New owner gives entire Northeast Side apartment complex 90 days to get out

Bill Bush, Columbus Dispatch

About 100 residents who live in a formerly family-owned apartment complex on the Northeast Side near Champions Golf Course received notices this month that they had 60 days to pack up and move - forcing them into one of the most tight and challenging housing markets in decades.

The residents are appealing to city officials for help, but it's unclear that there is anything the city could do to stop or delay the action, which residents say was made by a New Jersey company that recently bought the 40-unit Sandridge Apartments, which consists of two-story brick units built in 1972 just north of the golf course.

Even though many of them have lived there for years, tenants like Al Drinks, 76, of the Sandridge Apartments has been told they must move by July by the complex's new owners.
Even though many of them have lived there for years, tenants like Al Drinks, 76, of the Sandridge Apartments has been told they must move by July by the complex's new owners.

"People are afraid," said Al Drink, 76, who has lived in his two-bedroom unit for the last 14 years - most of it on a handshake deal, without a lease. "They're frightened. They don't want to be homeless. And with the housing crisis the way it is in Columbus, it's ridiculous."

The notice Drink received said: "This means you are required to vacate and return possession of the property by no later than Friday, June 7, 2024." After residents complained, the firm granted a one-time 30-day extension, pushing the date into July, Drink said.

Related housing article: Last residents forced to vacate troubled Galloway Village Apartments in Prairie Township

But that really doesn't help much, he said. Drink said he's a diabetic, uses a walker. Many of his neighbors also have health issues.

And he knows he's not going to find a 2-bedroom unit with a washer and dryer and off-street parking for $525 a month - set over a decade ago by the former owner.

"It's a nice community, it's a nice apartment," Drink said. "...It's safe and it's affordable housing. Why would you want to displace families?"

Even though many of them have lived there for years, the tenants in the first four buildings of the Sandridge Apartments (lower left) are being told to move. Although they look the same, the rest of the apartment complex is called Townhomes at Easton Park. The complex is on Westerville Road just south of Morse Road.
Even though many of them have lived there for years, the tenants in the first four buildings of the Sandridge Apartments (lower left) are being told to move. Although they look the same, the rest of the apartment complex is called Townhomes at Easton Park. The complex is on Westerville Road just south of Morse Road.

New owner tells residents they have 60 days to leave

Antonio Williams, 42, has lived in his two-bedroom, one bath unit with his father, 73, who last year suffered a stroke and a heart attack. His sister, a widow and mother of four, lives in the complex also.

He said the new owner, Carlton Equities LLC of Lakewood, New Jersey, sent a letter a few weeks ago informing residents where to send their April rent payments. Days after the payments were sent, they received the notices giving them 60 days to leave, Williams said.

The firm didn't respond to telephone messages left with the outfit on Tuesday.

The firm told residents they can apply for units in an adjacent complex, Townhomes at Easton Park, which it also owns, but Williams believes the rents there may be close to double what he pays now. And he knows the whole Columbus market is much higher since his rent was last set in 2020.

At any rate, Drink estimates there are five vacant units at Easton Park - not enough for everyone who is losing their units.

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"I know that the most complicated thing about this scenario is that most people are going to give you the 'inflation rate' of renting, and I can't really afford it, honestly," Williams said.

"Some people are talking $1,300, $1,400 for a two-bedroom," he said. "I don't want to pay the application fees to be denied."

Sandridge Apartments residents left scrambling

Williams said he recently went Downtown to eviction court just to speak with the social-service representatives who help people with evictions, only to be told that the letter he had wasn't an eviction - it was a letter to vacate. The representatives said they weren't sure that qualified for assistance.

"It's almost a Catch-22," Williams said. "...I'm trying to get some assistance, because I was just laid off from my job a month before this happened, so i don't have much to live off of, savings and things," he said, noting he's a single dad whose son lives with him during the summer months. Williams said he was recently laid off from a warehouse job he got through a temporary agency, and is now cutting lawns for cash.

The group wants the Columbus City Council to issue a cease and desist order stopping them from being forced to leave this summer. Nya Hairston, a spokesperson for the City Council, said Tuesday that it has no power to issue a cease and desist order, but that the city has referred residents to legal aid groups to look over the facts and verify what their rights are.

wbush@gannett.com

@ReporterBush

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: About 100 residents told to vacate Sandridge Apartments complex

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