Tenant says building owned by embattled landlord, bar owner hasn't had heat in two weeks
A tenant in a Des Moines apartment building in foreclosure, owned by landlord and nightclub operator Edwin Allen III, said Thursday there has been no heat there for almost two weeks.
Tenant Ashley Johnston, a mother of five children ages five months to 10 years, said the boiler broke down and caught fire Jan. 5 at the building at 3612 Ingersoll Ave., and the American Red Cross moved her family to a hotel this week. Allen, she said, has not returned calls or texts since the heat went out, even as residents grappled with extreme cold and subzero temperatures.
"I have nowhere else to go, and he’s just taken full advantage of it," Johnston said.
Allen, best known for his troubled and now-closed Zora nightclub at the corner of Ingersoll and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, sent a text to Watchdog threatening to file a harassment charge for trying to contact him about Johnston's concerns.
"Please stop calling me or I will file a harassment charge against you personally," he texted. "The building lost heat and we hired a company and fixed it. Heaters break. Stop trying to make a story out of everything!!! There are dozens of furnaces that failed last week. Get a life!"
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Johnston, 30, said she called MidAmerican Energy this week because there was a gas leak from the outside of the building into her two-bedroom, $1,200-a-month apartment. She said Allen had rented a temporary boiler or heating unit that he placed outside Monday and that it was leaking carbon monoxide through a drafty window into her children's bedroom.
"This machine was not providing any heat for the whole week, but it was leaking carbon monoxide into my kids' bedroom," Johnston said. "The fire department said, 'You cannot stay here.' They called the Red Cross."
She said tenants in three of the eight apartments were moved to the Econo Lodge on Merle Hay Road. Others in the eight-apartment building went somewhere else or stayed in the building, she said.
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On Tuesday, after the holiday, she said, she was able to contact a city inspector. The city, she said, told Allen he had 48 hours to fix the boiler.
She said Friday the temporary rented heater was still being used to heat the building.
A city official said that Allen had contracted with a company to do the repairs, which will be inspected when they are complete.
Dalton Jacobus, the city's neighborhood inspections administrator, did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment.
Apartment building, other Allen-owned properties, in foreclosure
Allen was served this month with foreclosure papers on several properties in Des Moines and Waukee after failing to pay almost $3 million in outstanding debts, Iowa court records show.
First National Bank of Ames initiated foreclosure this month on the apartment building at 3612 Ingersoll Ave. and another Allen-owned apartment building at 1721 Pleasant St. in the Sherman Hill neighborhood. The bank also foreclosed on a commercial building at 3604 Ingersoll and a home and duplex Allen purchased in Waukee, court records show. Overdue debts on those mortgage loans total more than $1.8 million, plus interest.
More: With almost $3 million in unpaid debts, Zora owner Edwin Allen III faces foreclosures
In addition, Allen, beset with legal troubles, defaulted on a cross-collateralization loan on all five properties on which he still owes more than $1 million, Polk and Dallas county court records show.
Before the foreclosures, Allen twice increased his loan from Community First Credit Union of Ottumwa on Zora, bringing it to a total of $2.9 million, county records show. The property is assessed at $1.76 million, county assessor records show. Last year, Allen put Zora on the market, asking $4 million, but failed to find a buyer.
Allen still owns Zora, which has been closed since the summer. A tax sale investor paid almost $9,800 in overdue property taxes for the property at a county tax sale last November, county records show. If Allen does not repay all overdue taxes plus interest, the Minnesota investor could take deed to the property in June 2025.
Lee Rood's Reader's Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Reach her at lrood@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8549, on Twitter at @leerood or on Facebook at Facebook.com/readerswatchdog.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: No heat in foreclosed Edwin Allen-owned Des Moines building, tenant says
