ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 8, 1996 TAG: 9609090059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
EVANGEL FOURSQUARE usually fixes minor things, but has no incentive to put a lot of money into its houses because it eventually will tear them down to redevelop the land, a building inspector says.
Soon after the Meadows family moved into the roomy green and white house at 729 Jamison Ave. S.E. three years ago, Eli Meadows Jr. noticed a weak spot in the kitchen floor.
They had rented the house from Dillon Real Estate. The house was owned by Evangel Foursquare Church, just a couple of blocks away.
Meadows said he reported the problem to the property manager, Danny Dillon, and was told that it would be taken care of within a couple of weeks. But three months passed and the floor still hadn't been fixed, Meadows said in a letter earlier this year to the Roanoke building inspections office.
Late one night, Meadows' 4-year-old son, Matthew, got out of bed to get a drink of water and fell through the floor. Meadows, awakened by the boy's scream, rushed to the kitchen to find Matthew dangling through the kitchen floor. Eli and Angie Meadows took their son to an emergency room.
"Luckily, he sustained only minor cuts and bruises," Eli Meadows said in his letter.
The family reported the problem to city building officials, who ordered that the $325 monthly rent be paid into an escrow account until the landlord fixed the floor. The hole was repaired about a month later, Meadows said.
City building officials say the Evangel Foursquare Church and Dillon are by no means among the worst landlords in town.
"It's not that they are trying to keep people in poor conditions," building inspector Dave Hatchett said.
But the church is in a different situation than most landlords, Hatchett said.
Though the church will usually fix minor things, it has no incentive to put a lot of money into the houses because it eventually will tear them down to redevelop the land, he said.
Unlike some landlords who board up dilapidated houses and leave them vacant for years because it's too expensive to rehabilitate them, the church usually demolishes the houses, Hatchett said.
A house on the corner of Seventh Street and Bullitt Avenue, for example, caught fire years ago and an occupant was killed. Instead of leaving the charred structure, the church tore it down.
Pastor Ken Wright said that while the church usually will tear down a house when maintenance becomes too costly, he denies that it has neglected any properties.
"We do repairs on those houses all the time," he said. "We've spent thousands on all those houses. Everything we get out of them, we put back in."
Over 19 years, Evangel Foursquare has purchased most of the properties on two adjoining blocks, including its own block, where it also operates television station WEFC. The church has rented out at least eight of the existing or once-existing houses on those property.
Wright said the church rented them out to keep them occupied.
"You can't let them sit vacant," he said.
Harry Cox, who rented 709 Jamison for about two years before moving out last month, said Dillon and the church were good landlords.
Cox said he never had any major problems with the house. And his landlord was good about fixing things when necessary.
Evangel Foursquare now is renting out only one of the six houses it owns. And after a row of houses along Jamison Avenue is demolished by the end of the year to make room for expansion of the church, it will most likely be out of the rental business.
Within the last six years, the church has been ordered to repair two houses and another was condemned. The church made the repairs to two of the houses, fixing one of them four months after the repair order was issued and after Wright was taken to court.
The Meadows family moved out last month after Eli Meadows' father helped them buy a house a few blocks away on Church Avenue Southeast.
At their former home, weathered sheets of paper listing seven violations in the house are stapled to the front door frame. The papers have been there since May 1, after an inspection by Hatchett.
"He hasn't fixed anything," Eli Meadows said two weeks before the family moved.
The things that needed to be fixed included three windows broken by vandals. Meadows had to cover them with contact paper. He said his daughter cut her hand on a broken kitchen window that wasn't repaired.
In a first-floor hallway, a hole in the ceiling dripped like a leaky faucet when the shower was turned on upstairs.
And the family says there were no working electrical outlets in the downstairs bathroom. They had to run an extension cord into the bathroom.
The property is now vacant.
Because city building officials can order the repair of exterior violations, which at 729 Jamison include cracks in the foundation, concrete walkway and steps to the house, the church will either have to fix those problems or demolish the house within a month. If it doesn't, the case will be brought before a judge in General District Court.
Wright said he will demolish the house.
Dillon would not comment on any of the properties he has managed for Wright or the church. He did confirm that he has managed properties for them for five or six years.
"You go to the people who own the properties if you want answers. I don't have any answers," Dillon said.
Wright said the corrections were not made at 729 Jamison because the Meadows family was planning to move and the church did not intend to rent it again.
But Eli and Angie Meadows believed the problems should have been fixed as long as they were paying rent. Eli Meadows said they never missed a month's rent.
"I have a problem with people telling me how good a Christian they are and then doing people the way he's done," Angie Meadows said.
LENGTH: Long : 114 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. ERIC BRADY STAFF Eli Meadows Jr. applies contactby CNBpaper to a broken window at his rental home at 729 Jamison Ave. He
has since moved out of the house. color
2. The Meadowses' bathroom sink was constantly clogged. color
3. Water came through the ceiling every time someone showered
upstairs at the Meadowses' house. color