City officials are giving the new owners of a property with severe code issues about half a year to make repairs.
The Columbus Board of Works approved removing a condemnation and demolition order from 71 Cleveland St. and giving the owners seven months to address the property’s problems. This includes 30 days to get permits and plans in place and six months to complete the project, said code enforcement officer Fred Barnett.
According to Barnett, the house is nowhere near the minimum housing standards to be fit for human habitation at present. He said that the foundation in the back has completely collapsed, there is no siding on the walls, the inside of the house is “completely gutted” with very little drywall, and the electrical and plumbing are “shot.”
“The original owner on the property was Brad Grayson, and he hadn’t done anything with it for a long time,” Barnett said. “And back in May, we sent him a letter saying, ‘Hey, you need to do something.’ So in theory he sold it to this guy from Hope, it’s JILC Ventures in Hope. But I went ahead and ordered the house condemned and demolished because I had no proof that it had been sold. I had him saying something about it, but I can only go by what’s on the recorder’s office.”
Grayson transferred the deed to the property to JILC Ventures LLC on Monday, he said.
According to INBiz, the president of JILC Ventures is Ian Mihay, and its CEO is Joshua Warriner.
“My recommendation is to give them 30 days to kind of get their information altogether, get those permits and everything, and six months to complete the project,” Barnett said. “Now they’re, I will say, weekend warriors. Both of them have full-time jobs, so this is kind of a venture for them in order to do it.”
Attorney Elliot Happel, who spoke on behalf of Mihay, told the board that his client has already taken some “essential steps” to get contractors in place and that concrete is coming out in the next couple weeks so that work can begin on the foundation.
