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Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Complex Stirs Buyers' Interest
By Jeff Proctor
Journal Staff Writer
Several investors have expressed interest in buying the embattled Western Palisades apartment complex on Atrisco NW, city officials said Monday.
Joe Martinez, Safe City Strike Force director, said the city is open to someone renting out apartments at the complex, which was shut down in January after 10 people were hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning.
"Structurally, the building is fine," Martinez said. "Our problem was with the condition of it as a rental property."
The owner, Ray Trujillo, 56, of Costa Mesa, Calif., has pleaded not guilty in Metro Court to more than 80 alleged violations of the city's housing code ranging from lack of working furnaces and smoke detectors to fire hazards, faulty plumbing and cockroach infestation.
He could face a $500 fine and 90 days in jail.
The charges stem from a Dec. 30 incident in which firefighters responded to a 911 call at the apartments, at 1720 Atrisco NW, and found "numerous tenants who were using their ovens to heat their rental units, causing them to become ill," according to a criminal complaint.
Martinez said most of the 94 residents are either in permanent housing or will be by the end of this week. Five families are still living in a hotel with assistance from the city.
He also said authorities have secured all doors and windows at the complex as of Monday.
"We have seen some vandalism and have had some reports of people hanging around there," Martinez said. "We're asking people to call 242-COPS if they see anything going on there. And we're looking at trying to get the property owner to secure it with a fence or something like that."
If a buyer were to come forward, he said, the city would prefer to enter into an agreement with the potential new owner. Such an agreement would include a promise to conduct background checks on tenants and to "pay close attention to any problems that arise."
"We have a bunch of agreements like that around the city with complexes that are good brothers and sisters with the Albuquerque Police Department," Martinez said. "But unfortunately, we see over and over again how hard it is to manage properties when you are thousands of miles away."
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