The former Crestview Apartments on Halifax Drive in Collinsville have a new owner, and neighbors are hoping it will help improve the neighborhood.
Michael Lindow said he purchased the 20-unit apartments in October from Ken Lazaro, who owned the complex for about 30 years. Lindow said he and his company, Ridgeway Halifax LLC, decided to purchase the apartments because it seemed like a good project.
“It’s hopefully going to help clean up that neighborhood a little bit,” he said.
Within days of the purchase, large dumpsters were onsite, and trash and debris were being thrown away and removed.
“It’s a lot of work every day. For us, it’s kind of like an onion, and we’re peeling back one layer at a time. I don’t really see any big challenges, it’s just going to be a matter of time is all,” Lindow said, and estimates work on the apartments will be completed within four to six months.
“We’re looking forward to getting this project done, getting it back on the market at market-rate rents,” he said.
Currently, work is focused on the leftmost apartment building, with walls being replaced, and ceilings being repaired. Some units are being gutted to make reoutfitting easier. As a result, most of the apartments on that side of the complex are also vacant.
The small balconies on each unit have also been removed and the doors that once led to the balconies are covered with boards. The roofs of all apartments have also been replaced.
While most of the units in that section of the complex are vacant, Lindow said some tenants were part of the deal when he purchased the property.
Neighbor Rick Anderson said he and others in the neighborhood are excited about the apartments’ new management.
“It’s not we’re a top scale neighborhood, but we still want stuff halfway decent,” he said. Within the first three weeks, Anderson said the trees and overgrown foliage have been cut down, the outside walls are being redone, and other issues were being addressed.
But Anderson said Lindow’s “got a long way to go.” He noted that insulation would have to be removed and replaced on every unit. “None of these AC units worked. They had no air or heat,” Anderson said of the tenants living in those units.
So far, about 15 large dumpsters have been filled with trash and removed, Anderson said, and since the apartments came under new management, many of the issues neighbors were dealing with have largely disappeared.
It’s “nothing like it used to be,” he said.
Several neighborhood residents attended the July 23 Henry County Board of Supervisors meeting to detail the issues they encountered, including multiple acts of violence, drunk driving, drug issues, the apartments’ derelict conditions, and numerous others.
One of those residents, Donald Gilbert, said that so far, he is satisfied with Lindow’s work.
“I hope everything goes good,” Gilbert said, and noted Lindow had exterminators at the apartments to try and deal with the rodent and insect problems.
The apartments “were pretty filled up with roaches and stuff. They’re doing a lot of work out there. They’re looking better,” Gilbert said. “With the work he’s done, you can tell they’re hauled a lot of stuff out from over there. I don’t think he realized how bad a shape those apartments were in.”
Gilbert believes a lot of the issues neighborhood residents experienced are largely gone because several apartment tenants moved.
“We still have a lot of heavy traffic going in and out, so I don’t know what’s causing all of that. A lot of” the same cars “going in and out repeatedly” every day, he said. However, “from what the man (Lindow) says, he ain’t going to put up with no foolishness over there.”
