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Complex not an eyesore anymore

The Chinook Apartments, which were shut down in May, forcing its tenants to find shelter elsewhere, got new owners, a new name and an extreme makeover.

By MARLON A. WALKER
Published September 17, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG — The walls were dingy and the roaches ran wild.

Some units didn’t even have doors.

The Chinook Apartments were in bad shape when new owners Courtyard Apartments LLC purchased them in June. The former owner had left the 60-unit property with pages of fire code violations, which led the city to take the unprecedented step of shutting down the entire complex.

By the end of this week, the new owners plan to start moving new tenants in.

“Personally, I think it’s 100 percent better,” said property superintendent Robert Snyder. “It’s not an eyesore for the area anymore.”

It has come a long way since he first stepped foot into the complex. Two months ago, walking into one of the 60 units at 2400 15th Ave. S would have been like walking into a war zone, Snyder said.

“You’d walk in the door and thousands of roaches would fall on your head,” he said. “When we took over, there were like 30 pages of code violations.”

The doors have been replaced and the bugs are gone. Granite counters and stainless steel shelves line the kitchens.

Snyder has overseen the renovations and said plans are being made to open the building, now called Courtyard Apartments, in phases. By the end of next week, he said, he expects at least 15 of the units to be ready for residents.

During a walk-through last Monday, St. Petersburg Deputy Mayor Goliath Davis and Gary Bush, the city’s codes inspections supervisor, were impressed with the transformation.

“(Bush) said they were using a pretty good quality of workmanship and materials,” said Sally Eichler, the city’s director of codes compliance.

Eichler said the new owners have to fix all code violations before moving residents in.

On May 2, about 120 residents were given less than a day’s notice to vacate their apartments in the Chinook complex. Officials said the building had faulty wiring and lacked fire alarms and extinguishers, among other things.

Inspectors gave then-owner Scott Snow until June 8 to make fixes. But days before the deadline, he sold the building to Courtyard Apartments LLC.

According to property records, Snow paid $2.2-million for the building in March 2005 and sold it 15 months later for $1,841,900.

Kenneth Ruddock, 48, of Land O’Lakes, and Bragg Crane, 42, of St. Petersburg, listed as the managers of Courtyard Apartments, own several buildings in the area, Snyder said.

On Thursday, workers were wiping down new fixtures and laying concrete for the new wheelchair ramp.

Snyder said dozens of people have stopped through asking for rental applications over the last week. He has high hopes for the complex’s future.

“They’re pretty neat little apartments,” he said. “We’re going to put people in here who are going to care about the building.”

Marlon A. Walker can be reached at (727) 893-8737 or mwalker@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 17, 2006, 22:06:06]