CINCINNATI — It’s been two months since the Cincinnati City Council authorized $400,000 in emergency repairs at a Kirby Avenue apartment complex where basements were flooded with sewage.
It’s been nearly a month since Hamilton County Judge Christian Jenkins declared the property a public nuisance, assigning Prodigy Properties to correct more than a dozen different defects.
But those interventions have done little to help tenants of the 112-unit complex, caught up in the collapse of the real estate investment firm, Vision & Beyond LLC.
WATCH: The WCPO 9 I-Team continues to look into what's happening at the apartment complex
“Nobody’s been out here. The sewer system is still not fixed. Nobody’s come to cut the grass,” said Kathy Peeks, a Kirby Apartments resident since 2018.
That’s why Peeks and Brad Hirn showed up for the public session of city council Wednesday, urging officials to turn up the heat on the property’s court-appointed receiver, Prodigy Properties.
“I was at the property this morning and the representative of the receiver, speaking with some of the tenants, said that the tenants are picking on them,” said Brad Hirn, who represents Kirby residents through the Cincinnati Tenants Union. “I don’t know how it came to be that the city thought this was a decent company, but when tenants are asserting their rights for basic habitability and dignity, that’s not picking on a company.”
Prodigy Properties didn’t respond to requests for comment.
But it will have to update Judge Jenkins next week, during a bi-weekly status hearing on the myriad legal issues raised by Vision & Beyond’s failure. Dozens of properties were forced into foreclosure, while investors alleged fraud and court-appointed receivers lack funding to properly manage the real estate left behind by the company.
Kirby Apartments jumped to the front of the line of problems when city officials sought a nuisance ruling to address more than a dozen health and safety issues.
According to Jenkins' July 17 order, the problems include: raw sewage discharge into units; broken fire door closers; missing or inoperable emergency exit lighting; structurally unstable concrete causeways; a sinkhole in the parking lot; water infiltration from defective roof and gutters leading to mod; missing or inoperable smoke detectors; dumping and accumulated litter; tall grass; exposed wiring and other electrical hazards; defective plumbing and defective HVAC systems.
Hirn said city contractors installed a pump that removed standing water from the basement, but moldy walls have yet to be treated and other problems persist.
Hirn attended two court hearings since July 9, when he said Prodigy expressed confidence “that they were going to get a $2.3 million loan.”
By July 30, they weren’t sure.
“They said that the lender was a little nervous” about media coverage of the building, Hirn recalled.
That led Jenkins to warn he would consider other options if Prodigy didn’t arrange financing by the next scheduled hearing on Aug. 13.
“Our union is requesting a plan, negotiated with the union, with the tenants directly to resolve the health and safety issues per the public nuisance,” he told city council Wednesday.
In the meantime, the property is getting worse.
During the I-Team’s 90-minute visit Wednesday, Cincinnati police showed up to investigate a complaint that a squatter was occupying a townhome on the property. New people are moving into the complex regularly without permission, according to Peeks, who said one new resident lets her dog defecate in the hallway.
Also during our visit, an apartment investor who wouldn’t provide his name said he was looking at the property as a potential purchase. He left without saying whether he intends to make an offer.
