Eugene Hansard lives in the end unit of a four apartment building at Colonial Village on Columbus' east side. All three of the neighboring units are boarded up.
鈥淭hese windows right here,鈥� he says turning to point, 鈥渢he six at the top, I had to gorilla glue them back in because when you close the door the window panes was falling out.鈥�
Hansard has lived here for about two years, and said initially the complex wasn鈥檛 that bad. But maintenance, trash and infestation issues piled up one after the other.
In 2019, Columbus code enforcement officials went through the entire complex with a fine-toothed comb, racking up more than 400 violations. In July of this year they went back and found more than 200 described in court as 鈥渟ubstantially the same types of violations.鈥�
According to Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein the owners still aren鈥檛 fixing the problem and it鈥檚 time for them to go.
鈥淭he measures that we tried to work with them on eventually failed so we had to draw a line in the sand and that鈥檚 essentially where we are today,鈥� Klein said.
He explains the owners are behind on their mortgage, and the lender actually approached the city seeking help to place the property in receivership. Essentially the bank wants an outside caretaker to step in and run the facility so that the bank can recoup as much of its investment as possible. They鈥檙e recommending Bob Weiler, who among other projects helped develop Polaris.
Weiler has contributed to Klein鈥檚 campaign, but he has given to a number of other local politicians as well. Klein said he had nothing to do with Weiler鈥檚 selection. Even if the court signs off on the transfer Klein warns the transition won鈥檛 be painless.
鈥淚 think the reality is there may be buildings within the colonial village complex that need to be razed and torn down. There are some that can and should be salvaged,鈥� he said.
In a tight housing market with limited affordable options, Klein said, they have to proceed cautiously to avoid displacing residents.
鈥淭he practical reality is there are hundreds and hundreds of people that live in Colonial Village,鈥� Klein said.
For Hansard鈥檚 part, any change in ownership would be an improvement.
鈥淎s far as them switching to a different owner, they need to hurry up and do that,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ecause it鈥檚 not fair to us. I haven鈥檛 even been able to use my stove for like four months. The magnets off of the back of a thing you stick on a refrigerator? That鈥檚 how I close my freezer鈥攂ecause it doesn鈥檛 have the stick to it.鈥�
Neglected maintenance is a common complaint at Colonial Village. A neighbor who wanted to remain anonymous explained she鈥檚 taking classes online at the University of Akron and living with her mother who works from home.
鈥淐urrently our electric is out in our house, only in one half of the house. And we鈥檝e been calling and calling and they鈥檝e said they鈥檙e going to get an electrician out here and they never did. They only come in to flip the circuit and that is it.鈥� Hall said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been four or five months now,鈥� she explains. 鈥淲e鈥檙e running electric cords through three outlets in our house.鈥�
A company called Apex Colonial OH currently owns the complex. It鈥檚 an apparent subsidiary of Apex Equity Group, headquartered in New Jersey. Oron Zarum is listed as the subsidiary鈥檚 owner and Aron Puretz is president of the parent company.
Both helped secure the loan to purchase Colonial Village and are named in the lawsuits filed by Klein and the lender EFM Transfer Agent. 星空无限传媒 reached out to Zarum and Puretz through their attorney and Apex Equity group without response.
Klein said handing a property as large as Colonial Village to a receiver is rare but might serve as model.
鈥淭he lender coming to us on a magnitude of this scale, the number of buildings the number families, is unprecedented,鈥� Klein said. 鈥淭his is really is a first of its kind given the enormity and the complexity of the situation.鈥�
And perhaps most unsettling, that model might be needed. Colonial Village isn鈥檛 an isolated incident.
Real estate businesses connected to Zarum and Puretz have seen similar complaints of neglect in Illinois, Indiana and Georgia.
In , federal housing officials withheld rent subsidies at a building owned by Zarum citing numerous code violations. In , a jury awarded $125 million dollars in damages as part of a wrongful death lawsuit after a man died in a building owned by a company connected with Puretz. And in , the attorney general is suing a Zarum company, and like Columbus, attempting to place the property in the hands of a receiver.
Puretz鈥檚 company Apex Equity Group owns buildings in six other states.
