Residents Complain About Abandoned Buildings Downtown

by WAKA Action 8 News

Two buildings in downtown Montgomery are drawing lots of stares and not for good reasons.
The former Grove Court Apartments and the old Windsor Building on South Court street have been abandoned for decades, so will anything be done with them before next years’ Selma to Montgomery March?
 

“You can look at it and tell it ain’t no good,” says Tyrone Gray. “It ain’t good for nobody to live in. So they need to tear it down.”

He’s talking about the former Grove Court Apartments. Gray lives across the street from them and says they’re an eyesore.

“And then you got a sign on there talking about for sale from Caldwell Banker. Tell Caldwell Banker, ain’t nobody gonna buy that.”

James Fuller thinks differently. Fuller is the Executive Director of the Montgomery County Historical Society. He says the Grove Court Apartments, built in 1947 still have value.

“It won a national award so it has some value and it’s a very sound structure. It’s concrete.”

But Fuller says the old Windsor building, just steps away, is a different story.

“If it blew down tomorrow, it would be a blessing and I think the owner would probably welcome it being blown down too.”

“It’s a classic example of private ownership, not really caring about what the property looks like,” says Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange.

Strange says both buildings are privately owned. The apartment owner has been fined at least six times. 

“A few years ago we started moving in the direction of a demolition order and they came to us and said it was under contract,” he explains. “And there was in fact a contract.”

A contractor wanted to turn the apartments into dorm rooms for Troy University but the deal fell through. We asked if the city could buy the buildings to revitalize them or tear them down, like what’s happening on Dexter Avenue but Strange says that’s not likely.

“We did not use city funds to buy any of those buildings on Dexter,” he says. “It came from an economic development grant from the state of 6 million dollars.”

The apartments would cost over half a million dollars to tear down because they’re concrete. The mayor was unsure of just how much demolishing the other building would cost but right now both are in the process of being abated.

Recently, there have been contractors looking and taking interest in the Grove Court Apartments.