Although we’ve performed major renovations both before and since, this particular scenario made demolition the most feasible option. The continued negligence from the owners plus the comparatively low cost of leveling versus restoring allowed us to give the property a new beginning from the ground up. Once we had cleaned out the property and safely disposed of the hazardous material, we gave the City’s fire department the opportunity to use the property for a practice drill and training exercise, including a controlled burn—a fitting reversal of the property’s initial status as a fire hazard.
Read MoreA property deteriorated from an upscale establishment into a public nuisance. When the nuisance conditions were finally remedied, space was created for the property's redevelopment. While most would not have anticipated the decline of this once popular and prestigious establishment, the story is familiar to CRG. It shows just how effective health and safety receivership can be at remedying nuisance properties and initiating a ripple effect for revitalization efforts.
Read MoreA quiet neighborhood was plagued by a property owner who was operating an illegal junkyard across 12 residential lots. Shipping containers and other debris were used to fence around some of the properties, partially concealing numerous items including inoperable vehicles, shopping carts, tires, old appliances, and scrap metal. The majority of lots were vacant, but one lot had a single-family home in poor condition on it where debris was stacked up against it and junk strewn throughout the exterior. Another lot contained a burned-out structure that was not fit for human habitation, but which was occupied in some capacity. In addition to these hazardous conditions, occupants had trailed extension cords through windows to get electricity from one area of the property to another.
Read MoreA popular ski town was threatened by a large home that endangered occupants and adjacent properties due to its unstable foundation, incomplete and languishing construction work, as well as a general lack of maintenance onsite. Construction work had been started on the home, but that work lay unfinished for months, which turned into years, permits expired and the structure further deteriorated. Trash and construction debris littered the interior and exterior of the home. Blighted conditions were visible from the street and the property was clearly vacant, with broken windows and an unhinged door, providing an attractive nuisance and clear opening for transients and curious children. Further inspection by the municipality confirmed that transients had in fact taken advantage of this opening and were living inside the hazardous structure. Crucially, the foundation was at risk as it had been set on an elevated but eroded patch of land and needed to be shored up.
Read MoreAs a result of poor maintenance and unlawful home renovations, where a beautiful American Craftsman style home had stood for decades, we were appointed as the Receiver of this property as it had fallen into significant disrepair. Broken, littered with trash, and the exterior space housing illegal trailers, the home was a sore point within its quiet, charming neighborhood. Constructed in 1913, one of the first homes built in the town, the degradation of the property was especially apparent given its location next door to the city’s historical society.
Read MoreWhen we were appointed to address the nuisance conditions at this property, we found that it had suffered extensive fire damage and was severely deteriorated. Structurally unsound, it had gaping holes in the floors, walls, and roof. The structural failure extended to the foundation and the building was partially collapsing in places, rendering it extremely hazardous to be onsite and unfit for habitation. Additionally, there was insufficient plumbing and no running water onsite. Piles of trash and debris were littered through the interior and exterior of the property. These included containers of decaying matter, clothing and used rags, sofas, mattresses, a boat, and a jet ski, as well as inoperable vehicles.
Read MoreWhat was intended to be an elegant home, sat as an unfinished construction site for over two decades. Work that had been started in the 1990s was nowhere near completion in 2018 when we arrived onsite following our appointment by the Superior Court. Significant problems included the unsafe storage of building materials, with some stacks over five feet in height, visible from the exterior and stacked against a neighboring property. Alarmingly, inside the house, overhead open beams were used to store large building materials. Further problems were the unfinished electrical work and an unfinished staircase, which was in use, as well as numerous exposed door frames, and visible signs of water damage across the two stories due to a leak.
Read MoreThis single-family home suffered from extreme hoarding and associated health and safety issues as the owner and occupants struggled to maintain it with the huge surplus of items crowding the space. From the outside, items were visible throughout the front yard and on the front porch. The back yard was completely inaccessible due to the accumulation of scrap metal, junk, and an inoperable RV.
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