Landlord faces fine of $750 per day

The fence around Amberwood Apartments, which are vacant, has failed to keep vagrants out, officials say.

By KATHRYN WEXLER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 29, 2002

Clarification In a series of articles published in the St. Petersburg Times, certain apartment complexes, including Amberwood Apartments, were identified as being owned by Steven S. Green, personally. However, these properties are or were owned solely by corporations in which Mr. Green is a shareholder, and were not owned by Mr. Green, personally.

TAMPA -- When Amberwood Apartments was vacated because of code violations almost two weeks ago, Hillsborough County officials warned the owner to keep vagrants out or face hefty fines.

Owner Steven Green didn't comply, said Dexter Barge, manager for Hillsborough County Code Enforcement.

Since Sunday, Green has been accruing $750 in fines every day the property is inadequately secured, Barge said.

"They were to install a fence around the property and make sure it was secure so there were no units accessible to the pub-lic," Barge said. "They put up a fence but not up to our standards. Anyone could walk up and lift up the fence."

Another of Green's many properties that came under fire from code enforcement officials, Greenwich Commons, complied with a weekend deadline for mandatory electric repairs, Barge said.

Hunter's Pointe Apartments also required electric repairs by Saturday, and a county code inspector was on site Tuesday afternoon. Green's attorney, Glenn Goldberg, said the property was in compliance.

Green already owes about $50,000 for previous code violations at a few of his 12 apartment complexes in the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County. He ran into similar trouble over the last decade with housing officials in New York, where he still owns property.

He maintains houses in South Tampa and Yonkers, N.Y.

Goldberg said a satisfactory fence was installed at Amberwood but that vandals pried it loose during the weekend.

"It's very hard to maintain," Goldberg said. "It's a very long fence."

Goldberg said code enforcement officials were targeting his client. The Amberwood case has drawn much public attention since dozens of families were forced to evacuate for problems ranging from exposed wires to rotting walls to damaged fire detectors.

"This is the typical selective prosecution, but we'll deal with it head-on," Goldberg said.

Green visited "the bulk" of his properties last week, Goldberg said.

"He's pleased with how the properties are progressing," Goldberg said.

-- Kathryn Wexler can be reached at wexler@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3383.

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