Eyesore will be razed for greenspace

Written By: Andrew Cauthen
8/31/12
Categorized in: DeKalb News

The vacant Brookside Apartments will soon be demolished to make way for a 7.5-acre community park on North Decatur Road. Photo by Andrew Cauthen

An eyesore on North Decatur Road will soon meet its fate.

The county’s Board of Commissioners approved a plan Aug. 14 to demolish Brookside Apartments, an abandoned, derelict complex located on North Decatur Road just outside I-285 with frontage on Rockbridge Road.

The 7.5-acre site will become a passive park, said Commissioner Kathie Gannon, who authorized $247,000 in District 6 park bond funds to pay the back taxes to acquire the property.

As a passive park, it would include no athletic fielfds, but could include a playground, walking trail, picnic areas and greenspace, Gannon said. The county’s recreation and parks department will engage the surrounding neighborhood to plan how the property will be used.

The previous owner’s plans to redevelop the complex failed during the collapse of the real estate market and the property deteriorated. The owners abandoned the property which then fell to decay.

Broken doors and windows, roting wood and overgrown kudzu and other weeds can found throughout the complex.

“We had sanitation [workers] in there taking out piles and piles and piles of tires and mattresses and God knows what,” Gannon said. “There was evidence of people staying in the [abandoned] buildings.”

Gannon said the county has received several complaints from the owner the adjacent condominium complex who is attempting to sell his property.

The county’s code enforcement advisory committee also has highlighted the eyesore, Gannon said.

“It’s been brought to our attention in a number of different ways,” Gannon said. “These buildings have to come down.”

DeKalb County will acquire title to the site by paying back taxes.

“Acquiring this property at less than $33,000 per acre is a relative bargain,” Gannon said.

The county will then use federal Neighborhood Stabilization Funds to demolish the buildings and haul away the debris.

“This was a coordinated effort with several departments in the administration to remove this slum property,” Gannon said. “In the near future we will have stabilized this community and added a recreation amenity for the citizens of central DeKalb County and District 6.”

The project “eliminates a huge code enforcement [problem] that happens to be in the middle of a central area and convert it into greenspace,” Gannon said.

Because of the lagging economy, these derelict properties “are popping up all over the county. They’re all turning into these public safety and public health nuisances,” said Gannon, who plans to put together a think tank to address the problem of blighted properties in the county.

“This one happened to be in an area that has little to no greenspace,” Gannon said. “Not every property is like that, especially single family dwellings.”

It could be several weeks before demolition begins at the site.

Comments (3)

Michael

Said this on 9/16/12 At 05:10 am

I will be very glad to see this complex demolished.

Hoke

Said this on 9/5/12 At 08:43 pm

More federal money spent to create a place for drug dealers and other deviants to hang-out and turn tricks at (it's a passive park which is a euphanism to visitor beware). Just another example of Obama spending more money to support a criminal hangout.

Sanjeev Rathore

Said this on 8/31/12 At 02:38 pm

BB&T has(had) security interest in this property. I called BB&T so many times over a period of more than three months last year. It was very difficult to get hold of anybody that would want to talk to me about this property but I was able to finally get a name of person that could make an executive decision. Her name was Mrs. Bemetra Simmons. I left so many messages to Mr. Simmons's assistant but Mrs. Simmons never actually return my phone calls. On two occasions I was able to reach Mrs. Simmons directly and told her that I would like to buy BB&T's interest in the property so that I could pay off the county taxes and renovate the apartment complex. Mr. Simmons referred me to BB&T's attorney Mr. John Thomson. I corresponded with Mr. Thomson and sent him my proposal. Initially they were receptive to the idea but later I found out that BB&T was working with a another gentleman to acquire BB&T's interest. His name is Mr. Richard Latona who lives in adjacent condominium property. Mr. Latona had been working with the Dekalb County to transfer the Tax Lien to him to acquire the property. Mr. Latona was able to have Dekalb County sign-off on purchasing tax lien from the county. I am not privy to as to the details between BB&T and Mr. Latona but BB&T did confirm that Mr. Latona was in talk with BB&T in acquiring the abandoned property. The last correspondence I got from BB&T was an email from Mr. Thomson stating that BB&T has rejected my offer to acquire BB&T's interest.

It is very sad that property like that just sits in the community being an eye sore and magnet for criminal activity. I hope banks are more helpful in helping communities. In my case I was very disappointed that BB&T never return my phone calls and when I was able to talk to them they gave the impression that helping to remove community eye sore was not priority to them.

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