I-Team: Court-Appointed Receiver Takes Over Troubled Far East Dallas Apartment Complex
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A Dallas state district judge ordered a new property manager take charge of a Far East Dallas apartment complex that has been plagued with crime and code violations.
Judge Tonya Parker ordered the appointment of a receiver for the Meadows at Ferguson Apartments after both the city and the mortgage lender, Fannie Mae, filed emergency motions.
Last month, several of the apartment's residents, including a baby, were forced to jump from the third floor of their burning building.
After the fire, Judge Parker gave the owner, Eyal Dallas Holdings LLC, seven days to make sure all their remaining buildings were up to fire code.
According to court records, when fire inspectors visited the complex a week later they found "missing or inoperable smoke detectors" and "defective sprinkler heads".
In September 2017, the city sued the owner citing 64 different code violations including 11 fire code violations.
The case is scheduled to go to trial in March 2019. The property will remain under receivership until the case is resolved.
Thursday night, a security guard at a gas station that sits at the entrance of the apartment complex was shot three times. He is expected to survive. The suspect remains at large.
Residents said crime is rampant at and near the complex.
"This is an area that we have been targeting for well over a year, in fact, probably for two years," said Dallas councilman Mark Clayton. "It doesn't surprise me that this has occurred. We are doing a lot of things proactively but it's an area that just has a lot of need."