COLUMBUS – Residents who were vacated from troubled East Side apartment tower Latitude Five25 were offered interim accommodations after City of Columbus Code Enforcement officials issued an emergency notice.
Temporary housing was found at area hotels for 104 residents while the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority attempted to make permanent arrangements.
Burst water pipes at the property, often referred to as Sawyer Towers, led to flooding, loss of water and heat, and rendered fire suppression and three out of four elevators inoperable, City Attorney Zach Klein said.
Klein says his office intends to file a contempt-of-court motion because the owners of the building failed to live up to an agreement to find a buyer for the property.
Columbus police and fire personnel helped coordinate the response to the loss of services on Christmas Day, connecting residents with shelter and resources and working with COTA to transport more than two dozen of them to a temporary evacuation site at Dodge Park Rec Center.
Any remaining residents must be out of the towers by 12:00 p.m. Friday, when the buildings will be secured, city officials said.
The Franklin County Commissioners met in emergency session on Wednesday to approve $750,000 for interim housing and support for operations at the recreation center while Mayor Andrew Ginther and Columbus City Council planned to allocate an additional $750,000.
Failure to close on the sale within the 90-day timeframe or abide by certain provisions of the agreement to maintain systems, utilities and operations would immediately trigger the takeover of the property by a receivership group.
On Tuesday, the Klein’s office announced it intends to file a motion for contempt against Paxe Latitude, potentially setting into motion the transfer of the property to a receivership group to take over the property, facilitate repairs and begin to prepare the property for sale.