The poster boy for lousy upkeep of student rental housing, Stephan Gharabegian, is at it once again. On good old Phillips Street naturally, where he owns almost half the houses on the slummy street.
Building Inspector Jon Thompson has given him until June 24 to either demolish a bootleg four bedroom basement apartment or file for a Special Permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals, where he's been turned down in the past.
And since the illegal basement apartment did not have a second means of egress in case of fire Gharabegian is lucky the town did not file endangerment charges!
It seems clear that money is one of the more important things to this landlord. It is not the community, not the students safety, not quality of housing. It is quantity and income.
ReplyDeleteI hope the town wakes up and hits him with every fine legally allowed on this property and many others. The town needs to send a message to this landlords and others who think this is a business model worth trying in Amherst.
I can not imagine a more deserving individual to make an example out of than this guy.
Yeah, Building Commissioner Rob Morra just confirmed this morning that the 4 bedroom illegal apartment did NOT have a second means of egress in case of fire.
ReplyDeleteGharabegian should be charged with criminal endangerment.
Wow, Talk about a phony. 9:36AM you make a lot of noise, but if you're like everybody else in this little eutopia. You'd cut your neighbor's throat the first time they got in your wallet.
ReplyDeleteI love all this "Community", "Safety", and "Quality" bullshit.
Larry, I don't see how he can be ordered to "demolish" the bedroom -- there is an issue with him knowingly permitting it to be used as a bedroom, but you are allowed to have storage rooms and such in rental units.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's sloppy language on the part of the town, but they approved the building to be built (at some point, or it predated that), and while you can't use that room as a bedroom, I can't see the authority for the "demolish" part.
So everybody does realize that Stephan has taken Phillips Street and rented all of the houses out to fraternities illegally... What is to be done about this guy?
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