A year and a half after Wilma, some homes still can't be lived in

[Guest guest]

A year and a half after Wilma, some homes still can't be lived in

By Robin Benedick, J. Huriash and Kathleen Kernicky

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sunsentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sflsredtagjun04,0,

3140494.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Scattered across Broward County are scars from Hurricane Wilma's

rampage 19 months ago: houses, condos and commercial buildings still

so badly damaged they can't be occupied.

As a new hurricane season gets under way, at least eight Broward

municipalities -- Davie, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Lauderhill, North

Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Pembroke Pines, Sea Ranch Lakes and

Tamarac -- still have properties deemed unsafe by building officials

after the October 2005 storm. In some cities, entire condominium

complexes are uninhabitable; in others, only one building or a house

is off limits.

andra " Alix " Kazan, 61, and her husband, Edgar Schneider, 75,

are frustrated by the slow pace of repairs at their Stonebridge

Gardens condominium complex in Lauderhill. They have been renting a

one-bedroom apartment in North Lauderdale for $935 a month while

they wait for their one-bedroom unit to be fixed.

" We had five cats; we had to give away three of them to the Humane

Society, " Kazan said. " Our bird had to go. Our fish we gave

away. ... We left the furniture in the condo until we got the

apartment. A lot of what we left was ruined by mold and water. "

The couple blame the delay on disputes over insurance payments and

permits. Their unit, which Schneider bought in 1996, still needs

wiring and drywall work, new flooring, wallpaper, light fixtures and

paint.

Schneider is retired and on a fixed income. Kazan, a security guard,

is working overtime to afford the rent, their $241 mortgage, $194

maintenance fee and monthly assessments of $178. The total is $1,548

a month.

" First opportunity, we're going to sell, " Kazan said.

In Davie, the 32-unit Eton Country Side Condos on Davie Road is

vacant and under restoration, according to building records. In Sea

Ranch Lakes, a private beach club is still closed. Lauderdale-by-the-

Sea lists two small motels as still closed, while Lauderhill has

several buildings sitting empty. Pembroke Pines has a half dozen

mobile homes and a building at North Airport on its list.

Oakland Park has a three-unit building still considered unsafe.

Tamarac, North Lauderdale, Lauderhill and Pembroke Pines provided

lists of properties that were damaged and are in various stages of

repairs.

Deerfield Beach did not know whether any of its properties were

still uninhabitable, while officials in Hallandale Beach, Hollywood

and Sunrise did not respond to repeated requests for the information.

In the adults-only community of Sunrise Lakes, the contractor

recently finished reconstructing dozens of damaged units. However,

real estate agents say some remain unoccupied because their owners

can't afford cabinets, appliances and flooring. Other owners are

selling their units " as is " with exposed drywall and cement floors

for a new owner to fix up.

Moe Gottlieb hopes to move back into his rebuilt Sunrise Lakes Phase

III condo within two months. The two-bedroom unit has new ceilings,

new walls and soon will have new appliances and cabinets.

" The storm blew the roof off over my apartment and I lost

everything, " said Gottlieb, 90, who is staying with a friend in the

sprawling retirement complex. He didn't have homeowner's insurance

and has spent $17,000 on repairs.

At Southgate Gardens in Tamarac, the board dumped its first

contractor and recently hired a new one to gut the 108 condos and

start work anew. Toxic mold was discovered in the units and the

board is still battling its insurance company.

" I'm tired and frustrated, " said treasurer Holly Petrone, a condo

owner since 2001. " The process is just so slow due to the insurance

companies, the lawyers, even the residents' resistance. ... To

realize we need to go through the whole reconstruction process

again, it's frustrating. There are nights I can't sleep half the

time. "

Petrone is paying both her $700 mortgage and $1,300-a-month rent for

a Coral Springs apartment. She also pays a monthly condo maintenance

fee, which went from $238 to $319 to cover a $352,000 bank loan the

condo board took out last summer to pay the first contractor.

Even though the city has declared Southgate Gardens off limits, some

residents sneak in and live there illegally. That has caused delays

because the building must be vacant for workers to remove the mold.

" There are some reluctant residents, " said , vice

president of R & K Contracting Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, which is

rebuilding the property. " If they can't see it, they can't smell it,

they can't taste it, they don't believe it, " said of the

mold. " We have a woman living there with two children with no

electricity. There is a man there running an extension cord from one

building that has power to his unit. It's presenting a delay. "

Two months ago, Delia Bauer moved into her condo illegally, bringing

her belongings out of storage and spending $10,000 on improvements

to the unit, including paint and rugs. Bauer said she has hired a

real estate agent and is planning to move out for good.

" This has been a nightmare from Day 1, " she said. " I'm about to have

a nervous breakdown. "

Robin Benedick can be reached at rbenedick@... or 954-

385-7914.