Humility of Mary Housing struggles to revive apartments after fire, contractor bankruptcy

Not far from Sand Run Metro Park at 502 Treeside Drive is an abandoned apartment building that, until recently, was a beam of hope for homeless single parents trying to shelter their children.

Owned and operated by the nonprofit Humility of Mary Housing (HMH), this Northwest Akron residence served as transitional housing for almost 30 years until a 2021 cooking fire heavily damaged the building and displaced its residents.

Following the fire, HMH paid a local contractor more than half a million dollars to rebuild. The company completed only minimal restoration over a few months before pulling out altogether and declaring bankruptcy, folding without returning the funds for the unfinished work. The jilted organization sued the contractor as progress toward reopening ground to a halt.

But Fred Berry, HMH president and CEO, said there is little hope of recovering the $460,000 that the organization estimates must be reimbursed for unfinished work. The organization remains committed to reopening the site, and has pulled together close to $200,000 toward that end. Berry continues to scour the community, hat in hand, in search of help for HMH to reactivate its beam of hope.

"For the last year and a half I've been trying to raise money, I do have a small commitment from a funder, and I've reached out to other funders — and we may try and go the grant-writing route as well," he said. "There are plenty of nonprofits out there that may have some sort of mission alignment that does work like this, but I haven't had a lot of success."

Fire damage renders apartments uninhabitable

On March 29, 2021, a resident at the Treeside Drive apartments was cooking when her oven caught fire, Berry said. The resident attempted to contain the fire, but it quickly got out of control and jumped to the other unit on the floor. The fire was contained to the second floor, but subsequent water damage made the other units on the lower two floors uninhabitable.

"The Akron Fire Department did an amazing job responding, they got here as quickly as they could and extinguished the fire — they were here all day," Berry said. "Thankfully, the most important piece of this is that everyone was okay; one of our residents had five cats, and everyone made it out alive."

Megan Scheck, HMH's director of programs and quality improvement, said she still has difficulty discussing that day.

"I was at a meeting in Lorain when I first received the call that the building was on fire. And being there that day, I can say that it was the worst experience I've ever had in my career; I can't believe that I am not crying as we are talking about this," said M. "It was not something that you think you would ever have to experience."

Most of the displaced occupants were long-term clients of the outreach program who had lived there for more than a year when the fire broke out.

"Our immediate response (after the fire) was to place the residents in a hotel, where they lived for about two months," Berry said. "From the hotel, we were able to get the residents from three of the units housed at Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority housing, while the residents from the other two units found housing on their own."

Scheck said HMH staff members were allowed back in the building a few days after the fire. Residents asked the workers if any of their possessions were still salvageable. Scheck said at least half of their belongings were lost.

"It was just sad walking into the apartment and seeing the damage the fire caused, and seeing everything destroyed and waterlogged — with water pouring out of every outlet and light fixture," Schreck said. "Kids would ask if their toys were still on fire."

While the previous residents have moved on, Schreck said HMH is yearning to return the apartments to a usable condition so that more clients can benefit from the program

"We need this building back, it's important to us and it is important to the community. There are five families out there right now that could be using this residence."

Contractor issues upend charity's push to reopen apartments

The three-story property at 502 Treeside Drive, built in the 1950s, has used as housing for single-parent families ever since HMH purchased it in 1993.

HMH quickly filed an insurance claim after the March 2021 fire, and began working with J. Bowers Construction Inc., an Akron-based restoration company to restore the building. Construction began within weeks.

HMH quickly filed an insurance claim after the fire, and began working with J. Bowers Construction Inc., an Akron-based restoration company to restore the building. Construction began in April 2021.

During the ensuing months, roof and brickwork repairs were completed as well as most of the needed electrical work and about 75% of the plumbing, Berry said. But progress stalled in the fall as J. Bowers essentially vanished from the picture.

Berry said J. Bowers eventually got in touch in February 2022 "to tell me the company is basically bankrupt."

HMH filed a civil suit against the company in June 2022, trying to recover more than $460,000 for work that it said J. Bowers never completed.

J. Bowers Construction filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio in late July 2022. The Beacon Journal attempted to reach J. Bowers representatives for comment, but received an operator message saying the listed number was no longer in service.

Meanwhile, Berry said, two subcontractors who failed to receive their payment from J,. Bowers have placed liens against HMH's Treeside facility.

Humility of Mary's Akron-area legacy runs deep

HMH was established by the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, a Roman Catholic order based in Villa Maria, Pennsylvania. The religious community has been active in the Diocese of Cleveland since 1864, with its members carving out a long legacy of teaching, health care and community service in the Akron area.

Sister Loretta Rafter founded HMH in Akron in 1987. It initially served homeless single mothers, but has since expanded to serve homeless single fathers as well as low-income seniors and homeless youths ages 18-24.

After beginning with an eight-unit apartment building on Copley Road, the organization now has more than 260 units in Summit, Cuyahoga, Lorain and Trumbull counties.

Berry said HMH's mission is to promote and strengthen the self-sufficiency of individuals and families, especially those who are poor, through advocacy, support services and quality housing.

"We take great pride in our work in providing the much-needed support for the homeless; there's not a community in need that we've not housed," Berry said.

"We don't discriminate to the best of our ability," he said, adding that community partners and donors are essential to HMH's operations.

Sister Toby Lardie of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary said putting the Treeside residences back in service will help HMH to put the contractor nightmare behind and return its full focus to helping those in need.

"It's devastating for these families in this difficult situation; this program was established to help get people back on their feet and stay on their feet," she said. "We are absolutely floored at the issues we have had with restoration, and we want to restore this building as quickly as possible."

Reporter Anthony Thompson can be reached at ajthompson@gannett.com, or on Twitter, @athompsonABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Humility of Mary Housing seeks help restoring fire-damaged apartments