Tim Landis
The State Journal-Register
A little more than a year after the ownership of MacArthur Park Apartments in Springfield repaired hundreds of longstanding building-code violations, city officials say no significant violations remain and occupancy has rebounded. Fewer than 40 of 184 units have yet to be rented, according to city figures and apartment management. Expectations are for most of the remainder to be rented this year. The apartments at 2715 S. MacArthur Blvd. remain subject to regular inspection after years of violations and complaints of crime that sometimes spilled into nearby neighborhoods.
“We go back every three or four months and make random checks,” city building and zoning manager John Sadowski said. “We’ve found minor violations, but nothing significant.”
Granite Investment Co., based in the southwest Illinois community of Granite City, agreed in the fall of 2012 to make hundreds of repairs by March 1, 2013. As part of a settlement with the city, the company also agreed to pay $57,465 in fines, plus building registration and permit charges.
Police calls down
Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin, whose ward includes the apartments, said the police department reports calls are down 50 percent since improvements were completed and problem tenants were moved out. “The severity of the problems for which police are called is less,” McMenamin said.
He attributed the improvement to building updates, better screening of tenants and a freeze imposed on Section 8-subsidized units. The city and the Springfield Housing Authority cooperated on the freeze of Section 8 rental vouchers.
As a result, McMenamin said, the number of Section 8 units has fallen from more than 70 prior to the crackdown to four. “It’s better screening, better management, and the quality of the tenants has improved,” McMenamin said. “It’s really a significant turnaround.”
‘Search warrant’
Granite Investment and the city fought for years over complaints of code violations and that the complex had become a haven for crime. In the summer of 2011, the city took the unusual step of obtaining a search warrant to inspect the apartments. Hundreds of violations were found, and some units were boarded up as uninhabitable. Granite Investment dropped appeals of the fines as part of the 2012 settlement.
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The city remains in court with the owner of another problem property, the Bel-Aire Motel at 2626 S. Sixth St. Owner Gopal Motwani, who lives in Florida, has appealed $114,600 in code-violation fines for 382 violations from 2011.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 