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Photo By Jymi Bolden
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221 Stark St.
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Address: 221 Stark St., Over-the-Rhine
Owner: Paula Blevins
Value: $13,600, according to the Hamilton County Auditor's Office
Year Built: 1883
Comments: The city of Cincinnati Department of Buildings and Inspections has ordered this building condemned.
"The building has been heavily damaged by fire; the roof system that remains on the building is fire damaged; floors and walls are fire damaged, rotted and deteriorated and no longer able to perform their intended function," says a city report on the building. "The structural members are burned, rotted and deteriorated; gutters and downspouts are rusted, leaking and/or missing; plumbing, HVAC and electric systems are fire damaged, missing or vandalized; rubbish and fire debris are strewn throughout building and lot."
The city held off demolition of the building while the owner attempted to get financing to rehab it, according to Michael Fehn, an inspector with the department. The building has remained barricaded.
Fehn learned last week the building has been sold. The orders on the building were issued to the former owner.
The new owner is Paula Blevins, who bought the property in December 2002 for $7,000.
Blevins says she was unaware of the building's condemnation. She says that she intends to fix the building up to be used as apartments.
"It is an historical area and I would like to see them put back as close to what they were and to preserve that area," she says. "We plan to have that rehabbed, as well as the building next to it."
Blevins says she is enthused about a park being built across the street and thought it would make a nice place for families to live.
BLIGHT OF THE WEEK is an effort to highlight the problem of abandoned buildings -- and who's responsible for them.
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