Looks like Tampa Bay's "Best Slumlord" is getting out of the rental business. Scott W. Snow, who made headlines last year when the residents of his Chinook Apartments were thrown out by the city after multiple fire code violations, has erected auction signs at his other three Midtown apartment complexes. The auction, advertised as a"no reserve and no minimum" sale, will be held 11 a.m. tomorrow at each property.
Back in May, CL focused on two properties located in Bartlett Park with their own outstanding code violations. The residents at Fountain View complained about Snow and the condition of their rentals. But they also worried the bad press would force Snow to renovate and to raise rent out their reach. Snow's wife, Gayle, claimed the family was not making any money on the complex.
"Every penny that's taken has been put back in," she said at the time, while directing her two teenage boys to pick up trash in the parking lot. "Our salary is paid not by these rentals."
Fountain View has some of the cheapest rent in St. Petersburg, with an efficiency going for as low as $475 a month. With rents rising throughout the city, the complexes have provided much-needed affordable housing to the city's working poor. But the complexes have also been a thorn in the side of neighborhood crime watch leaders, who point to the almost weekly police calls to the properties.
There's no telling what may happen when the apartment buildings are sold, but considering their proximity to the University of South Florida campus and the Dali Museum, it's entirely possible that the new landlord will renovate or raze the complexes and create more luxury-style rentals. Or, surprise, condos.
This article appears in Jan 31 – Feb 6, 2007.