You Deserve The Truth -- 320 N. Mechanic

If you are planning on buying, you need to know the truth.  The "trustees" have failed in about every way possible when it comes to preserving the value and condition of this property.


First and foremost: This is NOT an investment property!

This Registered History Structure does, however, offer an opportunity for someone with a high degree of liquidity (cash only purchase, no financing available) and in need of a tax shelter.  Have your accountant set up a 201c, donate the property, and you're on your way.  Grants are probably available, but you can plan on having close to (at least?) $100,000 in additional work that must be done on the structure to bring it up to livability and various building codes -- all of which will have to be accomplished through donations to the 201c.


CURRENT CONDITION

* The new roof is substandard.   Repairs to the sub-roof were poor and/or incomplete; a large dip is visible on the one-story roof.  The edges of the single story roof abutting the two-story wing were neither done with curled tar paper nor hot tar and sand; as a consequence there are new leaks into both the one-story units and the walls of at least one of the two-story units.

* Ninety-nine percent (99%) of the electrical is not up to code; as a consequence, all the main breakers are at one location on the exterior of the building right by the meters.  (There have been instances in the past where "jokers" tripped the mains.)

Interior circuits are both mislabeled in the breaker boxes and probably crossed as well.  It was recently discovered that the circuit for an exterior plug was linked to an interior circuit two rooms away.  FYI, one of the apartments did not have a circuit breaker box the last time we checked; it had a large, open, fuse box.

* There were a number of major water leaks which the former owner was unaware of -- until a water bill bigger than he could pay made an appearance. It went unpaid, and the water was turned off with tenants still in the building.

Now, with four of the five apartments sealed by the City so that it was impossible to open the water taps and allow the water to drain out, the majority of the water pipes in the building are likely broken.   They've been audibly bursting for the last two days, with more cold weather on the horizon.  Plan on having to replumb the entire building.

Most of, if not all, the drains are not vented, or vented incorrectly.

* There is no insulation in this building.  As a consequence, any tenants spend half their heating monies on melting the snow on the roof.

* Insects and their kith:  The area is endemic to cockroaches; they have not neglected to find 150 year old spaces to hide in within this building.  Would be nice if they stayed hidden, but they have, so far, cost me two microwaves, a convection oven, a food processor, a blender, and possibly my electronic piano (I stopped playing and removed the power when I saw a roach inside an LCD meter.  I also found a busy nest of termites about four feet from the corner of the building.

* The single story wings were never properly footed. and have started sinking; you can see places where spaces get larger and larger between the two- and single- story portions.  Doors and windows jam or refuse to close properly as a consequence.

* All the floors need repair of one sort or another.   A fire partially destroyed the stringers under the kitchen floor of the northeast apartment and correct repairs were never made and flooring laid was substandard; it is possible to lose your balance simply because your feet don't find the floor where it should be.  Leaky toilet and abuse in the northwest apartment have ruined floors there (the antique stairway is probably trashed also, since hearing furniture thrown down it was not unusual).  You can see the gaps between floorboards near the front door of the southwest unit. The southeast apartment floor has been taken up a number of times for pipe laying; covered with a carpet it is hard to tell what the actual shape is.

* There are three gas furnaces.   Currently none of them work properly.  One was scavenged for a so-called repair of another.  The third was jury-rigged by a "repairman" sent when it stopped heating.  It ran, but only if the bottom half-door was removed and the cut-off switch taped down.  None of the heat outflow vent lines were adequately run, so money spent on gas did not equate to money spent on heat.

* The "enclosed end" between the two single-story wings originally had thick, brick looking tar paper haphazardly covering the surface.  That was pulled off when the deck for the attic unit was built.  A temporary covering of plastic sheet (like painters use for throws) was stapled loosely up in an attempt to cut down the wind into bathrooms.   No subsequent repair was made, and landlord had the painters simply paint right over the plastic.  Wind still blows in.


HISTORY

The first wing of this building was built in approximately 1860.  It is two stories. It appears as if, based upon the way the basements are built, the two two-story units were built at different times.  Based upon the screwy way the apartments have been numbered, it is likely that the northernmost unit on Mechanic was the first portion built.  The two single story wings were built at subsequent date(s).

Later still, the single story wings were connected by closing off the open entryway and pouring a concrete slab as flooring; the floor level was never built up to the same level as the floors in the wing.  This area was divided and two bath rooms were built for the two apartments these wings were turned into.  As a consequence of the concrete floor, there is no option to change the positions of the two toilets installed.   In addition, the water pipes are run through walls and wooden constructs above floor level.

Above the closed in space a small 'studio' apartment was built.  It was less than ideal, having a sleeping berth built into the wall (taking advantage of ceiling space above the apartments below) about three feet above floor level.  There was a toilet, and kitchen sink, but no shower or tub until approximately 2000, when a shower was built in.

Originally heating was by coal, using fireplaces.  There are four two-level fireplaces in the two-story portion of the building, and single level fireplaces in the one-story wings.   The two story portions were subsequently converted to gas, then later still the gas connections were removed and the faces of fireplaces covered.   (In the one story portion the fireplaces were subsequently covered over by false walls -- following the most recent fire in that section.)  Later still, forced air heating was more or less installed for the northern two-story unit; it had direct vents only to the lower story.  The furnace and vents appeared old twenty years ago. Electric baseboard heaters were, at some point, installed in the four main apartments.   The studio apartment is heated only by the apartments below, unless a resident decides to use an electric space heater.


There's more but I can't spare the time ...