Community Corner

Tenants Dig In as Sale of Drexel Arms and Georgian Approaches

Two pemanent residents are fighting 30-day eviction notices at the Central Avenue properties.

Correction: Due to incorrect information provided to Ocean City Patch, the wrong prospective buyer was named in an earlier version of this story.

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The owner of the Drexel Arms and hotels is hoping a deal to sell the downtown properties closes on Oct. 24.

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The dilapidated rooming houses would be destined to meet the wrecking ball to make way for new residential development at the prime downtown location on the 1100 block of Central Avenue.

But two things could possibly stand in the way of the imminent deal: Peter Andren and Charlotte Jester.

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Andren and Jester are the plaintiffs in a civil action that seeks an injunction preventing their landlord from evicting them ahead of the proposed sale.

About 100 tenants of the two properties received letters on Sept. 15 giving them 30 days to find another place to live. The letter read:

The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the (Georgian Hotel/Drexel Arms Hotel) is in the process of being sold and is closing effective October 15, 2011.

This is a notice that you have 30 days to vacate the premises from the date on this letter (Sept. 15, 2011). You must make other arrangements for lodging. We will assist you any way we can.

Further, as a licensed hotel, this action is in compliance with the New Jersey hotel regulations.

Thank you for your patronage.

Very truly yours,

Michael Scanlon
Owner

Andren, 64, has lived at the Georgian for three years and pays $550 per month rent. He is being represented by lawyers from South Jersey Legal Services, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal representation to low-income individuals.

"I am not aware of any rooms in the building being rented out by the night or the week as in a hotel," Andren said in the civil action being filed on his behalf.

Arguments in court will likely focus on whether or not the properties are rooming houses or hotels.

"They are not hotel guests, even though your letter basically states that," South Jersey Legal Services Managing Attorney Elizabeth A. Cunningham wrote in an Oct. 5 letter to Scanlon. "They are tenants under the law. The proper way to evict a tenant is to file an action for eviction with the Superior Court."

Owners can be required to give tenants as much as 18 months notice ahead of mandatory eviction, according to Kenneth M. Goldman, director of litigation and advocacy for South Jersey Legal Services.

Owner Michael Scanlon was not on the premises or available early this week at the phone number listed on his letter to tenants. Paul Goff, who identified himself as a silent partner of Scanlon's, said on Monday that a prospective deal is expected to close on Oct. 24.

Speaking from the sidewalk in front of the Drexel Arms, Goff said residents of the properties paid $500 to $700 in monthly rent. He said owners are helping tenants find other accommodations—many at the on the 800 block of Ocean Avenue.

Goff said all but a small handful of tenants had found other places to live by Monday.

From the front porch of the seemingly empty Drexel Arms Hotel on Tuesday, Andren said many of the residents of the buildings were elderly, disabled and sometimes referred by social services agencies.

Andren suffers from arthritis, has no car and lives on Social Security and a small pension from a brief tenure as a Washington, D.C., school teacher. He said he paid a downpayment on a room at the Sifting Sands, but the monthly rent there is $700—$150 more than he pays at the Georgian—and that he would be required to vacate by May.

"They're going to evict 100 people to build two or three luxury townhouses," Andren said of the Drexel Arms and Georgian. "There's no morality any more to take care of the little guy. It's mind-boggling. It's the almighty dollar."


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