EVERETT — The clock is ticking for the owner of a 15-unit apartment building in north Everett to get permits and fix a host of code violations or face fines.
The Grand Apartments at 2331 Rockefeller Ave., just northeast of the Everett High School campus, have drawn attention for their residents’ plights.
Power and water being shut off. Shoddy work being done. An unsecure door.
It spurred longtime tenant Steve Teixeira to report issues to the city, document alleged violations and start the Everett Tenants Union.
“I’m not trying to be David against Goliath here, but what’s going on is obscene,” Teixeira said.
Everett Code Enforcement issued a violation citation to the owner, Dimension Townhouses, on June 13. The Renton-based company, which also operates as Dimension Properties and Dimension Property Management, bought the building for $2.1 million in July 2021. It was built in 1928.
Violation citations typically are issued only if owners don’t comply with a warning letter or if there is an urgent safety concern, code enforcement supervisor Sowar Zakholy said in an email. Last year, there were 105 such citations out of 1,109 code enforcement cases in Everett.
“It is not common we issue violation citations,” Zakholy said.
Following a June 2 inspection, the city alleges the company did not have permits for electrical and plumbing work.
A code enforcement officer noted a unit’s smoke alarm failed to work during a test; an electrical box had an open side; a non-compliant outlet; and a hole in a kitchen wall that a contractor apparently made and left unpatched.
Another unit had new plumbing that had a non-compliant assembly under the sink and a new electrical conduit.
In the basement, there were non-compliant breakers, exposed electrical wiring, water dripping from a pipe on the ceiling and wet floor beneath it, and water heaters powered by an extension cord.
Dimension Townhouses has until July 13 to get permits and bring things up to code.
The company did not return a Daily Herald reporter’s messages requesting comment on the claims.
The city and the company could enter an agreement that the issues be resolved. If there are no further issues for two years after, the city won’t take further action for those citations.
A code enforcement officer allegedly found burned material near electrical wiring in the Grand Apartments building at 2331 Rockefeller Ave. (City of Everett)
As of now, a hearing is set for Aug. 11 during which the city will present evidence of the violations and a proposed order. The owner can present evidence that violations did not occur or were corrected.
If the hearing examiner determines violations occurred, they could require corrective action by a specific date, fine $500 per violation and authorize the city to enter the building, correct violations and assess costs to the owner.
A code enforcement officer’s notes detail a defiant interaction with an unidentified company representative June 8.
The representative reported they did nothing that would require permits, other than the hot water heater in the basement, but they immediately applied for the permit when told.
The representative suggested the code enforcement officer was trespassing during the inspection. The officer reminded the rep that the tenant of the unit called and let them in. So no, it was not trespassing. The code enforcement officer said there was evidence electrical and plumbing work was done without permits. The representative said it must have been done by the previous owners.
“I let him know that even though he may not have done the work himself as the new owner he will be responsible to bring it into compliance and he will need to apply for a permit,” the code enforcement officer wrote in his notes. “He believes the city is trying to make things difficult and we are the reason there is no affordable housing out there.”
Dimension lists rent for units in the building at around $1,300. A few years ago, median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Everett was $1,350. The company’s website lists available rental properties from Mount Vernon to Olympia. Since 2015, Dimension Townhouses has purchased five other properties in Edmonds, Lynnwood and Monroe.
Ben Watanabe: 425-339-3037; bwatanabe@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @benwatanabe.
More stories on the Grand Apartments:
• Life at the Grand Apartments in Everett is now a ‘nightmare’ (Oct. 9, 2021)
• Even after housing ‘nightmare,’ new tenants pay more at Grand Apartments (May 15, 2022)
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