Owner of apartment complex booting tenants
February 24th, 2007 - Category: Apartments, Real EstateVENICE — One disgruntled tenant took a complaint about a leaky toilet to the city.
Now, everyone in the building is looking for a new place to live.
Harvey Wasserman stunned residents and left them scrambling to find new homes after he notified them Monday they have 30 days to vacate Whispering Sands. Wasserman faces three code violations for running a former 142-bed assisted-living facility on Venice island as an apartment building.
Rather than seeking to correct the violations, Wasserman told residents he will close the place on March 20.
Wasserman refused to comment Thursday as rumors circulated among frustrated residents who are struggling over whether Wasserman, the complaining tenant or the city is to blame. Adding to the intrigue: Wasserman owns Whispering Sands with his brother, Dr. Steven J. Wasserman, whose dermatology practice next door was raided by FBI agents 14 months ago.
The doctor’s office was open Thursday but Steven Wasserman was not in. An FBI spokesman would not comment on the case.
Despite these questions, several residents interviewed Thursday agreed on this: In a waterfront retirement haven with an average age of 68.8 where affordable rental housing is scarce, Whispering Sands filled a gaping void.
It is unclear how many live there, but the parking lot fills at night. “They’re clean, nice little apartments,” said James Glied, 54, a waiter at a nearby waterfront restaurant who said Wasserman sometimes cut him a break on late rent. “Where else you going to live?”
Although some residents say they pay the rent month to month, Ruth Miller said the eviction violates her year lease.
“We are stellar tenants. We never paid our rent late,” said Miller, 52, who has rented there for nearly two years. She said the manager handed her husband, Ken, notice to vacate upon his return from the hospital, where Ruth had just undergone back surgery. “I kind of feel like we’re getting the shaft here.”
Manager Jean Walker brushed off the complaints.
“People here have to move out. That’s the way it is,” said Walker. “Stop stirring the pot. There’s no pot to stir.”
Wasserman stopped offering assisted-living services at the facility in December 2003, according to state records. Apparently unbeknownst to the city and in violation of city codes, he began renting furnished studio apartments for around $750 to $850 per month, utilities included.
A city code inspector said he noticed a sign advertising apartments for rent while responding Jan. 19 to a call from a tenant who complained the bathroom flooded when the toilet was flushed and that management refused to fix it.
“When I got there, I noticed banners: Renting Studio Apartments,” code enforcement officer John Patek said. “That was my tip-off.”
Patek noted the discrepancy in a Feb. 7 e-mail to city zoning and building officials, asking for clarification. City Planning Director Tom Slaughter said he met the next day with Wasserman and his agent, who asked about rezoning the property for commercial use and adding a new wing to the two-story building.
“He wants to open up essentially a hotel,” said Slaughter. “I understood that he would be applying for that soon, within a matter of weeks or a month.”
On Feb. 15, the city cited three violations of building, zoning and fire codes, setting a 30-day deadline to take corrective action or vacate the building. Failure to do so would carry a fine of up to $500 per day.
City officials say Wasserman could have avoided those penalties by taking steps to seek the necessary inspection and approvals.
“I think everyone, from the tenants on up to us, were surprised that he sent an eviction notice,” said building and code enforcement director Hans Behrens. “We’re not throwing them out. Mr. Wasserman is throwing them out.”
Glied, the restaurant staffer, said he could not understand Wasserman’s decision.
“Why would he put everybody in the street and close the building up?” Glied asked.
Source: www.heraldtribune.com
