Atlantic Baptist Housing (ABH) said it is committed to rebuilding an apartment complex that sustained significant damage by a fire in January.
Victor Shea, the organization’s chief executive officer, said the remedial work of removing the damage has been completed but ABH is dealing with the insurance company to move forward with renovations.
About 22 tenants were displaced by the fire, in addition to three commercial tenants: St. George and Area Food Bank, Community Living and an optometrist’s office.
“We need to have new plans drawn up, which goes back to a previous fire,” he said.
The fire, he explained, destroyed a storage unit holding the organization’s plans for its buildings, including Granite Court.
“In order for us to get a secondary quote from another contractor, we had to have new plans drawn up, so a new company came in over the last few weeks and has plans as of the end of July — about 75 per cent complete,” Shea said in an interview with The Courier.
He said the hope is to have those plans finished by the end of August.
“Then we’ll look at bids on restoration of Granite Court,” he said. “We met with the tenants last week.”
Shea said any suggestion ABH isn’t rebuilding is not true.
“This is an insurance issue. In order to get to the next step, we need to have drawings of mechanical, electrical … so that’s the delay,” he said. “That and only that.”
He said he continues to put pressure on the insurance company to ensure the process is completed as quickly as possible but did not want to place a timeline on the project.
“We’re going to improve our communication, so that they know what’s going on,” he said.
He commended his on-site staff member Lesley Mitchell for helping keep tenants informed through the process. Shea said the organization plans to have monthly meetings and continue updates in writing.
“Atlantic Baptist Housing will always be committed to St. George,” he said. “It’s not what we wanted either, I was hoping to get this restored by now.”
He said the fire started due to a piece of equipment that malfunctioned. He explained that equipment has been checked at the organization’s other properties as well to ensure safety.
“This was a piece of equipment, maintained the right way, but was a piece of equipment that failed and shorted out,” he said. “It is unfortunate. No loss of life, things can be replaced. I wish they could be replaced quicker.”
Shea said he understands the feeling that uncertainty can create.
“Our goal is [to] get people back in their homes and [get] businesses back because that is important to me,” he said.
He said the support from Eastern Charlotte has been steady from the outset.
Eastern Charlotte Mayor John Craig said on social media that ABH is anxious to get the renovations complete.
“I was truly impressed with the leadership of ABH and specifically their local manager Lesley Mitchell,” he said. “This team was completely open and transparent to all tenants. They answered every question and will continue these information meetings for the tenants moving forward.”
Craig said St. George is fortunate to have ABH as a partner. Atlantic Baptist Housing also owns Brunswick Court.
“It was a great meeting with tenants having plenty of opportunity to ask many questions with full answers from the ABH team,” Craig said.
