The owner of the single-family Allston house, 24 Highgate St., site of Mayor Marty Walsh’s September 1 press conference on safe housing, was presented with a series of property violations Tuesday morning by Boston’s Inspectional Services Department; the unit’s new tenants have been put up in a hotel for the time being, while the owner works to restore the Allston property, an ISD spokesperson said.
The owner of 24 Highgate, Blue Pine Tree LLC, located at 9 Majestic Ave. in Nashua, New Hampshire, as well as two members of company, Wing Han Chan and Liong Goh, are listed on more than a dozen violations filed with the City of Boston. Copies of violations served and signed by ISD officials include missing smoke detectors and a missing carbon monoxide alarm; “general safety” violations; an “absentee owner” notice; and failure to keep the unit “clean and sanitary.” These $300 citations are considered emergency violations, which, if not addressed, can result in a criminal complaint filed against the owner.
Here’s the full list of violations presented to Blue Pine Tree LLC for this year’s violations at 24 Highgate St.:
24 Highgate St, Allston Ma – Property Violations
The owner and representation from Kunevich and Lau met ISD commissioner William Christopher, as well as a number of other ISD officials early Tuesday morning to discuss the “slew of violations” discovered at the property, ISD spokesperson Lisa Timberlake told BostInno. The other ISD officials present at Tuesday’s meeting were ISD Asst. Commissioner John Meaney; ISD Chief of Staff Indira Alvarez; constable Paula Titus; building inspector Brian Ronan; and health inspector Eric McGevna.
During the meeting, the owner and a representative from Kunevich and Lau “assured [ISD officials] they would go back to the property” immediately, make repairs and “bring it up to code,” Timberlake told BostInno.
And indeed, the deplorable conditions are being addressed. Shortly before noon Tuesday BostInno visited 24 Highgate St., where this reporter briefly met Jarrett Lau of Kunevich and Lau Realty. After knocking on a side door, I chatted for a moment with Lau in an empty living room. He declined an interview and would not allow pictures to be taken inside the property.
“We’re trying to limit exposure,” Lau said. If pictures were taken, “the owner could sue.”
In the backyard, two members of a cleaning team were collecting a pile of trash, some of which was being carried through an open bulkhead door leading to the basement. “This is pretty typical for Allston,” one of the workers said, when asked about the heap of junk piling up in the backyard.
None of the tenants of 24 Highgate – college students, who could be seen moving into the unit Monday afternoon prior to the mayor’s press conference – appeared to be at the property at the time I visited.
“The tenants opted not to stay,” Timberlake told BostInno in a later phone call. For the next couple of days, the tenants will be staying at a nearby hotel paid for by Blue Pine Tree.
The owner has seven days to correct the previously mentioned emergency violations. If the corrections are made, the tenants will be given the choice of moving back into 24 Highgate or to work with the property owner to find different, “permanent” housing, Timberlake said.
Blue Pine Tree could not be reached for comment. Earlier, at 24 Highgate, Lau told me that the owner would not be answering the media’s questions. The owner, however, is “cooperating” with the city, he said.
BostInno photo
