Sinking into a giant hole
Flawed foundation could soon have condo owners on the street
1 comments below
MIDDLE ISLAND--Signs of something wrong with the foundation of Tom and Marge Lawson's Fairview condominium building at Artist Lake kept popping up.
There was the time their pipes broke and the unit flooded. Then there were the cracks that began to grow on the walls of their condo.
But the mother and son didn't know how bad the problem was until March, when a company employee installing new windows in their unit told them there was no way they could replace one window because the structure of the condo was completely out of whack.
Building 16 at Fairview was sinking, taking the families that resided in its 11 occupied units down with it.
"We've gone through hell," said Mr. Lawson, who purchased his unit in 2002 after renting it for six years from the previous owner. "When you're buying a house, this is the last thing you ever think will happen to you."
And the hell on the day the Lawsons realized the building had major structural damages was only the beginning. They were notified months later that in mid-August they would need to evacuate the building while a construction company raised the foundation. The letter notifying them of their displacement indicated the families on the smaller end units would be put up in a hotel for one week before they could return. The Lawsons and the other families who occupied the building's middle units were told they'd be put out for one month.
In order to pay for the construction costs -- which were not covered by insurance because the damage was ruled the result of a man-made disaster ¬-- and for the first two months of hotel expenses, the owners of all 202 units in the development are required to pay $1,000 to the homeowner's association by year's end, according to Mr. Lawson.
While the repairs were only supposed to take several weeks, the work was delayed after just two days because the company doing the work did not have the necessary permits, Mr. Lawson said. The construction did not begin again for another three weeks.
The foundation has since been lifted, but two ground units in the building, including the one owned by the Lawsons, have been completely gutted. Another two units upstairs were partially gutted.
Before any residents can return to the building, the gutted units will need to be restored, and plumbing and electrical hookups will need to be reconnected. Mr. Lawson said he has not been given any realistic timetable of when he and his fellow building 16 residents will be allowed to return home. In the interim, he says he does not know where he and his mother, who is suffering from cancer and had to postpone an important surgery because of the housing mess, will go.
The Lawsons joined the other 10 families at the Residence Inn in Holtsville in August. Some of the families have since turned to friends and relatives for housing after they learned the condo board could no longer afford to pay for their accommodations.
The Lawsons remained at the Residence Inn this week, where they were paid up through Friday, but they were concerned that they will not be able to afford to remain at the hotel beyond that time, as they continue to pay their mortgage, taxes and homeowner's association fees on the gutted condo. With no local relatives offering shelter, Mr. Lawson, who works as a salesman for P.C. Richard & Son, fears he and his mother will soon be out on the street.
"I don't know where we can go," he said. "There's nowhere."
Most of the Lawsons' personal belongings, meanwhile, are being kept at a storage facility. Several appliances, such as their refrigerator, stove, washer and dryer, are sitting out in the open air where the flawed walls of their unit once stood tall.
Representatives of the property management company and the board of directors at Fairview did not return phone calls seeking comment for this story. Paul Sidener, an attorney representing Fairview's board of managers declined comment other than to say that legal action is in the works and to offer the following statement: "The Board of Managers of Fairview at Artist Lake will shortly be instituting a lawsuit in Supreme Court Suffolk County that will legally protect the rights of all unit owners."
Artist Lake residents in the surrounding buildings offered myriad opinions over the situation.
"Do I think it's fair [having to fork over $1,000]" said one resident in the building next door, who asked not to be identified because of his employment as a Suffolk County corrections officer. "Well, yeah. It's part of living here."
"Do I like having to pay it?" he continued. "Of course not. I don't like paying taxes either, but I have to."
Not everyone in the community is as understanding of the situation. One man interviewed for this story expressed outrage at having to pay the $1,000 assessment, and he worried his building may also have fatal flaws. A woman who lived in another section of the development urged a Sun reporter not to do a story on the sinking building, saying she was worried news reports would make the community less desirable, negatively impacting property values.
Many units at Fairview are listed for sale right now. They range in price from $182,000 to $250,000, for two-bedroom units. Annual taxes are about $3,500 and common charges are listed at $265.
Several residents interviewed for this story said they were recently notified, however, that common charges will be raised by 45 percent next year as the homeowner's association attempts to recoup its lost reserves.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lawson said he fears his and the other families at building 16 may still be displaced in 2009.
"We're still paying our mortgages and we have no condo to come home to," he said. "The crazy thing is, this can happen to anybody. You can be just a stone's throw away from being homeless and not even know it. It's scary."
gparpan@northshoresun.com
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1 comments found
fairview@artist lake fiasco : 10/24/2008
the corrections officer you interviewed is the treasurers husband who has written many questionable checks during this time, and was never voted to that position by the homeowners. staying silent on this issue is what has put us in this situation. we have asked various politicians to get involved with this issue and since they have contacted camco services(property management) and the board of managers, we have been promised a speedy return, but noone ever seems to be working on the project. which leads to the question, HOW WILL THE WORK BE DONE?
