Residents of an Atlantic City apartment building have been told they have to vacate the unsafe structure.
But that is not true, according to a city official.
The building at 225 Atlantic Ave. is one of three recently sold, Licensing and Inspections Director Dale Finch told BreakingAC.
The others are 212 and 214 Atlantic.
An unsafe structure notice was posted at the 225 address on Monday, with a note that it is awaiting an engineer’s report.
While the building is unsafe, it’s not uninhabitable, Finch said.
“The residents are not being displaced at this time,” he said.
Instead, a report must be submitted to the Construction Division within 10 days.
“There are going to be renovations done to all three buildings at some point,” Finch said.
At that time, the residents “will be relocated temporarily,” he said. “I’ve notified the owner that any relocating of anybody is on him, and we need to inspect where they’re going to go prior to them going.”
But that’s not what the onsite superintendent told at least one resident.
In a text sent from a number BreakingAC confirmed belongs to the superintendent, he wrote that that in addition to the unsafe posting, there is an order to vacate the building by next Tuesday.
“I’m giving you the heads up now, as I also gave you advance warning more (than) 2 months ago that this was going to happen,” the superintendent wrote.
“Apparently, (the owner’s) superintendent onsite is being a little aggressive on that, and he needs to back off,” Finch said. “And that will happen.”
The superintendent responded to BreakingAC in a text sent at 9:44 p.m., nearly three hours after the story was posted.
He sent a copy of an unsafe structure notice sent Friday, and signed by the acting construction official.
It stated that as a result of the inspection Thursday, the owner is ordered to vacate the structure by Oct. 26, and to either fix the unsafe issues or have it demolished by that date.
The superintendent had not heard the apparent update that Finch relayed, with an engineer’s report now due in 10 days.
“What I said to those tenants is true as far as I know by the paper from the building construction division (that) clearly says and whos on the order provided by them,” he wrote in text. “I myself vacated the apartment I had in that building because it is going to collapse, according to all the companies that came out to give proposals about the repairs in the past months.”
He continued, saying that “is why I told the tenants for months that the building is being threatened of being closed down by the city.”
The superintendent, whose name has only been given as Gregory, said he took care of the buildings out of his own pocket for the nine months before the new owners took hold, and that it’s been weeks since he was told he is no longer being paid since the buildings were sold.
“This is what I get for trying to be helpful to these tenants,” he added.
The owner could not be reached for comment.
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