Inman Park Properties implosion leaves neighborhood landmarks in limbo
June 26, 2009 at 7:54 pm by Scott Henry in News
UPDATE: This article has been expanded with additional reporting.
Little has changed about the Clermont Hotel — or its time-capsule strip club — since Atlanta real estate mogul Jeff Notrica took over the Ponce de Leon Avenue landmark six years ago.
Just as he promised when he bought the 85-year-old building, Notrica resisted the typical developer’s temptation to chop it up into condos or turn it into modern apartments. Downstairs, the storied Clermont Lounge was left untouched and remains its gloriously seedy self.
But it may be that the hands-off approach Notrica, 44, has taken with the Clermont and many of his other properties — a land baron’s acquisitiveness tempered by a collector’s appreciation for each new bauble — has simultaneously helped bring his intown real estate empire crashing down.
Unless a deal is struck between Notrica’s Inman Park Properties and New York-based lender Fairway Capital — or unless a deep-pocketed buyer steps forward — the Clermont Hotel and its lounge will be auctioned off on the courthouse steps July 2.
If that happens, it will be only the latest, if largest, in a long series of foreclosures suffered by Inman Park Properties over the past three months. The company’s apparent meltdown has involved some of the most recognizable and beloved buildings in East Atlanta, Little Five Points, Poncey-Highland and Midtown — causing many residents of those same neighborhoods to cheer the company’s downfall.
A five-minute drive south on Moreland Avenue will take you past the turn-of-the-century Kreigshaber House, popularly known as the Wrecking Bar; the old Gordon Elementary School; and a former bank building whose modernistic design hints at what might result if the High Museum mated with a giant spider. All three have sat vacant and decaying for years and all three were, until recently, owned by Notrica.
And there are other, even more historic landmarks still in the Inman Park Properties portfolio that local preservationists are eyeing with renewed concern: the former Ansley Inn, the 1907 Tudor mansion built by menswear magnate George Muse; the Antebellum-style Craigie House across from Piedmont Park that was home to the nation’s second-oldest Daughters of the American Revolution chapter; and, most significantly, the Castle, the sprawling, quasi-Victorian house that sits atop a stone wall overlooking the Woodruff Arts Center.
“His buildings may have been in terrible condition, but at least they were still there,” says Boyd Coons, longtime executive director of the Atlanta Preservation Center. “We now have real fears about what’s going to happen with all these properties.”
Coons first became aware of Inman Park Properties several years back, the same way most Atlantans did: by seeing its “For lease” signs pop up in front of architecturally interesting buildings around town — and then remain there, sometimes for years.
The company quickly gained a reputation for seeking out old, unusual or landmark properties, but Notrica himself remained largely a mystery. Described as shy and withdrawn by business associates, he rarely speaks to the press and avoids talking about himself. He did not return repeated calls for this article.
But acquaintances and former employees provide glimpses of an unconventional developer who hoarded historic buildings. A native Atlantan, Notrica didn’t come from wealth; his father owned a small Old Fourth Ward grocery store. Instead, Notrica made his first real money dealing in rare coins. According to his company’s website, he got started in development in the mid-’80s by rehabbing and selling houses in Inman Park and Candler Park.
Within a decade, he’d begun stockpiling unusual and historic properties in Atlanta’s trendiest neighborhoods and in downtown Savannah and Birmingham. Some he redeveloped and leased; others collected weeds, despite his repeated pledges to restore them. Notrica seldom seemed interested in selling an empty building or vacant lot simply because it wasn’t generating income.
Notrica tried to bring the Cotton Club music venue to his 1940s-era Hilan Theatre in Virginia-Highland in the late ’90s, an effort that was defeated by neighborhood naysayers. He later renovated the art deco space, located behind the Ben & Jerry’s, for use as an event facility, but it remains unoccupied. Last month, the building narrowly avoided foreclosure.
Inman Park Properties was targeted by the Atlanta Preservation Center when the advocacy group compiled its annual “Most Endangered Historic Places” list. In 2003, the APC listed the saucer-shaped Trust Company Bank building at Monroe Drive next to the I-85 overpass and the 100-year-old Fire Station No. 11 next to the North Avenue MARTA Station. Both were then owned by Notrica and had been vacant for several years. They now house Eros Tapas Bar and Engine 11 Firehouse Tavern, respectively. Notrica lost the Trust Company building in foreclosure in March.
