Council defers vote that would declare damaged OKC apartments 'abandoned,' delaying fixes
Residents of a deteriorating apartment complex will have to wait a little longer before seeing fixes after the Oklahoma City Council agreed to delay a vote that would label the property a public nuisance.
City staff had recommended that The Alora apartment complex in northwest Oklahoma City be declared "abandoned" by its owners, and that two of the more than two dozen buildings on the property be deemed dilapidated because of fire damage.
Those declarations would have given the city legal authority to force repairs or tear down the buildings.
Ward 1 Councilor Bradley Carter said Tuesday that the owners asked for more time because they are trying to secure affordable housing loans, and that placing a lien on the property now would complicate those efforts. The council will take up the issue again on June 4.
The apartment complex did not respond to requests for comment.
The Alora has been the subject of numerous complaints in recent years. After two out-of-state investment companies purchased the Isola Bella apartment complex in 2022, the new ownership renamed it The Alora and promised to invest $30,000 into each of its 850 units.
By summer 2023, the complex was in shambles. Several units had broken doors and windows. Residents complained that transients use empty apartments, leaving behind rotting trash and pests that make their way through the buildings' shared ductwork.
"I've always considered it secure and safe. And I don't anymore," one resident told The Oklahoman last year about their living conditions.
Oklahoma City Code Enforcement Superintendent Chad Davidson told The Oklahoman that the recommendation was made after receiving a complaint about the property, a sprawling complex at 6303 NW 63.
Dilapidated label could spur Alora owners to improve or demolish buildings
After The Oklahoman began looking into complaints about the apartment complex last year, the city's code enforcement office issued violations against the property for overflowing trash bins, high grass and unsecured apartment units. At the time, a representative of the apartment's newest management company, Asset Living, laid blame on the property's previous manager, an Arkansas company called Trinity Multifamily, for letting things get so bad.
Davidson said this week it appears everything at the apartment complex that can to be secured, has been secured.
"We want them to repair or remove those dangerous structures," Davidson said. "If they repair them, great, even better. That way, we have even more space for folks to live."
If the buildings had been declared dilapidated by the council, Davidson said that the code enforcement department would ask for a reasonable plan of action to bring it into compliance. If that plan isn't met, the city could then order the fire-damaged buildings be demolished.
It's believed that the burned structures have no electric service and are unoccupied.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC council gives dilapidated apartment owners time to pursue fixes
