The historic Bergmann Hotel used as a tenement has been condemned by the City and Borough of Juneau over health and safety hazards.
Tenants were coming to terms Friday with the city’s condemnation order.
Code violations have been ongoing for years, but few tenants realized this was really the end.
“I read that sign and walked right past it just like most every other tenants did, probably most of them didn’t even read it — a few of them can’t,” said Dave Lane, a carpenter who works as a handyman in exchange for lodging.
The city says the owners had been on notice since October.
“There’s significant health and safety issues at the Bergmann including an inoperable sprinkler system for fire, inconsistent heating, no hot water, sewage issues and improper roofing,” Deputy City Manager Mila Cosgrove said, “All of those issues pose significant risks to the people who are tenants there.”
About 50 people live in the building. Most pay about $600 a month. Tenants do much of the repair and upkeep themselves to keep the heat on and water flowing.
James Cole, 49, said he was caught off guard as he worked to clear out the basement.
“The whole point of it is I just gave them $600 yesterday for rent and the guy — he wouldn’t give me my money back,” Cole said. “I told him, ‘Dude. I just gave you $600 just yesterday.’ Now if I don’t get my $600 back — I’m going to take him to court. I want my money back if I can’t stay here.”
The city said it’s working with social service agencies to help displaced tenants with nowhere to go. As many as 30 spaces have been available at its downtown church.
“We’ll be open every night for them until Tuesday from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. so they can sleep,” said Lt. Dana Walters of the Salvation Army. “We have cots, we have blankets. People are allowed to bring like one bag with them but then they have to take it. We unfortunately don’t have room for people to store things.”
The hotel property is controlled by Camilla Barrett who owns it through a limited liability corporation.
Barrett also is a defendant named in a lawsuit brought by the city in its attempt to recover the cost of demolishing the Gastineau Apartments, a fire-ravaged downtown property owned by a limited liability corporation controlled by the Barrett family.
Dave Lane said he’s worked for about three years to try to keep the building habitable.
But there’s been little investment from the Barretts, he said.
“Right now they don’t get a lot out of it so they don’t want to put a lot into it,” Lane said. “They’re not looking into the fact that, ‘Okay — if we put some money into this’ Because I mean, look at this place … it wouldn’t really take that much to put this into — have it a really nice building.”
Efforts to reach Camilla Barrett – whose legal name is listed as Kathleen Barrett — and her attorney that represented her in the city’s lawsuit over the Gastineau Apartments were unsuccessful.
“We do support safety and things like that. We don’t want to see our mental health consumers housed in a dilapidated situation,”said Gregory Fitch, executive director of the Mental Health Consumer Action Network in Juneau. “But considering the cold — I think we could’ve waited a week.”
The National Weather Service forecasts temperatures to dip into the 20s over the weekend.
Juneau struggles with homelessness and a lack of affordable housing. It remains unclear what options many of these tenants will have after the city boards up the Third Street property.
James Cole, 49, checks his watch to see how much time he has to pack his belongings on Friday, March 10, 2017, in Juneau. Cole was caught off guard by the news that he had to leave, he said he spent the prior evening clearing debris in the hopes that he’d be able to stay. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
A tenant of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau finds out that she has to leave in a few hours on Friday, March 10, 2017. Many residents said they were surprised by the suddenness of their eviction. The building has been condemned. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Juneau police officers moved through the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau, telling residents they had to leave on Friday, March 10, 2017. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
James Cole talks about his surprise at having to leave the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau on Friday, March 10, 2017. Tenants were kicked out after the city condemned the building for ongoing health and safety issues. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Tenants moved their belongings, animals and children out of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau on Friday, March 10, 2017. The building has been condemned. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Juneau police officer Ken Colon tells a resident that they have to leave immediately on Friday, March 10, 2017 at the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Police, aid workers, journalists and tenants of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau gather in the lobby as the building is cleared and boarded up on Friday, March 10, 2017. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
A Bergmann Hotel resident in Juneau walks into the building and obscures what he was smoking as he speaks to police on Friday, March 10, 2017. Tenants were told to pack up their belongings and leave as the building is condemned. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Tenants of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau were removed from their rooms on Friday, March 10, 2017. The building has been condemned. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Bergmann Hotel residents in Juneau hurriedly moved their belongings, children and pets on Friday, March 10, 2017. The building has been condemned. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Juneau police officer Ken Colon goes from room to room, removing tenants of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau on Friday March 10, 2017. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
Tenants of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau stack their belongings in a hallway on the first floor of the newly condemned building on Friday, March 10, 2017. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
City inspectors and the Bergmann Hotel’s owner move through the building, checking off violations after it was condemned on Friday, March 10, 2017 in Juneau. Residents were forced to leave the building. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
A resident moves her belongings out of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau on Friday, March 10, 2017. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Chris Clark, an intoxicated tenant of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau, gets help from Rainforest Recovery staff on Friday, March 10, 2017. Clark and about 50 other tenants were forced to leave after the building was condemned. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Residents of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau talk about what they’re supposed to do before police showed up to remove them from the building on Friday, March 10, 2017. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Dave Lane tells another resident of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau that she has just a few hours to pack her belongings and leave on Friday, March 10. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Dave Lane talks to a reporter on Friday, March 10, 2017, at the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Several rooms in the Bergmann Hotel Juneau are in severe disrepair on Friday, March 10, 2017. The building has been condemned and residents forced to leave. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
An extension cord runs along a hallway in the basement of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau on Friday, March 10, 2017. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Dave Lane talks about one of the rooms he was repairing at the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau on Friday, March 10, 2017. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Dave Lane talks about his work to fix a hole in the ceiling of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau on Friday, March 10, 2017. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
A tenants’ belongings are seen packed up through a broken door at the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau on Friday, March 10, 2017. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Dave Lane talks about trading work for a place to live at the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau on Friday, March 10, 2017. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
A Juneau police officer talks to Dave Lane about the number of residents in the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau on Friday, March 10, 2017. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Juneau police officers confer as they arrest Chuck Cotten, property manager at the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau on Friday, March 10, 2017. Cotten was responsible for removing residents from their rooms. The building has been condemned. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Juneau police and community members look on as residents of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau hurriedly packed their belongings and leave their rooms on Friday March 10, 2017. The building has been condemned and residents were given 24 hours to leave. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
James Cole carries his bicycle out of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau on Friday, March 10, 2017. The building was condemned and residents were forced to leave. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
James Barrett, son of the owner of the Bergmann Hotel in Juneau, talks to the Juneau Fire Chief Rich Etheridge about the things that need to be repaired in the newly condemned building on Friday, March 10, 2017. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
A notice posted March 9, 2017, informs Bergmann Hotel residents in Juneau that they have 24 hours to leave. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska's Energy Desk)
Jacob Resneck is CoastAlaska's regional news director based in Juneau. CoastAlaska is our partner in Southeast Alaska. KTOO collaborates with partners across the state to cover important news and to share stories with our audiences.
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