It was a healthy mix of about 40 people of varying ages and ethnicities sitting in fold-up metal chairs in the middle of the Fountain View Apartments parking lot waiting for the auction to begin. An older man in a grey polo shirt held his poodle. Several men in business suits clutched constantly ringing cell phones.

They all waited for their chance to bid on three Midtown properties owned by St. Petersburg’s infamous landlord Scott Snow. After a year of bad press when residents of his Chinook Apartments were forced out by city officials due to outstanding fire code violations, Snow seems to be getting out of the rental business.

More than a few participants lived in the surrounding area and knew the histories of the crime-ridden complexes. Dan Thom, active in the Bartlett Park neighborhood association, grabbed a bid number “just in case.” But he was just as interested in who would become the new owners and how they would deal with the problems associated with the apartments.

George Madeiros, vice president of the Old Southeast neighborhood, said he had $1.2 million to spend, but didn’t end up moving his hand at all.

“[The apartments] are not that renovated,” he said after a brief tour of the property.

After the auctioneer announced a verbal disclaimer (there are three active code violations at the apartments), he launched into the trademark fast-patter, calling out bids:

“One million, do I hear one million? Five hundred thousand. Five hundred. Do I hear 300,000?”

The auction didn’t last long. The first two properties in Bartlett Park sold in a few minutes to a blonde-haired woman wearing dark sunglasses. Combined, they went for $735,000. The third, and final, apartment located in the Old Southeast neighborhood, sold for $680,000 to a tall-sharply dressed real estate investor, Louis Murphy. Madeiros told me that complex was definitely the worst of the three.

Then, just as quickly as they drove up, the crowd left. A few of the complex’s residents sat out on their porches still watching.

The woman who took both Bartlett Park properties smiled widely on her way back to her car. In a few moments, she wrote a check for $735,000 for a total of 18 rental units.

“To be honest, we don’t know what we bought,” she admitted (buyers were restricted to looking at two open apartments). “I didn’t plan on buying it.”

Although she seemed surprised when told about the crime present at the complex, Deskovich is optimistic. She thinks the hospital and expanding University of South Florida campus will bring much more investment into the area and, so the thinking goes, less crime.

Deskovich is hoping for the same success she’s had with her other properties, including some South Tampa homes and her lone St. Pete investment: a house with five units on 15th Avenue South near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. When Deskovich and her husband bought that house three years ago, it was badly deteriorated. But now, it’s a bright spot on a street dotted with burned-out and abandoned houses.

“We’ll probably do something like that here,” she said. “We try to provide safe, affordable housing.”

What about the current residents of Fountain View?

Deskovich said she’ll end up raising rent as the complex is renovated, but promised the increase won’t be too dramatic. She gradually rose rent at her other apartments, she said, and for two 10-year tenants (who lived there before she bought it), rent has never changed. A studio at the address goes for $550, she said.

She said renovations to Fountain View will take a year or more.

“This is my full-time job now,” she said and walked to the signing table with a pen.

This article appears in Jan 31 – Feb 6, 2007.