Construction is expected to begin this week on a troubled property that has been the site of several fires over the past year, according to the site’s property manager.
Kyle Van Leeuwen, who works with Onni Group, told The News that work will commence this week on the former home of the Allwood Estates Mobile Home Park.
The Allwood Street property has been vacant since mid-January, after the city received a rezoning and development permit for a 224-unit townhouse complex on the site. Several homeless camps were established on the property over the year, and fires in February and June destroyed trailers that had not been removed from the site. Although all trailers were removed from the property, several encampments remained, and last week another blaze broke out just feet from Master Lee’s Tae Kwon Do School. The business’s owner, Seung Yong Lee, had previously raised concerns about a homeless camp abutting his building after discovering a mace-like weapon in his parking lot.
Last weekend, another local business became aware that someone had been stealing electricity through an opening in a fence abutting the property.
Leeuwen told The News those troubles should be over.
“We’re starting construction this week so everything should be dealt with,” he said. “We’ve been in contact with the police, all the businesses and the city regarding the property.”
He continued: “Construction is supposed to ramp up this week. It will start with clearing of all debris and bushes and trees.”
Van Leeuwen said he couldn’t speak more about why the issues of local business owners hadn’t been dealt with sooner.