City building officials closed down the Candlelight Trails condo complex in northwest Houston 14 months ago, citing substandard living conditions. But neighbors have still been complaining about squatters and crime. Now the Chronicle‘s Matt Stiles reports that city attorneys have filed a lawsuit asking a judge to allow them to demolish it:
the complex technically is a condominium property, so the city has to sue 150 owners to get authority to tear the property down. The City Council is set to vote this week to hire a law firm for those cases.
Candlelight Trails sits on 11 acres in the 5500 and 5600 blocks of DeSoto, off Antoine north of Tidwell.
- City legal targets blighted apartment property [Houston Politics]
- Request for Council Action (PDF) [Houston Chronicle]
- Condo residents told to move out of seedy complex [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of Candlelight Trails: Matt Stiles
I know some folks in Inwood Forest and the Northwest Management District. They will jump for joy when the place is demolished and are lobbying hard to move this forward. This doesn’t mean their work is done though. There are some other blights in the area have to be dealt with also.
If they have to sue 150 owners to get permission to tear it down, they need to sue 150 owners to get permission to tear it down. Even police are afraid to go in that area and having an abandoned property certainly doesn’t help.
Even worse, the fire trucks refuse to enter any of these apartment complexes without police escort. They would sit there and watch it burn until the police get convoy them in.
It’s sad because this is how the fire department in New Orleans operates around public housing projects.
My family lived there for 17 years (1985-2001) and we watched this place transform from a luxury conodo complex into a complete waste. We frequently revisitied the complex on several occaisions and it stayed just about the same from the late 1980s until now. The danger of living there really showed its true colors when we went onto the abandoned property last January and discovered a murder scene in our old condo. For many reasons I want this place torn down, but for the most reasons, I don’t want this place down mainly because that used to be my home and where I grew up and seeing it go into the ground might be too much of a sight to bear on my part. Despite this, I rest easily knowing that the complex will never be torn down because it was one of those “take action for a day and feel good about it but forget about it the next day” types of situations so there is no doubt in my mind that the buildings will remain standing as long as I live.
Hi this is Jamicia Onezine a young african american that has lived on 5300 Desoto n i have also lived n 5555 Holly View in on desoto I think that candle light trails should just be rebuilt n that could help tha crime rate just beecause every body needs a place ta stayAnd yall sid somethin bout tha police being scrared ta come ta that side that a lie they always come even when thier are not needed just ta bother the young men that lives Desoto n Holly View! So instead of knocking them down just rebuild them and that way every body can have peace! We should rebuild (think bout the one that are on low income adn cant afford to pay them high bills!!!!
Well said, Jamicia. Well said, my friend. You are a true testament to the quality of HISD education.
The complex was getting better until a group of California investors quit paying their hoa dues in February 2007.
The city is suing all the owners for the cost of demolition plus $1000/day in penalty fines for each owner for each unit they own.
The California group has all their properties in a corporation just for this complex. They will just walk and not pay a dime!