The last time I visited Vista Sierra Apartments in August, the place was blanketed in graffiti. A fridge filled with rotting meat stood in the middle of a courtyard. An eerie stillness hovered over the desolate scene.
It looked like a war zone or a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie. It was hard to imagine a happy ending, much less a new beginning.
The abandoned apartment complex east of Campbell on Fort Lowell is an island of blight, as Councilwoman Karin Uhlich recently described it to me, in a sea of solidly middle-class neighborhoods.
The fridge with the rotting meat is gone now, but Vista Sierra Apartments has somehow become much more broken. The empty pool where skaters have been looping around is now covered in graffiti. Someone cut down a palm tree, which then crashed into the roof of one of the buildings at the complex. A number of units have been broken into. Doors have been ripped off hinges. Walls have been gutted. There was a distinct smell emanating from one of the units.
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Town West Realty is going to have its hands full.
The development company is closing on the Vista Sierra Apartments Monday, after bidding $25,000 for the 75-unit complex at a HUD auction a few weeks ago. The sale makes imagining a new beginning here possible.
What will Vista Sierra become? It's too soon to say. Assisted living or student housing are certainly possibilities. But does it really matter? Neighbors have their preference - no student housing (!). But there is relief knowing that after months as a taggers' paradise, Vista Sierra is going to belong to someone.
"As far as I know, we are all glad that it's been sold and somebody now has responsibility for it," said Sandra L. Miller, secretary of the Richland Heights East Neighborhood Association. "It's a blight on the neighborhood."
The sight of Vista Sierra makes Miller clench her teeth and shake her head. It has filled her with frustration. The graffiti, she said, spread from Vista Sierra to neighboring homes. And a quick drive around the area backed up her claim. Scattered tagging was on walls, mailboxes and garbage bins.
"It was very frustrating," Miller said. "Because people who were coming to your neighborhood, they would see that (graffiti) and think 'Wow, this is not a very nice part of town.' "
Some background before going forward.
Vista Sierra Apartments once belonged to the Metropolitan Housing Corp., an independent nonprofit created by the city's Metropolitan Housing Commission.
It bought the property in 1996 and used it to offer low-income housing. But pretty much from the get-go, the building had problems. Its chiller system failed again and again. In one year alone, it failed 17 times. Metropolitan Housing Corp. couldn't afford to make the repairs - which have been estimated at $1 million - and let the property go. Residents were moved. Blight followed. HUD eventually foreclosed.
Vista Sierra went to auction back in February, but no one made an offer because, among other concerns, HUD was requiring the buyer to tear down the complex. But the complex, which was built in 1972, is filled with asbestos. It may be cheaper to renovate it.
So for the second auction, HUD waived the demo requirement, and Town West, which has an office a few blocks from the complex, stepped in with an offer.
"We are looking to redevelop the property," said Jodi Bain, Town West's vice president and general counsel. "Is it viable for housing or is it more viable for something else?"
We'll see what Town West does, but at the very least it has to develop Vista Sierra within three years (that can be extended). If it doesn't demo the complex right away, Town West will have to at least maintain it while it figures out a plan. That means keeping it fenced off and free of blight. There are fences at the complex now, but that's more for show. They aren't keeping anyone out of the buildings.
It didn't take long for Vista Sierra to enter an ugly free fall. But it's been a slow process to take this first step. We'll see where things go from here - Uhlich's office will be guiding talks between the neighbors and Town West - but for the neighbors and the city, only good things can happen. Instead of a monument to neglect, perhaps one day we will have a monument to renewal.
"There is a lot of comfort knowing they (Town West) are part of that area already," Uhlich said. "I think it's good news that it's sold and going to be developed."
Contact columnist Josh Brodesky at 573-4242 or jbrodesky@azstarnet.com
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