt remains are still standing. The charred structure was not the only damaged building.
A Nov. 4 fire heavily damaged a second building in the complex.