A notorious apartment complex shuttered by the City of Burlington last year is under new ownership.
Members of the Handy family sold the building at 184 Church Street last month for $1.95 million. The new owner, Queen City Development Group, is planning major renovations to the 17-unit complex before any new tenants move in.
The building was once so crime-ridden and decrepit that first responders wouldn’t enter without a police escort. Last year, city officials took the unprecedented step of suspending the Handys’ rental permit after the landlords failed to address more than three dozen code violations.
The Handys’ attorney, Brian Hehir, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Daniel Goltzman, an architect and one of the new owners, declined to be interviewed. But in an emailed statement, he said purchasing 184 Church fits with his partners’ mission of improving Burlington’s housing stock.
“We are very excited to have the opportunity to reopen this apartment building,” Goltzman wrote, adding, “The location just outside of the Church Street Marketplace is hard to beat.”
The Handys, under the business name Sisters & Brothers Investment Group, purchased the building in 2005. Just across Main Street from the downtown shopping district, the three-story building contains just some of the nearly 250 rental units the Handys own in Burlington.
In recent years, the property became a magnet for criminal activity. Police responded there more than 1,000 times in the last decade, including twice in one night last year for gunfire. WCAX-TV once dubbed the property the “Nightmare on Church Street.”
Fed up, Burlington officials pressured the Handys last year to fix up the property and relocate problem tenants. When they didn’t, the city pulled their rental permit and filed a $1,180 lien against the property.
The Handys took the city to court. The parties settled on October 31, the day before the case was to go to trial. The agreement said the building would be vacant by November 3 and that a pending sale would render the city’s original enforcement order moot.
By that time, Goltzman and his partners had already applied for zoning permits. The documents describe plans to replace the windows, build a trash enclosure and add exterior lighting, among other fixes.
The work will start later this month, Goltzman said, with the goal of reopening the building in the summer.
The building adds to the group’s relatively small real estate portfolio in Burlington. The partners — Goltzman, Matt Boudreau, Joe Engelken and Tom Fontaine — own four other rentals in the Queen City, including two on Adams Street, one on Colchester Avenue and another on Church Street, just down from No. 184, property records show.
Code enforcement director Bill Ward, who led the city’s crackdown on the Handys, said the sale was welcome news, particularly given the new owners’ track records. The partners have decades of experience in real estate, and their other Burlington properties have received high ratings in city inspections.
“I would not be surprised if the neighbors host a parade or a party for the new owners,” Ward said. “They’ll be grateful for the positive changes.”
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