Pics from the new job - 56k might grab coffee

[visualpoet]

I recently took a new job for what I'm told is the second largest apartment complex in the US. Over 1700 units total, with over 1500 vacant, abandoned, damaged, etc. I wasn't prepared for the enormity of the complex, it's literally a small town.
The complex used to be one of the worst sections of Columbus, Ohio, known for drug manufacturing, sales and usage, prostitution, theft, robbery, home invasions, murder.
In 2004, an arsonist torched one of the buildings, burning it to the ground, killing a family of ten Mexican immigrants and leaving between 50 and 60 others homeless and possession free.
There are apartments that haven't been secured and weather, animals, homeless people, etc have been in and out of them over the past several years. The current owners are trying to turn the property around. There hasn't been a reported crime on the property for months and we are slowly restoring apartments to livable conditions.

I've been driving around at lunch, taking some pics of the outsides of buildings, and as I go into vacant units, I'll take pics of some of the more interesting ones and update this thread.


First, an aerial shot of the property (outlined in red). I pulled this from Google Earth, and it's at least 4 years out of date. Today, there are hardly any cars on the property at all (not that you can reaally see them in this shot. Those black dots on the freeway are cars, just to give you an idea of size), and a building in the orange outlined area is gone, burned to the ground in the aforementioned arson.



I've highlighted and enlarged a few areas that I find interesting, they draw me when I'm on the property for some reason.

This is the courtyard where the building was burned to the ground before the fire happened.

And after a year or two (You can see the shrine the victim's family and friends started):

And today:


This is the shrine to the victims of the arson fire. It is approximately where the unit the family lived in was located. No one was ever caught or charged in the fire. The shrine is still being maintained by relatives and friends of the victims. This section of the complex is pretty much chained off, you have to thread a maze to get to it with a car.

one of the remaining buildings ion this courtyard:




This is the tennis court in the blue outlined area (this entire section is chained off and you have to walk into it):

over 4 years ago:


Today:


At the bottom of the tennis courts is a small laundry building, you can see it in the aerial shot. This is the same building and part of the HUGE pile of fallen trees and other brush in the parking lot in front of it today:

[visualpoet]

The green outlined area is an inner courtyard where there used to be a pool. It has apparently been filled in, but there's a depression where it was, so I'm not going to walk across it, just in case.
over four years ago:

And today:



In the lower right corner of the aerial shot you can see a piece of playground equipment; it's still there.


These are just some shots of different parts, nothing too special:




Another filled in pool. There were three pools at one time, only the indoor is still intact.

Bathrooom in a unit. Yes, that's mold on the walls.


Just one side of an abandoned section, I left the coupe in place to tie them together:





That's everything for now!

[AbsurdNY]

Wow that is horrible about the arson. I feel bad for the people that were living there that had nothing to do with it and were not expecting anything to happen. That place is pretty big. We have the largest apartment complex in north America right here in Queens and it's huge. Queensbridge Housing. I was always wondering what the second largest was.

[visualpoet]

And because I can go places that are isolated, I lit the tires up for my own video amusement. i'll have a better video next week. Stop laughing at my bigfoot walk back to the car and my coveralls. It was 20 degrees, and theres no heat in the places I'm working. ( because I'm restoring furnaces that have been gutted and stripped for parts.) I hope you like the little bit of smoke from the tires!

[Clean-CB7]

Man, that shit looks creepy. it reminds me of Silent Hill especially that moldy bathroom =X. how long has it been vacant for?

[visualpoet]

AbsurdNY - I've heard of yours, something like 3100 units, IIRC? There's an 11,000 unit complex in NY, but it's actually several complexes bought up and renamed.
Clean-CB7 - parts of it for over ten years.

My previous property had units that were down for ten years or more, but nothing like this.

[apuforyou]

Looks comfy

[AbsurdNY]

AbsurdNY - I've heard of yours, something like 3100 units, IIRC? There's an 11,000 unit complex in NY, but it's actually several complexes bought up and renamed.
Clean-CB7 - parts of it for over ten years.

My previous property had units that were down for ten years or more, but nothing like this.