Still, Coons took a risk a few years ago and invited Notrica to join the APC board.
“That was controversial among our members, but we were trying to reach out to someone who controlled a large number of historic properties,” explains Coons, who says he quickly realized Notrica wasn’t a typical developer. “Notrica told me he had an affinity for old buildings, which really surprised me because that’s not what I’m used to hearing from developers. The status quo among many developers is to buy an old building and then level it.”
Coons’ forgiving attitude about Inman Park Properties, however, likely places him in the minority. In several intown neighborhoods, Notrica’s name is a four-letter word.
“There are a fair number of people who are almost dancing in the street over Notrica’s financial troubles,” says Marc Takacs, business association president for the East Atlanta Village, where Inman Park Properties scooped up dozens of parcels over the years.
“In the short run, the foreclosures will be negative for the community because we won’t know who owns what,” he says. “But in the long run, it’ll open the door for a better mix of owner-occupied professional buildings. And, ultimately, it’ll bring prices down.”
Three years ago, several East Atlantans who’d lost patience with the decaying buildings and poorly maintained lots launched a vocal campaign against Notrica, selling “slumlord” stickers at a brisk pace.
As a result of the bad press, Notrica became more active within the business association, Takacs says. Still, a number of his properties saw little improvement. Last year, his company bought a former grocery store on Flat Shoals Avenue and ousted the antique mall that had occupied it in recent years. The largest building in the commercial district, it remains vacant.
Mark McDonald, president of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, says Notrica also has snatched up historic buildings in Savannah only to let them decay, a practice McDonald calls “demolition by neglect.”
Larry Culbertson, a commercial real estate broker with Keller Williams, is now listing several properties formerly owned by Notrica, but says a brief inspection convinced him to pass up a chance to market the old Gordon School, which has sat rotting in East Atlanta for a decade.
“That building has trees growing out of the second-floor windows,” he says. “It’s in awful condition. I can’t imagine what could be done to save it.”
Inman Park Properties certainly isn’t the only Atlanta developer suffering from the real estate downturn and the banking crisis, but Notrica’s quirky way of conducting business almost certainly contributed to his company’s implosion.
To keep hold of properties that produced no revenue, Notrica was constantly refinancing mortgages based on ever-higher appraisals, cashing out the equity and using that money to buy more property. It was a risky leveraging practice that became all too common among developers during the heyday of the real estate bubble, but by most accounts, Notrica pushed his luck to dangerous extremes.
His company began to unravel in February, when the first of at least three dozen foreclosure actions against his properties was initiated. If all the foreclosures went through — it’s difficult to tell because of a lag in public record-keeping — the value of the defaulted mortgages in Georgia alone would top $30 million. He’s now desperately trying to sell the Clermont and other buildings before he loses them, but the market conditions couldn’t be worse.
Scott Pendergrast, who manages large chunks of commercial property in Little Five Points and East Atlanta, says Notrica was notorious in real estate circles for demanding sky-high rents and asking prospective tenants to pay to renovate his buildings. The result was that many spaces went unleased, while others were so costly that the tenants — usually restaurants — had to be strikingly successful to afford to stay.
Says Pendergrast: “It was a strange business model.”
(Photo by Tara-Lynn Pixley)
June 26th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
This article is way too kind to Mr. Notrica. There is nothing redeeming about owning property that you do nothing to maintain. This is a man who seemingly owns half of the most architecturally significant structures left and Atlanta and he lets them rot. How is it that a man who allegedly has an “affinity for old buildings” can sit by and watch them turn to ruins? He is either despicable or deranged but either way he is an absolute villain. I have absolutely NO sympathy for a tyrant whose reign is coming to an end. Even if Notrica loses all he can always shack up with squatters in his choice of the properties that he helped to ruin. Mr. Notrica you deserve everything that’s coming to you.
June 26th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Agreed with Clincher, and for anybody who lives in a neighborhood suffering through Notrica’s neglect – as I do in East Atlanta – he’s hardly a “preservationist” who should be lauded in any way.
