Residents frustrated as Logan apartments remain shut

Residents of the Lindley Court Apartments in the Logan section scrambled today to gather their belongings after being locked out of the 80-unit complex because of unsanitary conditions.

Police at the complex at 13th Street and Lindley Avenue said the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections was holding an emergency meeting to try to correct problems with the plumbing and fire alarm system, allowing the more than 200 tenants to get back into the complex.

But the situation became complicated after city lawyers learned, just as they were about to go into court to get an order for emergency repairs, that the bank that held the mortgage on the building had foreclosed on the property.

Andrew Ross of the city's Law Department said officials were trying to determine who would be required to do the work aimed at getting tenants back into their apartments in a matter of days.

L&I spokesman Matthew Schirano said the building had 17 open violations before inspectors shut down the apartments Saturday because vandals had ripped out 35 feet of copper piping, ruining the plumbing. A newly repaired fire alarm system was also destroyed.

"The water going off completely is an ongoing thing," said Richard Jones, 35, who returned yesterday afternoon from a weekend in New York to find he was shut out of his apartment. "It's been happening for the past month and a half."

Jones, who is staying with a friend, said he has been a Lindley Court tenant for eight months. He said the only problems he had encountered had been "with management."

"The biggest problem with this building is the owner doesn't want to repair it. That's the biggest problem. Other than that, it's sound," said Jones.

The building was bought in 2004 for $2.5 million by Lindley Estates L.L.C., which lists an address in the 1500 block of Ripley Street. The property taxes are paid up to date, according to the Board of Revision of Taxes.

The phone number posted for the building's leasing office was disconnected.

L&I declared the apartments unsanitary and bolted the doors shut because the building lacked running water and the fire alarm system was broken.

Residents said they were rushed out, with some of them unable to secure their belongings. While many cats wandered around the apartment premises and a few peeked out of windows, few believe they are pets that were left behind. Some residents said many of them were strays seeking the large number of rodents in the building.

George Bengal, director of investigations at the Pennsylvania Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said he was assured by L&I that no pets were left behind. Bengal said the city agency told him they would search the complex "floor-by-floor" tomorrow morning to make sure.

Claude Evans, 25, who has lived in the complex for more than two years, said he has had problems with everything from exposed wiring in the hallways to trash that hasn't been picked up for more than four weeks.

"None of my family wants to come here because it's infested," Evans said.

Police have been guarding the four-story brick building since the weekend, under orders to protect the site from further vandalism and to allow residents to get household items. However, residents were unable to get in because the entrances to the building remained locked and sealed off with yellow caution tape.

Meanwhile, a steady stream of tenants arrived, confused about the building's status and lacking answers about when they could return.

Plumbers and Philadelphia Gas Works employees were also on the scene, waiting for word from the city on when they could begin repairs.

"We figured this would be up and running by today, but there's so many problems," said Evans, who added that the repairs could be prolonged because of sewage problems in the basement caused by the vandalism.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of the American Red Cross has provided hotel rooms since Saturday for 99 people from 37 families, said Denise Venuti Free,an agency spokeswoman. Other residents found accommodations on their own. The Red Cross originally intended to hold the residents through tonight, and Free was unsure whether they would extend the deadline.