Article
Courtesy of The Orlando Sentinel
By Stephen
Hudack
Published September 27, 2015
Blossom Park Condominiums, the former Days Inn Motel that
has been linked to more than half of the county's heroin deaths, may soon
close as code violations have mounted and tenants have left the
deteriorating condo complex.
"At this point, no definite decision has
been made if or when Blossom Park will be closed," said
Angela Stanley, attorney for the Blossom Park Condominium
Association, speaking for the new court-appointed receiver,
Shawn Singeltary.
But Stanley said closing is a possibility as the owners
discuss options to rebuild and repair condemned areas.
Orange County code enforcement condemned
the seven-building, three-story complex as unfit for human
inhabitation, citing an engineering study that revealed a
host of problems, including stairwells in danger of
collapse. |
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The county also hosted community meetings to help
tenants find new housing.
Most did.
A door-to-door check this week found just 33 tenants there, said Robert
Spivey, the county's code enforcement manager who estimated that as many as
250 people were living in the condemned complex as recently as six months
ago.
The former motel, which was converted into condos in 2003, has posed a
challenge to code enforcement as well as Orange County deputy sheriffs, who
have stepped up trafficking and prostitution investigations at Blossom Park,
located on Landstreet Road, south of the Florida Mall near the intersection
of Orange Blossom Trail and Florida's Turnpike.
Deputies have busted 194 people there for drugs, prostitution and other
crimes since Aug. 2014.
Half of the 100 drug overdoses reported to the Sheriff's Office are traced
to Blossom Park, including four heroin deaths, said Major Michael Dolby, who
estimated the cost of a recent investigative detail at the complex at nearly
$50,000.
Repairs will cost more than $4.5 million to fix the roof, stairs and
elevated walkways, according to a county estimate. Spivey said Blossom Park
remains in violation of county codes and still faces fines totaling more
than $1 million.
The condo association's lawyer said the group is "evaluating all options" to
bring the complex into compliance. |