'An atrocity' Prairie Township tries to shutter troubled 350-unit housing complex

Galloway Village Apartments promises modern interiors, fully equipped kitchens and convenient layouts to accommodate any lifestyle:

"Your new home is waiting," its website declares, "perfect for those who enjoy spending time outside living a healthy, active lifestyle, as well as for those who appreciate a home that's a retreat."

But a stroll through the cluster of 35 buildings northwest of Interstate 270 and West Broad Street in Prairie Township shows the 1960s-era complex on life support.

Bags of litter are piled around open and broken doorways. Missing windows provide easy access for trespassers. Mounds of feces line many of the grassy areas. The odor of human excrement and mold permeates the open and darkened interiors where entry doors hang from hinges.

Being outside might be a respite from the squalor inside many of these buildings. And the only retreat here appears to be escaping danger, township officials and observers say.

"It's horrific," said Jennifer Huber, an attorney representing the township. "An atrocity that (it) has gotten to this point."

Prairie Township officials want the buildings demolished, citing scores of property maintenance violations. The township fire marshal and Franklin County Public Health have declared the buildings uninhabitable. And dozens of residents have been forced to leave.

A once-thriving complex faces out-of-state ownership

For more than a year, the township has fought the New York City-based owner, Chetrit Group LLC, demanding that it improve the 350 units on the property.

Franklin County property tax records list the owner as Galloway Apartments LLC. But township officials and their attorney traced ownership to Joseph Chetrit, whose address is listed as 512 7th Ave., Manhattan. Multiple calls to Chetrit and Michigan-based Friedman Real Estate, the complex's property maintenance company, were not returned.

After sending at least 14 certified letters demanding action, township trustees earlier this month held a hearing, inviting Chetrit officials. A local attorney instead showed up, asking for more time. And now there's discussion that a new buyer might take over the complex.

"I think the owner wants more time so that it becomes the (potential) buyer's problem," Huber said of the delaying strategy.

Mature trees line the complex streets, symbolic guardians of happier days. A courtyard playground also is evidence of a once-vibrant neighborhood.

Even some of the architecture, especially near the rental office, is stately-looking with molded thresholds and paver-brick walkways. But they are the exception.

The Dispatch tried to speak to residents. But many declined, fearing retaliation. One mother came outside in a bathrobe to greet her young son who ran through the complex from nearby Prairie Lincoln Elementary School, a 600-student K-4 grade school in the South-Western City School District. She quickly ushered the child to their third-floor town home, one of the few whose utilities haven't been cut off.

An employee seen walking outside said he was the groundskeeper but declined to answer questions, referring them to the rental office.

After repeated knocking on the glass door, a person emerged from the darkened interior but declined to be interviewed.

Scott Johnson lives nearby in a home owned by National Church Residences and has a clear view from his front window of people who descend on the complex once management leaves for the day.

"There's so much that goes on there," Johnson said of Galloway Village. "It's horrible, especially at night. The alley's always full. You see people rolling in and out."

Authorities have been reluctant to file trespassing charges, despite fielding more than 430 calls for service last year, for drug use, vandalism and other crimes, said Chief Deputy Jim Gilbert, who oversees the Franklin County Sheriff Patrol Bureau.

Some of those approached claim they've paid a maintenance person in exchange for letting them stay in the buildings. And Gilbert is hesitant to violate their Constitutional rights to unlawful searches.

"It became clear to us that there may have been an employee taking funds. We couldn't verify if the maintenance man was rogue or something else," Gilbert said.

A cycle of broken promises now out of control

Dana Scott, the township's building and zoning director, said her department has been consumed with paperwork — detailed records of the violations needed to shutter the complex.

"It's just a vicious cycle," she said. "Every time you turn around it's something else."

More than once, trash haulers have stopped serving the community after not being paid by the Chetrit Group or its agents, forcing residents in the remaining 90 occupied units to sling bags of trash into bays that should have bins.

What rats and other animals don't devour, Prairie Township maintenance crews have been hauling away, assessing Chetrit $150,000 so far in removal costs.

"This is really putting our employees in peril," Township Administrator James Jewell said of the lice, bedbugs and used needles. "They'll be picking up stuff, and they'll see rats coming out of the trash."

Franklin County Commissioners allocated about $1 million to residents countywide who face similar housing crises. The funds can be used for temporary shelter, transitional housing and relocation services, spokesperson Tyler Lowry said.

County health workers have already helped at least 37 Galloway Village residents, each in various stages of securing new housing, said Kristin Howard, spokesperson for Franklin County Public Health.

This is the latest housing complex to face problems in recent years, at a time when affordable housing is critically needed.

A year ago, a Franklin County judge filed contempt of court charges against the owners of Latitude Five25 on the Near East Side for a number of code violations.

And in November, The Dispatch reported on the Colonial Village Apartments on the East Side where more than 850 Haitians were scammed into living for months without basic utilities. The Columbus City Attorney's office has filed action against those responsible.

As deadlines loom for the owners to fix problems and penalties continue to mount, Huber, who has visited the complex, is hoping for a suitable outcome, whether it be renovations, or demolition and rebuilding.

"I hope that the owner and buyer are engaged, and that means that we're on an upswing," she said.

dnarciso@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'Horrific' Galloway Village apartments face demolition in Prairie Twp