He is merely an opportunist, one who until recently had the ability to move money around effectively enough to leave districts like East Atlanta Village with vacant, rotting commercial buildings until he decided it was important enough to him to do something with them.
Oh, and don’t forget that he plays the tax-bill delay game like a master. As of May, he owed $128,000 in 2008 property taxes (due last October) just on his holdings in East Atlanta. Sometimes only a tax-sale notice gets him to pay his taxes – he owed $130,000 in 2007 taxes as late as August of last year. How much tax revenue does he withhold from the city, county and school system each year on all of his properties?
I’ve heard he might be done with Atlanta and is looking to sell out here and focus on Savannah. And that would be fine – Atlanta is done with him, too.
June 26th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
One can’t help but wonder if the writer of this article (I can’t bring myself to call him a journalist) has ever gotten out from behind his desk and actually visited any of Inman Park Property’s current or foreclosed-upon properties. Two will stand out to locals who actually DO care about old buildings: The Gordon School in EAV, and the old architectural salvage store on Moreland, which both sit rotting on their foundations. In the case of the Gordon School, it has taken a constant effort by the neighborhood to even keep the broken windows covered.
As for the properties someone DOES bother to reply to inquiries about, tenants are faced with unrealistically high rents, poor security and shoddy maintenance, ensuring one failure after another.
“Affinity for old buildings”? Really? Wake up. There is a reason why Jeff Notricia is the most hated man in East Atlanta.
June 26th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Nortrica is a slum lord. Plain and simple. Let the implosion continue!
June 26th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Who knows what will happen to these buildings? Yes, it’s an unknown but better that than the known fate they suffer while owned by Notrica. There is no reason vibrant intown neighborhoods should look like ghost towns other than his own greed. We are not talking about over expansion like you see in the suburbs. People want to be in these buildings but outrageous rents and poor maintenance keep them out.
June 26th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
I wish the same thing would happen to Selig–all of those under utilized parking lots Downtown could actually be put to use.
June 27th, 2009 at 2:08 am
The “Wrecking Bar Mansion” on Moreland needs to start being referred to its real name, which is the Victor H. Kriegshaber House. Kriegshaber was one of the earliest German Jew immigrants to Atlanta during the late 19th century and a major figure, not only in the Atlanta Jewish community, but the city as a whole. Kriegshaber was a major benefactor in the city and also one of its biggest builders. The house was designed by Willis F. Denny and was one the first (if not the first) fire proof residences built in Atlanta. For more info visit;
https://apps.atlantaga.gov/citydir/URBAN/kriegsh.htm
June 27th, 2009 at 3:55 am
Fuck Jeff Notrica!
I’ve lived in Atlanta my entire life and have watched his properties rot without anything one about it.
Being an East Atlanta resident, I find him repulsive. I hope he loses everything. That way, Atlanta stands to gain. We’d get all of the good buildings back, and they might even get used for once.
So again…Fuck Jeff Notrica.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Cap’n Ken, That’s neat info on Notrica’s unpaid taxes. Notrica is not the only tax deadbeat – $30mm of City of Atlanta unpaid property tax in 2007 alone. There’s about a mill of the tax hike we’re going to be hit with next week. Is there a database on the web where a property’s tax payment status is shown? Or do you have to go to a courthouse to look it up?
June 27th, 2009 at 10:24 am
What a blessing for Atlanta that Jeff is finally going to stop holding us hostage! He has caused his own special brand of terrorism. He has had East Atlanta and other intown areas hijacked for years and we are all sick and tired of him. See ya Jeff…and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!
June 27th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Do all of Notrica’s properties have equity or are some of these banks going after him personally? I’m just wondering if Chapter 7 is imminent.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Jeff’s playbook –
Step 1 – Buy an interesting or significant property
Step 2 – Fix nothing
—-
Should add here that while his properties are falling in on themselves he still trys to charge top-dollar for a lease. Why? He doesn’t want to rent them he wants to show a loss and if the loss is big enough his write-off can actually generate a profit. This also helps him purchase neighboring properties at a more desirable rate as his vacant slums drive down those property values as well.