Yea man we got some huge places here. They really pack us in haha. Here is what i pulled from Wiki:
Queensbridge Housing is the largest public housing development in North America.[1] It is located in Long Island City in Queens, and opened in 1939. The 3,142 unit complex is owned by the New York City Housing Authority. The complex is located in Community Board 1.[2] The Queensbridge houses house approximately 6,907 peoeple

here are pictures from google maps:

[cp[mike]]

hah, that would be a lot of fun to walk around. you might find some cool stuff in some of those places, make sure you post up lots of pics.

[visualpoet]

DAMN! That's massive! how bad is the neighborhood, so to speak? Much crime or gang activity?
We don't have the gang problems like LA, NY city, Chicago or other big cities. That's not to say there isn't any, but you rarely hear about gang activity. We get a lot of wannabe's around the city, but they're clueless.
Even on my previous property (which my future brother-in-law, the 911 operator, says gets the most 911 calls in the city (which I know has to be bullshit, I can take him to MUCH rougher neighborhoods )), they started spraying tags around, but it was idiot kids. As if Crips and Bloods are going to all live in the same 400 unit complex and never have a battle? Kids with spray cans and MTV dreams.

[Maple50175]

whao find anything cool in the buldings?

[AbsurdNY]

DAMN! That's massive! how bad is the neighborhood, so to speak? Much crime or gang activity?
We don't have the gang problems like LA, NY city, Chicago or other big cities. That's not to say there isn't any, but you rarely hear about gang activity. We get a lot of wannabe's around the city, but they're clueless.
Even on my previous property (which my future brother-in-law, the 911 operator, says gets the most 911 calls in the city (which I know has to be bullshit, I can take him to MUCH rougher neighborhoods )), they started spraying tags around, but it was idiot kids. As if Crips and Bloods are going to all live in the same 400 unit complex and never have a battle? Kids with spray cans and MTV dreams.

Queensbridge projects is not a place you want to be when it gets dark and you don't know anyone in the area. However, It has cleaned up a lot. Still not a great place but not near as violent as it used to be. Here is a quote taken from a website that made a documentary:
"Like the city, the project went through the turbulent 1960’s and the crime-ridden 1990’s. During those bleak periods, the documentary gives a realistic view of the community with its violent turf wars and rampant drugs. However, by 2001, Queensbridge experienced a turn-around as the development enjoyed an increase in police intervention. Today, families safely raise their families in this affordable community."

Another intreasting fact is Queensbridge housing has the highest talent success rate of any other housing development in North America.
Taken from Wiki:
Queensbridge has historically proved to be a hotbed of hip hop musical talent. Famed producer Marlon “Marley Marl” Williams was the first in a long succession of acclaimed artists from “The Bridge”, which became one of the most prolific hip hop-producing neighborhoods in the country. Marley's Juice Crew collective, hugely influential in the 1980s, featured among its members Queensbridge rappers MC Shan, Roxanne Shanté, and Craig G, each noted names in their own right. Most notable of today's Queensbridge hip hop artists is the acclaimed rapper Nas, who has since the 1990s frequently used his music and lyricism to reference Queensbridge and its hip hop history.

Other noted artists associated with Queensbridge include Prodigy and Havoc of Mobb Deep , Capone of Capone-n-Noreaga, Cormega, Tragedy Khadafi, Nature, Screwball, and Big Noyd. Ron Artest also grew up in QB housing and a lot more people.

[visualpoet]

whao find anything cool in the buldings?

Not yet, some furniture, trash, animal crap. I swear I saw deer shit in one of the units. if I ever stumble across a deer in a unit? I'll probably shit myself. Not that I'm afraid of them, but just because it'll startle the hell out of me. We'll probably be screaming at each other like the deer and Ice Cube in "Are We There Yet?

AbsurdNY - That's pretty sweet. Although it makes sense that the largest complex in the US would have the highest concentration of artists.

[PR CB7]

Not yet, some furniture, trash, animal crap. I swear I saw deer shit in one of the units. if I ever stumble across a deer in a unit? I'll probably shit myself. Not that I'm afraid of them, but just because it'll startle the hell out of me. We'll probably be screaming at each other like the deer and Ice Cube in "Are We There Yet?

AbsurdNY - That's pretty sweet. Although it makes sense that the largest complex in the US would have the highest concentration of artists.

bring a gun next time

if that bitch jumps in front of u put some lead in the bitch

and u got food for a while

[H22WAGON93]

Those buildings look familar. Are they called The Arms