James Barrett, owner of the twice-burned, now-demolished Gastineau Apartments, has a date with the city of Juneau, and they\u2019re not going to dinner.<\/p>\n
In early March, the city filed a lawsuit against Barrett and his mother, Kathleen \u2014 individually and on behalf of Gastineau Apartments LLC \u2014 to recover the cost of tearing down the blighted building at the end of last year.<\/p>\n
In a scheduling hearing Tuesday, Juneau Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg set the trial date for June 26, 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe exercised our rights within the law to abate a public nuisance, and now we\u2019re seeking to recover those abatement costs,\u201d City Attorney Amy Mead told the Empire in a phone interview Thursday.<\/p>\n
The city is asking for an entry of judgment against the Barretts \u201cin the amount of total costs incurred\u201d by the city to demolish the three apartment buildings, Mead wrote in the complaint. As of March 2, when Mead filed the complaint, the city had spent nearly $1.3 million taking the buildings down.<\/p>\n
That number will likely be about $300,000 more by the time the city finishes paying the contractors, outside consultants and others who helped in the process.<\/p>\n
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Related stories:<\/p>\n
Watch a video of the Gastineau Apartment demolition here<\/a><\/p>\n Yes, again: Gastineau Apartments catch fire<\/a><\/p>\n