Federal judge orders troubled townhomes into receivership

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – A federal district court judge in Grand Rapids has ordered a troubled townhome complex in Lansing, owned by a company in New Jersey, under the care of a receiver.

The rare federal intervention against Woodside Meadows Apts Owner LLC—the owner of Sycamore Townhomes in a portion of southwest Lansing located in Eaton County—was issued on September 18 by U.S Federal District Court Western District of Michigan, Southern Division Judge Jane Beckering.

“Based on the record before the court, including the documentary evidence and testimony presented at the evidentiary hearing, the Court finds that the conditions at Sycamore have been, are currently, and absent judicial intervention will continue to be incompatible with human health and safety,” Beckering wrote in her 16-page decision and order.

A receivership is a legal process by which an attorney or another person is appointed to act in a legal capacity to sign contracts and cause improvements to be completed by contractors to make a building safe or to bring it up to building safety standards to sell it.

The city and the property owners have been in a protracted legal battle for years over the decaying property. In April and June 2022, the city conducted inspections on the property and found “hundreds” of code violations, Beckering wrote in her opinion. Those records, the judge wrote, included issues with furnaces, fire-damaged units and infestations with “vermin.”

In an attempt to force the property owners to bring the townhomes into compliance, the city sued the owners to gain compliance under the housing ordinance in September of 2023. The case was filed in 54-A District Court, and despite the ongoing litigation and court orders, the company failed to bring the properties up to code, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in fines from the court.

Earlier this year, city officials learned the company owed over $83,000 to the Lansing Board of Water and Light and was on the edge of having all the electric and water service to the complex shut off.

In late May 2024, the city sued the complex’s owners in Eaton County Circuit Court seeking a receivership. The company sought and received permission to have the case considered in federal court because the company is located in New Jersey.

Regardless of the order from the court, resident Sandra Hill has had enough. She, her adult son Richard Johnston and his two young children live in a two-bedroom townhome in the very back of the complex. The home suffered from a leaking shower that is causing damage to the ceiling and infestations of bedbugs and cockroaches.

With the building concerns combined with safety concerns related to criminal activity occurring in the complex, she’s ready to throw her hat in and move.

“I think they’re awesome, but I don’t plan on staying here too much longer because too much violence, too many people around here that’s does wrong things,” she tells 6 News.

The family moved into the complex in 2022. Since moving in, she says, the townhome has been pink-tagged twice.

The unit beside her, to the east, has been red-tagged, meaning it is unsafe to live in. She says people have broken into the red-tagged unit.

Those red-tagged property break-ins were cited by Beckering as to why a receivership was necessary.

The record, Beckering wrote, showed one unit that was boarded up on an emergency basis on July 31, 2024, had the following findings, documented with photographs.

“Photographs of the kitchen show that the stove has been removed. In the bedroom, there are signs of regular habitation by one or more unauthorized occupants: an air mattress strewn with clothes, a bedside table with a lamp, beverage containers, and food containers, and a box fan on the ground. In the bathroom, the toilet has been removed. The floor of the basement is strewn with hypodermic needles, unclean clothing, and other detritus.”

Federal District Court Judge Jane Beckering, September 18, 2024 order

On Aug. 8th, law enforcement ordered another emergency board-up. Beckering described the photos from that incident:

“Trash, including food and uncleaned food containers, cover the floor and surfaces of this unit. Hypodermic needles are visible among the trash. A child’s mathematics textbook, a stuffed animal, puzzle pieces, crayons, and a DVD of a children’s movie are also visible among the trash. Inner components of the building’s construction, such as wires and ductwork, have been pulled to the ground and copper pipes have been sawed off and removed.”

Federal District Court Judge Jane Beckering, Sept.18, 2024 order

Despite the testimony and evidence presented in federal court, Hill says the management has a different explanation of why people are breaking into the red-tagged homes.

“Well, what the management said, ‘well, maybe they just need a place to take a shower and clean it up and go on their way,’” Hill says of management’s response to the break-in next door. “That’s all they say about it.”

And while Hill does support increased repairs on the property, she is worried it will be residents who shoulder the burden. She pays $790 a month in rent for the townhome every month, and another $500 in other expenses, she says.

“That’s my point right here, because it’s hard for me now,” Hill says.

The adults are also battling with bedbugs and cockroaches says Johnston, Hill’s son.

“We got roaches real bad,” he tells 6 News. “I bombed. It does not work.”

The children, 7 and 4, are afraid of the bugs and the adults have to kill any that are seen to keep the children calm.

Property owners told the federal court they’d hired a security firm to patrol the complex, but Hill and her son say they’ve not seen security operating in the facility. 6 News also was unable to find security patrolling the complex during the full hour the team was on the scene.

“It might be a better place to live if they have more securities out here,” Johnston says.

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