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Complex is sold before it's fixed
The Chinook Apartments were closed for code violations on May 2. The deadline for making repairs was today.
By SHADI RAHIMI
Published June 8, 2006
ST. PETERSBURG - Days after the 120 tenants of his apartment building were forced to evacuate because of fire code violations, Scott W. Snow said he would fix the problems at the Chinook Apartments. He later told the city code enforcement board he would make even more improvements than necessary. "Now that nobody's in there," Snow said at a hearing, "we expect to be going beyond the code issues." But just before today's deadline to make the fixes, he sold the St. Petersburg building. He lost $358,100 in Tuesday's sale, records show. The sale means the building, shut down by city officials May 2, will remain closed and the code enforcement process will start anew. A formal notice about the dozens of violations in the 61 units will be sent to the new landlord later this week, said Sally Eichler, the director of code enforcement. Many former tenants have found other homes. Some are still looking. "It's ridiculous," said Amanda Knight, 18, after hearing about the sale. "I wanted him to fix it up and give me my apartment back." Knight, her boyfriend and two roommates are staying at her grandmother's house. Snow's last-minute sale was not unusual, Eichler said. "It's uncommon to have a case like this to begin with that many violations and that number of people impacted," she said. "But it has been known to happen that a property owner realizes they want out." Snow, 55, who lives in Oldsmar and owns three other apartment buildings in St. Petersburg, did not return calls for comment Wednesday. Chinook's new owner, Kenneth Ruddock, 48, of Land O'Lakes, bought the building for $1,841,900 Tuesday under the company name the Courtyard Apartments LLC, according to property records. Snow bought the building in March 2005 for $2.2-million under the company name Pinellas Housing LLC. Ruddock and Bragg Crane, 42, listed as the manager of the Courtyard Apartments, own several other buildings in the county. Ruddock could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Since the forced closure of Chinook, work crews could be seen on the property, which fire inspectors said had missing or broken fire alarms, faulty wiring and not enough fire extinguishers, among many other codes violations. Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this story.
[Last modified June 8, 2006, 05:42:03]
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