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A vacant Clinton Street apartment building with a dubious past is on the market.
A for sale sign went up April 12 in front of the boarded-up apartment building at 203 Clinton St., and the real estate agent handling the property has had more than a dozen inquiries.
Its a pretty hot ticket, said Randy T. Raso, whose real estate company is handling the listing for Bayview Loan Servicing LLC, Coral Gables, Fla., the holder of the propertys mortgage.
In October, a drug bust at the building resulted in three arrests and the seizure of 20 packets of heroin. The tenants then were evicted, and the building has sat vacant ever since.
The Florida lender started foreclosure action Jan. 5 against Marie E. Anderson, a former Fort Drum soldier now living in Fairbanks, Alaska, according to court documents in the Jefferson County clerks office.
The documents state that she owed a principal balance of $105,000 on a $106,500 mortgage given in July 2007. According to the documents, she last made a mortgage payment in August.
Mr. Raso said the bank has not yet listed an asking price for the seven-unit building, but it is assessed at $182,500.
Since the property went up for sale, Mr. Raso said, six brokers and several other potential buyers have asked about it. Most want to rehabilitate the building, but he surmised a couple may want to demolish it and make it into a parking lot.
All of them are very, very interested, he said.
They would have to purchase it as is and bring it up code, he said. Several former tenants left their belongings in the apartments when they were evicted, leaving all kinds of trash, Mr. Raso said. The apartments are being cleaned out.
Late last year, the former property manager told the city that Ms. Anderson planned to have the 5,600-square-foot, 2½-story structure torn down.
Whoever ends up with the building will have until Nov. 11 to get someone living in it or it will be converted back to permitted use as a single-family home, said Shawn R. McWayne, the citys code enforcement supervisor. That is because the property is zoned Residential A, which does not allow multiple units, he said.
Mr. McWayne said no one from his office has been inside the building in a few years, so he does not know its condition. Last August, his office instructed Ms. Anderson to demolish a porch and complete other exterior work, which was finished.
On Oct. 3, Linda C. Brandt, 59, Ashley M. House, 24, and Jamar Taylor, 23, were arrested in a raid at the house on charges of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. During the raid, police said, they found heroin, 7 grams of cocaine, small quantities of crack cocaine and marijuana, drug paraphernalia and $200 in cash. The street value of the drugs was estimated at $1,300.
Ms. House was sentenced to time served in jail and five years probation. Cases against Ms. Brandt and Mr. Taylor are pending in Jefferson County Court.