Fed up with the collapsing ceilings, broken elevator and pools of water in the lobby, the Rev. Steven Jeter hoped the city of Baltimore would resurrect his once-elegant apartment complex on North Charles Street.
But his faith in the management company hired by the city to restore the long-neglected Queen Anne Belvedere Apartments has been tested.
In the six weeks since the city foreclosed on the converted turn-of-the-century rowhouses, from 1204 to 1301 N. Charles St., Mr. Jeter and other tenants have complained that repairs are slow and sloppy.
Today, 20 tenants in the 68-unit apartment building will head to District Court in an attempt to have their rent of $450 to $600 a month held in escrow until the work is done. At a hearing before District Judge Norman E. Johnson Jr., they will argue that the building is damaged and unsafe.
City housing officials and the new management company have promised to correct the problems. Yesterday, the city's Board of Estimates approved a $100,000 loan for repairs. But that hasn't satisfied Mr. Jeter and other tenants.
"We're very disappointed. We thought finally we had somebody who was going to solve our problems," said Mr. Jeter, head of the tenant association.
The city helped to finance the redevelopment of the property in 1979, when the area was in the midst of a transformation from a tawdry block of massage parlors and pornographic bookstores to apartments.
The city foreclosed on the six buildings in October, after the owner, Queen Anne-Belvedere Association, defaulted on a $500,000 mortgage. The city also had guaranteed a $1.5 million mortgage that is in default to Monumental Life Insurance Co., Loyola Federal Savings & Loan Association and Signet Bank/Maryland.
QAB Management, a division of Monumental Management Inc., is working to correct the problems, said Catherine Caskey, development director for the city's Department of Housing and Community Development.