Landlord gets 2 days to fix St. Paul building

More than a dozen renters and a corner grocery could be looking for a new roof over their heads if their landlord can't fix up their building to the city of St. Paul's standards in the next 48 hours.

The St. Paul City Council issued the ultimatum to landlord Jeffrey DeLisle on Wednesday night. The order followed weeks of back and forth between DeLisle and city inspectors over safety issues ranging from a deteriorating first floor to electrical problems to a rickety stairway exit.

Chad Lemmons, an attorney who spoke on behalf of DeLisle, told council members that nearly all of the 103 violations that city inspectors noted will be fixed by the deadline. "All issues will be dealt with," he said.

The three-story building at 520 Rice St. was built in 1889 and sits on a gritty corner in the shadow of the State Capitol.

An inspection on Oct. 22 revealed deterioration of the first floor, and the city ordered that 30 violations be fixed or DeLisle risk condemnation of the building.

During an Oct. 29 inspection of the upstairs apartments, inspectors found fire-code violations including damaged walls, bedroom windows that wouldn't open and no carbon monoxide detectors. The list of things to fix grew to 103 items.

DeLisle appealed the condemnation order. That's when the matter went to the council.

Resident Calvin Sergio Newell asked the council to give DeLisle more time to get the work done. He noted that the weather is getting colder and that it's the holiday season. "We've got good people here -- just keep that in mind," he said.

Council President Kathy Lantry said nobody wants to put families on the street, but that the city isn't going to let a building collapse or burn with people in it. In the spring in Minneapolis, six people died in a fire in an apartment above a bar. The unit hadn't had a fire-code inspection in 16 years.

Council Member Melvin Carter III, whose ward includes the building, said rental housing shouldn't just be "a matchbox that's better than being out in the rain."

"How can one listen to the tenants and not be empathetic?" Carter said. "But exposed wire in a leaky area with rotting wood is a recipe for disaster."

The council extended until spring the deadline for painting the building's exterior and paving the parking lot but ordered a full-building electrical inspection completed by Wednesday, and set that date as a deadline for DeLisle to have plans for improving the back stairway exit for the second- and third-floor units. The floor has been temporarily shored up, and more time was given for a permanent fix.