CANTON – City officials are once again asking a Stark County judge to declare Victory Square Apartments a public nuisance after a recent inspection found the health and safety hazards at the 81-unit complex are worse than ever.
Law Director Jason Reese filed a complaint in Stark County Common Pleas Court on July 9 that asks a judge to force Lippert Road Apartments, a Cleveland-based company that acquired the complex last month, and Green Victory Square of New York, which obtained Victory Square in 2021 and is listed in real estate records as the sole owner of Lippert Road Apartments, to fix the problems and pay the city’s fines and fees for building code enforcement.
If the companies won’t fix the property, the city is asking the judge to order the buildings to be demolished or appoint a receiver to fix the problems. The three-building complex at 1206 Lippert Road NE, 1209 Eighth St. NE and 1223 Eighth St. NE in Canton has sat empty for roughly a year.
The complaint, which has not yet been assigned to a judge, also names two other entities that have an interest in the Victory Square property and could be affected by the court filing: Dominion Financial Services, which has a $4 million mortgage assigned to the property and BG Personnel of Texas, which provided $52,053 worth of work at the property between November 2023 and March 2024.
Messages seeking responses from Green National, which is the parent company of Green Victory Square, and from Lippert Road Apartments’ agent Hannah Brach were not returned.
Canton law director: Victory Square continues to decline
This is the second time Canton has sought court action to clean up Victory Square.
It filed a similar nuisance complaint in February 2024 against Green Victory Square and its former property management company.
Canton dismissed that lawsuit on June 18. Reese said the apartment complex no longer fit under the subsidized housing portion of the nuisance statute, the units had been mostly cleaned out, roof replacement plans had been approved by the city building department and $40,200 in city fines had been paid.
Canton also believed that the property was being sold for $2 million to a New York company that had a strong track record of improving failed properties. It wasn’t until after the property transfer was recorded on June 18 — and the Canton Repository started asking questions about the new company’s ties to the previous owner — that the city learned the property was transferred to Cleveland-based Lippert Road Apartments and Green Victory Square was listed as the new company’s sole owner.
Reese previously said Green Victory Square’s continued involvement appears to have been “actively concealed” from the city.
Reese on July 10 said he filed the new court complaint because “the property has continued to decline, and no progress has been made to rectify the deplorable conditions.”
Using an administrative warrant, Canton code enforcement officers inspected Victory Square on July 8 and documented the following deplorable conditions: Broken door locks and windows, extensive water damage and mold; removed or destroyed drywall, countertops, cabinetry, sinks, tub faucets, electrical wiring and water and drain lines; cat feces piled in kitchen cabinets and human feces sitting in toilets with no running water; needles and other drug paraphernalia in multiple units; graffiti sprayed on walls; structural defects; large amounts of debris throughout; high grass; and gaps in the perimeter fence.
The building department has yet to cite the owners for the building code violations, Reese said. Once it does, the owners will have 30 days to appeal the violations.
The deplorable living conditions at Victory Square first came to light in summer 2023 when the tenants banded together and attracted the attention of the Repository and city and federal housing officials. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in late 2023 took the rare step of ending its housing subsidy contract with Green Victory Square and later relocating the tenants due to health and safety hazards.
Reach Canton Repository staff writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Worse than ever: Canton sues Victory Square Apartments’ owners again after new inspection
Reporting by Kelli Weir, Canton Repository / The Repository
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