ENVIRONMENT

Court rules that owners of Latitude Five25 complex pay $20 million for asbestos violations

Jim Weiker
Columbus Dispatch

A Franklin County court has recommended that the owner of the now-closed Latitude Five25 apartment towers pay nearly $20 million for violating Ohio's asbestos laws.

Common Pleas Magistrate Jennifer Hunt recommended the penalty in response to a complaint filed by Ohio Attorney General David Yost against the complex's owner, Paxe Latitude, following an investigation by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

Hunt cited Paxe Latitude and its owner, Boruch Drillman, along with the property manager, Aloft Management.

Yost argued that the owner and manager exposed workers to asbestos dangers without workers' knowledge.

“Disregard for safety regulations and court orders will not be tolerated in Ohio,” Yost said in a news release.

Latitude Five25 apartments have stood empty for more than a year, after Columbus deemed them unsafe due to lack of electricity and heat, pipes bursting and nonworking elevators.

The ruling is the latest in a string of problems for the Near East Side affordable housing towers, which Paxe Latitude acquired in 2021.

Within months of Paxe Latitude acquiring the property, the city obtained a court order requiring the owner to beef up security and promptly respond to maintenance issues at the property.

Residents gradually left the 400-unit complex until December 2022, when, over the Christmas holiday, the final 152 occupied apartments were vacated.

In a March 2023 photo, Steve Ison pets Frankie, his gator pit bull, in the hotel room he had been living in since leaving Latitude Five25.

More Latitude Five25 news:A year later, former Latitude Five25 residents still waiting for settlement money

According to Yost, the owner and manager hired contractors to "fix the water damage and remove the mess – which included soaked drywall, carpets and ceiling tiles," leading to the spread of asbestos, a carcinogen.

Hunt agreed.

According to her ruling, the owner and manager "failed to have the asbestos-containing material identified, failed to safely remove asbestos-containing materials using qualified individuals prior to beginning renovation work, and failed to provide employees with proper training and protective equipment. As a direct result of defendants’ actions, tenants’ personal belongings were contaminated, and workers and members of the surrounding community were exposed to asbestos."

The work further spread asbestos fibers throughout the complex "preventing the return of residents and contaminating the belongings that tenants had been forced to leave behind," Yost's office wrote in a news release.

After Paxe Latitude representatives failed to attend a hearing in the case, Hunt recommended that the owner and manager pay the maximum civil penalty of $19.8 million.

Paxe Latitude has two weeks to contest the recommendation before Judge Karen Held Phipps issues a final ruling.

Latitude Five25, meanwhile, has been listed for sale after being placed in the hands of a receiver.

jweiker@dispatch.com

@JimWeiker