The city has issued an "order forbidding occupancy" of the DiRimini apartment project after
code enforcement officials learned the developer planned to start moving in residents. The Department of Code Enforcement
also issued a new stop-work order on Wednesday that covers all work on the building at 733 N. Capitol Ave., not just the exterior
as an earlier order specified. The occupancy order cites several violations in addition to a drastic departure from approved
plans for the building, including unsafe construction practices, violations of the building code, and failure to secure state
approval of a fire alarm system and elevators. The order also notes that constructon had been proceeding in a manner that
make it "substantially difficult to correct the violations." Code enforcement spokeswoman Kate Johnson said building
inspectors have visited the property multiple times and actually cited other violations, for which the property owner received
a variance from the State of Indiana Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission. "DCE was prompted to again inspect
the building upon receiving a Certificate of Completion and Compliance requesting partial occupancy," she said. City
planners have been working with developer Jeff Sparks on ways to fix the nearly completed project, which differs in at least
35 ways from the one approved under the city's urban design guidelines. The developer's first offer failed to impress.
Sparks has refused to discuss the project with IBJ, and his voicemail message on Thursday said he'll be out of town for
a few days. Earlier posts on DiRimini, which include the original rendering and fixes proposed by the developer, are available
here and here.
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Welcome to Property Lines, Indy's source for neighborhood real estate news. Your host is Scott Olson, IBJ's real estate beat
reporter. Edited by Cory Schouten.
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Can IBJ please stop referring to this property as "Kessler Mansion"? What a ridiculous title for the biggest, bloated, blight in our city. It's not a mansion. At best, it's an ideal site to shoot low-budget porn. Ahhh! Another business use!
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Its stories like these that prove that a Ball State diploma is worth less than the paper that its printed on. A real institution of higher learning would have taken care of this long ago. No way should this crap be taught in a SCIENCE class.
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It is such a shame that King Ballard has made Indianapolis into Chicago south with all of the rampant corruption.
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How many of these 1,259 bills were actually heard and voted on on the floor vs how many were shot down in committee?
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When a an arrogant young guy with essentially no experience and no qualifications for the job, was dropped into an Administrator position out of nowhere by his "mentor" in the Mayor's office things seemed fishy. Sometimes things are what they seem.
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It will be fun to see how Mr. Sparks's attorney will argue that he shouldn't have to tear down the violations. I don't envy that position.
Look, if the City was doing its job, they would have noticed the deviation from plans much, much earlier (foundation and footings, for example. Or at framing, or rough-in inspections).
I don't have any sympathy for a builder who submits one set of plans and builds another; however, the City needs to be called out on this as well. This should have been stopped before the builder was almost done with the project. Got to love the new self-supporting code compliance department.