LOCAL

New owner gives residents of Columbus Northeast Side apartment complex 90 days to get out

Columbus Dispatch

About 100 residents who live in a formerly family-owned apartment complex on Columbus' Northeast Side near Champions Golf Course received notices this month that they had 60 days to pack up and move - forcing them into one of the most tight and challenging housing markets in decades.

The residents are appealing to city officials for help, but it's unclear that there is anything the city could do to stop or delay the action, which residents say was made by a New Jersey company that recently bought the four-buildings that make up the Sandridge Apartments, which consists of two-story brick units built in 1972 just north of the golf course. There are more than 30 apartments in the apartment complex.

Even though many of them have lived there for years, tenants like Al Drinks, 76, of the Sandridge Apartments has been told by the complex's new owners they must move by July.

"People are afraid," said Al Drink, 76, who has lived in his two-bedroom unit for the last 14 years — most of it on a handshake deal, without a lease. "They're frightened. They don't want to be homeless. And with the housing crisis the way it is in Columbus, it's ridiculous."

The notice Drink received said: "This means you are required to vacate and return possession of the property by no later than Friday, June 7, 2024." After residents complained, the firm granted a one-time, 30-day extension, pushing the date into July, Drink said.

But that really doesn't help much, said Drink, who is a diabetic and uses a walker. Many of his neighbors also have health issues, he said.

And Drink said he knows he's not going to find a two-bedroom unit with a washer and dryer and off-street parking for $525 a month — a rate set over a decade ago by the former owner.

"It's a nice community; it's a nice apartment," Drink said. "... It's safe and it's affordable housing. Why would you want to displace families?"

Even though many of them have lived there for years, the tenants in the four buildings of the Sandridge Apartments (first four buildings lower left) are being told by the hew owner that they have to vacate. Although they look the same, the rest of the apartment complex is called Townhomes at Easton Park. The complex is on Westerville Road just south of Morse Road.

New owner tells residents they have 60 days to leave

Antonio Williams, 42, has lived in his two-bedroom, one bath unit with his father, 73, who last year suffered a stroke and a heart attack. His sister, a widow and mother of four, also lives in the complex.

Williams said the new owner, Carlton Equities LLC of Lakewood, New Jersey, sent a letter a few weeks ago informing residents where to send their April rent payments. Days after the payments were sent, they received the notices giving them 60 days to leave, Williams said.

The firm didn't respond to telephone messages left Tuesday by The Dispatch.

The firm told residents they can apply for units in an adjacent complex, Townhomes at Easton Park, which it also owns, but Williams believes the rents there may be close to double what he pays now. And he knows the whole Columbus market is much higher since his rent was last set in 2020.

At any rate, Drink estimates there are five vacant units at Easton Park, which would not be enough for everyone ion Sandridge who is losing their units.

"I know that the most complicated thing about this scenario is that most people are going to give you the 'inflation rate' of renting, and I can't really afford it, honestly," Williams said.

"Some people are talking $1,300, $1,400 for a two-bedroom," he said. "I don't want to pay the application fees to be denied."

Sandridge Apartments residents left scrambling

Williams said he recently went Downtown to eviction court just to speak with the social service representatives who help people with evictions, only to be told that the letter he had wasn't an eviction — it was a letter to vacate. The representatives said they weren't sure that qualified for assistance.

"It's almost a Catch-22," Williams said. "... I'm trying to get some assistance because I was just laid off from my job a month before this happened, so i don't have much to live off of, savings and things."

Williams said he's a single dad whose son lives with him during the summer months. He said he was recently laid off from a warehouse job he got through a temporary agency, and is now cutting lawns for cash.

The group wants the Columbus City Council to issue a cease-and-desist order stopping tenants from being forced to leave this summer. Nya Hairston, a spokesperson for the City Council, said Tuesday that it has no power to issue such an order, but that the city has referred residents to legal aid groups to look over the facts and verify what their rights are.

wbush@gannett.com

@ReporterBush