The bricks are sliding off the façade like bombs have been landing nearby.

But owner Jeffrey Butler, the man behind Spring Street Reality, LLC, promises the apartment building at 1890 Broad St. is almost ready for full habitation. He estimates the property, including its formerly precarious second floor, may be ready for city inspections as soon as November.

And while the occupants await completion, the head of the complex’s tenants union faces eviction.

The Background

More than three years ago, in June 2021, the Cranston Fire Department was dispatched to the scene following the report of a building collapse at 1890 Broad St. in the Edgewood sector of the city. It was a Monday evening and everything was about to change for the complex residents who had been living in 39 separate units on the first and second floors.

According to published reports in the Cranston Herald, a mother who lived in the building called 911 after her 41-year-old daughter nearly fell through a second-floor walkway. The building was condemned — deemed uninhabitable. Residents found themselves suddenly locked out of their homes.

Eventually, most of the tenants were relocated. Currently, the remaining residents have been living in less than 20 available first floor apartments, according to Butler.

Butler said he bought the building about two and a half years ago, after the balcony collapse, from The Hennessy Group. He says he paid around $3.5 million for the ailing structure (records show last sale price was just over $3.2 million) and had planned to plug around $300,000 into repairs. The repair budget quickly ballooned to nearly $1 million, but Butler says he plans to stick around as the landlord of 1890 Broad St.

The mostly white cinder blocks have been sprayed black with a moisture sealant.

“A lot of work has been done underground,” Butler explained Monday afternoon. “We had to strip all of the façade.”

Piles of bricks give the property a war-torn feel.

According to Butler, the pre-1960s era building, constructed mostly of cinder blocks, started settling into the ground, and the “bricks started peeling from the façade.”

A crew of workmen was spotted at the site Tuesday morning, however, cleaning and making repairs to the property.

“I’m hoping to be done by November,” Butler said. His workers need to install fresh insulation and encapsulate the entire building in decorative siding. “Our goal is to be done by winter.”

“Once we get our new windows, we’ll go to the city to get approval,” Butler said, adding that his end-goal is to make each unite “secure and safe.”

The project’s biggest delay, according to Butler, was due to the long wait for steelwork to secure the second floor balcony. And now the project’s waiting on new windows.

Tenant Union Leader

The apartment complex in the Edgewood neighborhood consists of more than 30,000 square feet and includes 39 rentable units — a mix of studio, one and two bedroom units, according to an expired (but still existing) online real estate listing.

The structure was built in 1956, includes more than 30 off-street parking spots, in a region of the city zoned A6. Estimated taxes on the property were around $58,000 annually at the time of the last sale.

Melissa Potter, 1890 Broad St.’s Tenant Union Leader, has lived in Unit 111 since March 2022, but said her days are numbered in the building.

“This property has been a complete nightmare but I still paid my rent every month despite it all to ensure a roof over my head if even not the safest,” Potter wrote via email Monday evening. “We started a tenant union in order to get basic needed repairs and asked the current owner Jeffrey Butler to come to the negotiating table with the tenants here and he never responded …”

She said Butler needs to work on “his communication skills … if he plans on staying a landlord.”

Potter believes her constant complaints are the reason she’s now forced to look for a new home.

“I’m pending an eviction as of Oct. 1 despite paying my rent on time for asking for repairs that are done properly,” Potter explained. “With code violations in my apartment for the good majority of the last year and a half his reason for eviction is just that I need to go because I’m the problem.”

Potter alleges she faces eviction as “retaliation” for speaking out.

“He doesn’t need to like me to provide the service he has not provided in the time I’ve lived on this property,” she wrote. All she wanted, Potter said, was “a safe home, in the community I grew up in.”

Potter said she “lost out on a home life and a life within the community I come from.” She argues that Butler “should be held accountable for what the tenants here have had to endure over the last two years, instead of trying to make tenants choose sides or be evicted like I am now for not biding by his rules.”

A call to Butler early Tuesday morning, to ask about Potter’s accusations, was not returned by press-time.

The City

“As you know, this renovation/project is being done by a private entity and not the City,” Cranston Mayor Kenneth Hopkins’s Chief of Staff Anthony Moretti wrote via email. “As with any other project, the role of the City is to ensure adherence to building codes. Our Inspections Department reports that the project is moving along slowly, albeit within state code and city ordinances.”

Hopkins’s opponent in the General Election, Cranston City-Wide City Councilor Robert Ferri, said he has “lingering concerns for the health and safety of the occupants of 1890 Broad St.”

“Weak enforcement of the City of Cranston's building code has adversely impacted the safety of renters and homeowners across Cranston, and I think we need to make sure the inspections department has the necessary resources and accountability to better enforce the building codes in Cranston to keep people safe and healthy,” Ferri said Tuesday morning. “They need to stay on top of repeat violators.”

Hopkins’s mayoral campaign was also offered a chance to comment for this story.

“We asked the Building Inspections Department to explain themselves at a meeting in 2021 when the apartment complex first had structural issues that made it unsafe,” Ferri recalled. “The response at that meeting was wholly inadequate and I believe there has been little urgency to get this issue resolved in a timely manner. The residents of the building and surrounding community deserve a timely resolution when issues like this arise, it is a detriment to everyone's quality of life in that area.”

Ferri made a promise to voters and tenants across the city.

“As mayor, I would prioritize resolving issues like this as quickly as possible and hold owners' feet to the fire if they do not act with adequate urgency,” Ferri said Monday evening. “Has anyone asked the mayor for an explanation as to why this has dragged on?”

The Inspections

Cranston City-Wide City Councilor and Republican Minority Leader Nicole Renzulli checked out the building permits filed for 1890 Broad St.

“As of right now we have no updates from the Inspections Department,” Renzulli said earlier this week. “I know the owner has an active permit for windows, siding and doors, and exterior work — and that with an active court case inspections are definitely still being performed. I personally have not heard of any new complaints and I hope that work will continue to progress without any issues.”

The city’s Planning Director, Jason M. Pezzullo, said “the Broad Street property is not a planning issue but rather a building code compliance issue.” He referred all questions to Building Inspector David Rodio.

Rodio asked Cranston’s Minimum Housing Inspector Annamarie Marchetti to reply to questions regarding 1890 Broad St.

“They have active Building permits and (an) open case in Municipal Court,” Marchetti replied via email. “Only first floor apartments are in use but (I) do not know how many are occupied.”

Several listings exist online for the sale of the 1890 Broad St. property, but Butler said he plans to hold onto the building. He called it a “forever property.”

Marchetti, however, said the “property can be sold” and that any pending “violations pass with property.”

Earlier this year, Hopkins referred to violations the city had issued Butler, the property owner and head of Spring Street Realty, LLC. He pointed to a March inspection that resulted in citations for two notices of violation of the State of Rhode Island Property Maintenance Code. A separate violation notice addressed the overall condition of the property. Butler had 10 days to fix the issues and faced re-inspection.

Marchetti did not reply to follow-up questions on the status of the violations from earlier this year.