LANSING, Mich. — The 29 units at Holmes Apartments remain empty after the city of Lansing red tagged the whole complex last week. Residents said issues at the location have lingered for years.
“After a while, we started to get bugs, pests and stuff like that,” said resident Mark Larose. “In the winter time, our heat went out, and they brought us a little space heater that barely did anything.”
The city said they decided to red tag the apartments because of a roof leak that got worse and worse and eventually caused some ceilings to cave in and exposed water to electrical wiring.
As a result, residents like Larose were evacuated.
“I thought I was going to be on the streets. I didn’t know if I was going to have an apartment. It’s very stressful,” Larose said.
The building's owner, Simtob Management and Investment LLC, moved Larose and other tenants to other properties they own.
Larose was moved to Belmont Park Apartments and said his current unit has problems of its own.
“The stove, the burners don’t work, the buttons don’t work, so we can’t cook,” Larose said.
The city said Simtob Management moved six tenants from Holmes into pink-tagged locations, which is technically illegal.
From there, the city decided to pay to put those tenants in a hotel, and as of Friday, the city says they’ve paid nearly $3,200 in hotel fees.
So, the city filed a $25,000 lawsuit against Simtob Management, which will cover hotel costs, fines and fees for violations and also require Simtob to provide safe housing for residents.
“Circuit Court can actually monitor that property and monitor any fixings that need to be done with that property,” said Lansing City Attorney Jim Smiertka.
We reached out to Simtob for comment. The owner said they’re making repairs to Holmes and have a multi-million dollar plan to renovate all 17 locations they have in Lansing. Residents like Larose are hoping they follow through.
“I hope they do make things right and not do this again, I mean this is terrible to be forced out of your house,” he said.
