Record-Journal
08-03-2007, 12:47 AM
WALLINGFORD -- While the town boarded up Tracy Plaza last month, it’s been no secret that people had been living in the building for years, said family members who control the property.
Stephanie Braziel, who is engaged to the owner’s son, said people were living on the second floor of the building as early as 1988. Fire inspectors have been through the building in the past, she said, but it had never been shut down.
The building, at 1254 Old Colony Road, was boarded up by the town’s Building Department last month after police found a dead woman inside.
The death is not considered suspicious but the Building Department determined that the building was not fit for habitation. Among issues cited was the presence of a car battery-powered electric system.
“Some electrical things need to be fixed,” Braziel said, “but those things needed to be fixed even when my father in-law and his friends were living there before, and now it’s an issue.”
Braziel is engaged to Justin Matias, the son of Tracy Plaza owner Henry Matias Sr. She said Matias Sr., a Vietnam War veteran, had allowed homeless veterans to live there to help them out.
Fire Marshal Joseph P. Micalizzi Jr. said a now-retired inspector had visited the property’s second-floor apartments in 2005, but “whatever fire code violations that were found in ’05 were corrected.”
Micalizzi was called in on July 19, when the body was found, to inspect the building. There were others living in the building. Upon noting several violations and safety concerns,
Micalizzi said he called the Building Department. Micalizzi said he found breaches in the ceilings and floors, electrical code violations, blocked exits and other problems.
“I could not in clear conscience leave that building and leave people in it,” he said.
Building Official Richard F. Boyne III declared the building unfit for habitation. He said the July incident was the first time in the seven years he’s been working for the town that he’d learned that people were living there.
Boyne said he will tell the family what needs to be done to get the building up to code. Following last month’s developments, Braziel and Matias’ sons said they intend to rehabilitate Tracy Plaza.
“The first thing we’re going to do is put a new roof on it and put stucco on the outside,” Henry Matias Jr. said
The family may also remake the upstairs area into office space, he said. After the work is done, he said, the family will put the building on the market.
They hope to sell the building at a price that allows them to pay the estimated $160,000 in taxes owed on the property and still turn a profit.
Matias said his father had received offers for the building in the past, including an offer from New York investors to convert the property into a Taco Bell or a Kentucky Fried Chicken. Matias Sr. turned that offer down, Matias said.
Henry Matias Sr. is in jail, according to Matias Jr. and Braziel, but supports the effort to renovate the building.
Stephanie Braziel, who is engaged to the owner’s son, said people were living on the second floor of the building as early as 1988. Fire inspectors have been through the building in the past, she said, but it had never been shut down.
The building, at 1254 Old Colony Road, was boarded up by the town’s Building Department last month after police found a dead woman inside.
The death is not considered suspicious but the Building Department determined that the building was not fit for habitation. Among issues cited was the presence of a car battery-powered electric system.
“Some electrical things need to be fixed,” Braziel said, “but those things needed to be fixed even when my father in-law and his friends were living there before, and now it’s an issue.”
Braziel is engaged to Justin Matias, the son of Tracy Plaza owner Henry Matias Sr. She said Matias Sr., a Vietnam War veteran, had allowed homeless veterans to live there to help them out.
Fire Marshal Joseph P. Micalizzi Jr. said a now-retired inspector had visited the property’s second-floor apartments in 2005, but “whatever fire code violations that were found in ’05 were corrected.”
Micalizzi was called in on July 19, when the body was found, to inspect the building. There were others living in the building. Upon noting several violations and safety concerns,
Micalizzi said he called the Building Department. Micalizzi said he found breaches in the ceilings and floors, electrical code violations, blocked exits and other problems.
“I could not in clear conscience leave that building and leave people in it,” he said.
Building Official Richard F. Boyne III declared the building unfit for habitation. He said the July incident was the first time in the seven years he’s been working for the town that he’d learned that people were living there.
Boyne said he will tell the family what needs to be done to get the building up to code. Following last month’s developments, Braziel and Matias’ sons said they intend to rehabilitate Tracy Plaza.
“The first thing we’re going to do is put a new roof on it and put stucco on the outside,” Henry Matias Jr. said
The family may also remake the upstairs area into office space, he said. After the work is done, he said, the family will put the building on the market.
They hope to sell the building at a price that allows them to pay the estimated $160,000 in taxes owed on the property and still turn a profit.
Matias said his father had received offers for the building in the past, including an offer from New York investors to convert the property into a Taco Bell or a Kentucky Fried Chicken. Matias Sr. turned that offer down, Matias said.
Henry Matias Sr. is in jail, according to Matias Jr. and Braziel, but supports the effort to renovate the building.