JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – More people who call Colonial Forest Apartments on the Westside home came forward on Tuesday and described unsafe living conditions at the complex.
Officials from the fire department and the city’s neighborhood department were at the complex doing inspections and said they condemned 10 units at Colonial Forest. They’re working on finding displaced residents a new home.
In a story published by News4JAX on Monday, residents described trash, pests and other maintenance problems on the property.
Now, residents are speaking up about squatters and living next door to abandoned apartment units that they say attract bad company.
“Homeless people, thieves and they’re trying to figure out which apartment it is. They’re coming in at three o’clock in the morning ringing people’s doorbells to see who’s home and pulling on all the doors trying to break in,” said one resident who asked to remain anonymous.
Video from a doorbell camera showed police armed with rifles entering the apartment where she said a squatter was living.
“We don’t have somebody coming to get our trash, we don’t have maintenance coming to do their job. Nobody’s taking care of the abandoned apartments so it’s just like where’s my money going to?” the resident said.
The two residents who said they spend $1,100 and $1,200 per month in rent now have questions for the owner of the property.
They’re dealing with issues like leaking pipes and what appears to be black mold. They said maintenance either never shows up or takes months to address a problem.
“Repairs are not getting done, I don’t understand why not,” said resident Linda Carpenter.
Carpenter has lived in the complex for four years. She said she wants to see the owner come to the property and address the issues or sell it.
“If you’re not going to take care of the property, you don’t need to be in the business of renting out to people,” Carpenter said. “The apartments are falling apart. Fix it. Pay attention to what the people, the tenants that are paying to stay here complain about and get on top of it. You hire a cleaning crew, hire proper maintenance that knows what they’re doing. You know what, there’s not a lot to it like they’re just not…it seems like they don’t care.”
The owner of the complex is Friedman Real Estate Group based in Michigan. It also owns Northwood Apartments on Dunn Avenue where residents are dealing with similar problems.
News4JAX called and left numerous voicemails asking the owner for comment but never heard back.
The city is encouraging residents to complain about other potential code violations by calling 630-CITY.