A Maplewood home, built in 1918, is set to be demolished, according Harley Frankel, a representative of Chickpea LLC, which owns house. It was bought in 2011 in a foreclosure sale for $25,000 according to county records.
The house is at 2641 Margarette Avenue. The city has said it is more than 50 percent deteriorated, so needs to be demolished. It needs a new roof, among other things, Frankel said. The site may be used for expansion of the mixed-use building to the south, which it owns.
I think Jane is right on it! That is so sad they are tearing down a wonderful bungalow! Anything can be fixed……
Agreed. And it does bother me that the city so quickly allows such houses to be demolished for such dubious reasons. I would rather the company be upfront about their intentions, rather than obfuscating. If they were the owner for the past three years, why oh why are they not held accountable for letting the house go into disrepair? Shouldn’t they be cited and pay fines? I was under the impression that home owners were held to some kind of standard. The whole think stinks IMO. The US Bank on Big Bend in RH were upfront about why they wanted to tear down the home they owned next to them, and I didn’t really have a problem with it.
That’s the house that was right next door to the Kennedy Music School (for a short time around 1953). I have a photo that shows both buildings.
I wonder why they’re tearing it down?
It was condemned.
Any idea why it was condemned though? Are there structural issues?
The brick bungalow I live in was condemned for a time in the 1980s, and it was/is completely structurally sound. From what I understand, houses can be condemned for reasons that are easily fixable and thus not structural. Are you saying Chickpea LLC owns the home AND the mixed use property next door? I think we have our answer why it deteriorated and was subsequently condemned.