Local investor plans to rebrand troubled River's Edge Apartments into more LeForge Road student housing
In recent years, the River’s Edge Apartment complex off LeForge Road in Ypsilanti Township has been a hotbed for crime and the townhomes have fallen into disrepair.
But the troubled complex is now in the hands of a new owner whom Ypsilanti Township officials say has a proven track record of turning around similar complexes locally.
They are hopeful it means the end of issues at River's Edge.
Mike Radzik, director of the township's Office of Community Standards, said the new owners plan on rehabbing the “deteriorating” buildings and marketing the units to Eastern Michigan University students.
The new owner, Mike O'Lynnger, closed on the deal for the property on June 15 for an undisclosed amount. The Ypsilanti Township assessor’s office lists the complex’s value at $4.24 million. O'Lynnger declined to speak with AnnArbor.com.
The entrance to River's Edge
Tom Perkins | For AnnArbor.com
O'Lynnger owns two complexes in the city of Ypsilanti that are directly on the other side of LeForge Road. Radzik said O'Lynnger turned around those complexes and is now marketing them toward EMU students, and even offers shuttle buses to campus from the housing.
O'Lynnger also has made improvements at the once-struggling Lakeshore Apartments, as well as the Congress Park and Village Grove complexes, which he combined into one property. The former Tuscan Creek apartment complex is another project O'Lynnger recently took on, and Radzik said improvements are being made there.
“He has been a very good partner with us,” Radzik said, adding that he is aware of around 35 projects O'Lynnger and his company, Erie Investment LLC, has undertaken.
The housing stock in that area has traditionally seen a high crime rate and issues with property management. The neighboring Eastern Highlands complex is still abandoned and tied up in a legal suit, but Radzik is pleased another section of the area will see improvements.
“This particular place has been a real nightmare for the Sheriff’s Department,” Radzik said. “There were a lot of police calls; shootings, stabbings, robberies. It has just been terrible there.”
Aside from the crime issues, Ypsilanti Township officials moved forward with litigation to force the previous owners to bring the complex up to code.
Among other complaints in a notice of violation dated July 25, 2011 are:
- Deteriorating and leaking roofs.
- Leaking windows.
- Missing siding.
- Missing trim.
- Deteriorating porches that are separating from the buildings.
- Sinking footings.
- Overflowing Dumpsters.
Radzik said O'Lynnger has a systematic approach to turning around complexes and is expecting to have all the physical repairs completed within three to four months.
Radzik said when O'Lynnger takes over a property, he honors existing leases, but asks tenants who don’t have leases to reapply for their unit.
Those residents are then put through a more stringent background check and asked to leave if they fail to meet the standards. Once a resident’s lease is up, they are also required to reapply through O'Lynnger’s application process.
Radzik said O'Lynnger accepts limited section 8 vouchers and is more careful than many other landlords about which section 8 residents he rents to.
“Our experience had been when he acquires a property, after one year, he has turned it around, and it tends to be a well-maintained and peaceful community," Radzik said.
The ownership of River’s Edge leading up to the sale was complex. Citizen’s Bank took control of the property after the previous owner, Next Door Apartments - Villa Drive LLC, defaulted on the mortgage in early 2011.
A Washtenaw County Circuit Court judge appointed Farmington Hills-based Finsilver/Friedman Management Corp. as the property’s receiver on June 1.
Next Door's mortgage dates back to 2007 in the amount of $5.7 million and records show it owes more than $307,000 in back taxes on the property.
Radzik said he didn’t know the details of who would pay the back taxes.
“We’re excited that O'Lynnger has acquired the property because of his history of successful turnaround activity," Radzik said. "We hope and expect to see River's Edge's physical condition improve and see drop in police call service over the next 12 months."
Comments
Ben Petiprin
Mon, Jun 25, 2012 : 6:10 p.m.
If you want more student housing then build it. Such construction projects would provide jobs, then people would have money to spend to spend in the city. Relocating a bunch of people will not do anything for the economy. At least call it what it is: a land grab, justified on the flimsiest of pretenses. If you were serious about reducing crime, put in cameras or hire security guards. What happened is you found some real estate in a prime location that you didn't own, so you muscled your way in using the city's budding morality laws. This is not Ann Arbor, stop trying to force it into that mold. Each time you clean something up and move out a demographic you hurt the city's ability to make money. Because you're not bringing in more people, you're just shuffling them around until the city looks like the college brochure. I feel like an Indian with the settlers next door.
Ben Petiprin
Mon, Jun 25, 2012 : 8:01 p.m.
Sure it does, buddy! I've been known to use metaphors, old pal, so look for the meaning instead of taking things literally. This has been happening everywhere in the city. Busy body types see something unsavory and their bird minds can't take it, so they contact the local government. The government then declares something a public nuisance and then they can do whatever they want with it. At this point, old bean, they tend to tear the whole thing down or raise the rents and stipulations until the original population is forced out. They alluded to stringent background checks very generally in the article. I know employers are no longer interested in just criminal history, but how you consume and how you live. So what make you unqualified to live here? Eventually (if O'Lynnger is good at marketing) anything that deviates from the college template. So at its essence, its the morality of the busy bodies and of the background checkers superseding the rights of the people who live there. And the people who live hear pay into the city with the rent they pay, which the landlord uses to pay taxes. And if regular people live here, they use the money they make in town, rather than the cafeteria at EMU.
Jay Thomas
Mon, Jun 25, 2012 : 7:27 p.m.
The previous owner defaulted and the property went into receivership. It has nothing to do with "morality laws". The demographic living there certainly wasn't helping the city "make money." If anything the opposite! Little you've said here makes any sense.
Lovaduck
Mon, Jun 25, 2012 : 4:22 p.m.
I wish him all the luck in the world. As others have noted this has always been a high crime area. let's hope he can turn that around and provide decent housing for EMU students!
djacks24
Mon, Jun 25, 2012 : 2:56 p.m.
"Those residents are then put through a more stringent background check and asked to leave if they fail to meet the standards. Once a resident's lease is up, they are also required to reapply through O'Lynnger's application process." I'm surprised he has been able to get away with this, since the liberals should be all over him claiming racial profiling. But in my opinion, more power to him if he can straighten out that area. It's sad because there is so much potential in that area, but it's been a bad area for as long as I can remember. Glad he is willing to step up and wish him best of luck. I'm sure the township is behind him 110% as they have been on a clean up mission lately.
ahi
Tue, Jun 26, 2012 : 5:06 a.m.
Are you assuming that background checks and having standards means racial profiling? Race wasn't mentioned anywhere. I think your own bigotry might showing.
63Townie
Mon, Jun 25, 2012 : 1:45 p.m.
I wish the new owners the best of luck. Like leezee, I graduated from Eastern in the early 90's and for a while lived in the apartment complex directly across the street. I made a point to not walk to class after dark. I never felt safe living there.
leezee
Mon, Jun 25, 2012 : 1:32 p.m.
I hope this works out and years down the road the crime in that area declines, but I would and do give the advice to any potential EMU student that they not live in that area. Crime was high in that area when I went to Eastern over 20 years ago. It's a great location - near the campus, but it's just not safe over there