Anda building completed? Believe it!

[Guest guest]

Published December 08 2008

OUR OPINION: Anda building completed? Believe it!

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/80030/

Duluth News Tribune - Duluth,MN,USA

After an impossible journey of construction and work stoppages and

disputes and hassles and inspections and reinspections and problems,

the Anda building — believe it or not — is ready for occupancy.

Raccoons and pigeons have been shooed back outside and windows

replaced after being smashed during the past decade and a half.

After a seemingly impossible journey of construction and work

stoppages and disputes and hassles and inspections and reinspections

and problems, the Anda building — believe it or not — is ready for

occupancy.

Once one of Duluth's most famous eyesores, the 24-unit apartment

building at 730 E. Second St., welcomed its first tenant Thursday —

a little sooner than it probably should have. A temporary

certificate of occupancy from the city had expired three days

earlier, and a final certificate, with a rental license for the

building, isn't expected to be issued until at least today.

" To be honest, it probably should not have happened, " Bushey,

the head of Duluth's Building Safety Office, told the News Tribune

editorial page yesterday when asked about the illegal

occupancy. " But I would call it a technical problem rather than a

functional or life safety problem " that prevented the rental license

from being issued sooner.

The paperwork should all be in place before another three apartments

are occupied, which could happen as early as the end of this week,

the building's manager told the News Tribune editorial page late

last week.

" We're all set, " he said. " This building is really a diamond in the

rough. The city's [former] building inspector, I tell you, he really

put the screws to us and made us have everything perfect. And now it

is. "

" Perfect " is quite an assessment considering the structure's well-

documented turbulent past.

A building permit was first issued in 1993. The exterior shell went

up and other construction was completed. But then the Fargo, N.D.,

developer, Anda, got into a dispute with his contractors. The

city got involved. Work was abandoned.

For more than a decade, the unfinished building sat empty. Rainwater

poured in, rotting the walls, studs, floors and insulation. Mold

grew. Animals dug their way inside, leaving feces on stairs and

elsewhere. A raccoon even died on the floor. Kids with rocks

challenged each other to see how much glass they could shatter.

Homeless people broke in to keep warm, hooligans to steal copper

wiring, fuse boxes and other materials.

In 1999, the building was ordered torn down by the city. Its fate

was debated for years in court — and in the court of public opinion.

In July 2005 a deal was struck. Anda was given six months to resume

construction and another 180 days to finish the job. The timetable

wasn't kept, obviously, but with work finally progressing, no one

objected. When Anda fell ill, his wife, Betty Anda, and their two

sons stepped up.

Early this year, the city declared the building mold-free. Now, with

elevators leading from indoor parking spaces to air-conditioned

units, and with rents ranging from $595 to $795 a month, the Anda

building is ready — finally — to help meet Duluth's housing needs.

Patience paid off. It's enough to leave anyone wondering what isn't

possible.

Tags: our view, opinion