Eyesore of the Week Revisited: 922 N. Walnut St., Lansing

Posted

This week’s eyesore is a look back at a previous eyesore from May 2012, a stately old home from 1887 that had trees growing up through the porch the last time we looked, a rental property owned by former East Lansing Mayor Vic Loomis.

Rather than nudging the civic leader to repair his dilapidated building, the house has fallen further into disrepair since the article ran. Part of the roof is caving in, holes have appeared through the siding into the interior and a look inside the glass door from the front hip porch shows giant holes in the floor. And for all of that, Loomis blames City Pulse.

“It’s been broken into several times. It all started with the photo published in City Pulse,” Loomis said. “‘Here’s a vacant property, have at it!’ I feel I was a victim of that.”

Loomis said thieves stole furniture from the inside and ripped out much of the copper wiring and pipes. After inheriting the house from an uncle, he allowed a 94-year-old man to stay there at a rent that he says was below market value and below the cost of upkeep and property taxes, too. The man died before the first eyesore article ran. He wanted the man to live out his life there before he flipped the house for sale or another rental.

But before he got a chance, Loomis said the vandals destroyed the value of the house and greatly increased the cost of renovations. “I’m not happy about the situation at all.” Loomis blames the neighborhood for ignoring the theft. “This is the payback I get for being a nice guy.”

After vandals trashed the place, Loomis essentially abandoned the house. A separate, 1885 coach house on the property is also abandoned and boarded up. An elderly couple lived at the coach house with a disabled adult son for a longer period before they also passed away, sometime after 2012.

Both houses are a relic of a bygone Lansing, when the siting of the state capital created an overnight city, but well before the days of the automobile and R.E. Olds let the city’s population really take off. At least two out-buildings on the property appear designed to shelter horses.

Loomis quit paying his taxes and now owes more than $12,000 on the place. Now, a posting on the door calls for a legal hearing to come on Feb. 5, 2020, and a tax auction may follow in July. That’s all fine by Loomis. “Let it go at tax sales, let someone who has the capacity and knowledge take it over.”

CORRECTION: The house will have a foreclosure hearing in February, not a tax auction as incorrectly stated. An auction could follow in July 2020 if the property owner fails to pay his taxes.

“Eyesore of the Week” is our look at some of the seedier properties in Lansing. It rotates with Eye Candy of the Week and Eye for Design. Have a suggestion? Email eye@lansingcitypulse.com or call it in at 517-999-6715.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here




Connect with us