The current owner of a Merrillville apartment complex which had two buildings shut down for unsafe conditions is having them assessed brick-by-brick.
Southfield, Michigan-based Friedman Management Company, which owns Hickory Ridge, pulled a permit for a restoration company to remove the brick on the buildings, one of which is buckling outward, Planning and Building Director Sheila Shine told the Merrillville Town Council during a recent meeting. The building can’t be assessed in its current condition without removing the brick, she said, and the work would start as soon as possible.
Friedman is supposed to be paying for the assessment, Shine said. While there are new owners interested in purchasing the complex who’ve made some improvements, the deal with them isn’t finalized, she added.
The new owners have told Shine they would move the approximately 150 families still living in Hickory Ridge to newly remodeled buildings when they take over, and Friedman is to take care of notifying the current residents of that plan, Shine said. Councilman Leonard White, D-7, asked if the mold found in one of the buildings had been remediated, to which Shine said it hadn’t.
Firefighters on June 7 went to the Hickory Ridge apartment complex to examine the two buildings comprising 48 units, the Post-Tribune reported previously. Firefighters immediately noticed one of the buildings had a front brick wall that’s buckling outward; an inside look revealed mold inside.
The Merrillville Fire Department, after returning to the complex June 13, instructed the property owner to have a structural engineer evaluate bowed-out brick facades on “several buildings” and check balconies, of which many appear unstable, Reilly said in the release. Pillman will reinspect Hickory Ridge in 30 days and has informed the Friedman Management Merrillville police and
The town’s fire marshal, Robert Pillman, inspects the town’s apartments, hotels and motels yearly, the Post-Tribune reported previously. Those inspections, per the Indiana Fire Code, are limited to common areas and include “additional structural concerns, appearance of mold in occupied and unoccupied units, electrical hazards, inaccessible fire extinguishers, missing or inoperable smoke detectors, inoperable fire alarms, and a large accumulation of trash in buildings.”
Pillman did inspect Hickory Ridge in March, and his report laid bare the numerous violations the complex has racked up and how dangerous it is for those living there. Egress doors, for example, are broken, the report reads, and “would allow fresh oxygen into the building if a fire were to occur, which would increase the intensity and spread of the fire, this includes exterior windows that are broken and covered by cardboard,” Pillman said in the report.
Discarded cigarette butts were found in maintenance areas despite posted “No Smoking” signs, the report said, and rags and other trash were found near the boilers and water heaters. Pillman also found multiple holes in various walls, which would also hasten fire spreading through the building.
Further, a majority of the buildings’ exit signs and emergency lights are “broken or inoperable,” to which Pillman recommended “replacing the current exit signs with an exit sign/emergency light combination unit to limit future maintenance” and putting security devices on them to protect them from “careless tenants.”
Pillman then outlined the repairs the maintenance staff were required to make by the end of March and warned of the consequences if they didn’t.
Pillman then outlined the repairs the maintenance staff were required to make by the end of March and warned of the consequences if they didn’t not been adequately maintained the safety in the buildings,” Pillman wrote in the report. “Many of the requirements by 3/31/2023 should not be difficult to achieve. You may have to have your alarm company respond for an emergency visit and repairs but everything else is something your staff should be able to complete.”
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