—-
Step 3 – Leverage the property to the hilt borrowing against the asset for 2,3,4 or more times what it is worth.
Step 4 – Buy additional property with borrowed monies, rinse-repeat
He’s crashing because his main source of income is gone, borrowing on his vacant and rotting property.
Some intrepid reporter or Assistant DA needs to investigate his dealings. When folks borrow like he has against property there is often fraudulent assertions in the associated paperwork.
He’s a crook of the highest order and Atlanta would be much better off without him, good riddance dirt bag.
June 27th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Scott,
I have to say I’m a little surprised by this article as you usually take such a level and balanced approach to the stories you write. While admittedly the fall of a real estate empire and the loss of historic buildings makes for an interesting story, the havoc and misery that Mr. Notrica and many other such developers have wreaked upon the residents and business owners of many Atlanta neighborhoods gets no mention.
As someone who lives within line of sight of several of Mr. Notrica’s “investments” and sees their actual, daily impact on the safety and quality of life in my neighborhood, I can honestly say this story misses not only the mark, but the point.
It is time for the city to hold Mr. Notrica and others of his ilk accountable to their financial obligations (i.e., unpaid taxes) to the laws which they are not above (i.e., building and health codes) and to the most basic of ethical standards (i.e., stop supporting those who do not share our values).
Please do this story, and our community, more justice in your reporting.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
he’s not demolishing the buildings like other developers. he’s just letting nature + gravity due the work for him.
June 30th, 2009 at 12:45 am
There’s another angle to this story that the reporter has missed completely. The care and maintenance of commercial and residential property in the City of Atlanta is “regulated” by the City’s Code of Ordinances.
Here’s what the General Provisions say about property ownership and care for that property:
Sec. 130-2. Maintenance and inspection of property.
(a) Required. Every person owning or occupying public or private property in the city shall maintain the property free of any condition that may render the premises or property to be unhealthy, unsanitary, unsightly or unaesthetic to the occupants thereof, the neighborhood or the community at large.
Based on the descriptions of various properties provided by the author of this article, it would be pretty easy to conclude that the owner of the property is not in compliance with this broadly stated requirement.
So who’s responsible for upholding the City’s Code of Ordinances? Well, let’s look just a little further in that big book of Codes shall we?
Here’s what we find:
(c) Inspection of premises. The commissioner of public works or any duly authorized agent of the department of public works or other city departments may enter on and inspect any and all public and private property in the city to determine by inspection that those properties are or are not free of any condition which may be in violation of this section or chapter. For the purpose of this duty, the sanitation code enforcement officer, including code enforcement officers, route supervisors, assistant sanitary area supervisors, sanitary area supervisors or subsequent classification titles performing the same duties, are eligible to apply for status as code enforcement agents under section 98-1. In order to enforce code provisions and issue citations, these employees must apply for and receive status as a code enforcement agent.
So it seems like there are a number of city employees who could possibly be considered code enforcement agents, and who would have the responsibility of enforcing the provisions of the City Code of Ordinances.
But who are they and where can we find them? It’s not likely that we’ll find their names in the Code of Ordinances, so where else might we look? Hmmmm, here’s an idea – the Bureau of Code Compliance – and here’s where they hide out:
http://www.atlantaga.gov/government/planning/codescompliance.aspx
Their mission is:
To ensure safe and sanitary conditions in housing and commercial properties through effective code enforcement efforts.
Mission accomplished? Appears not, at least not where Inman Park Properties has a sign in the yard. So what’s up with that?
The City Code is pretty clear, and the mission of the Bureau of Code Compliance is also very clear, so what part of the connection is missing?
How is it that in a five minute drive along Moreland Avenue, a roadway easily found by Code Compliance Officers, and I’m sure frequently traveled by the same, properties like the Wrecking Bar, the Gordon School and the spaceship bank building can continue to crumble, become infested with vermin, wildlife and other questionable forms of life – and not be seen by the keen eyes of the Code Compliance officers? Are they wearing Inman Park Properties Blocker Shades? Or is there some other shady somethin, somethin going on?
Clear code requirements, clear mission statement, clear line of sight to the properties, clear signs on the properties saying who the owner is, clearly unoccupied (at least by paying tenants), and clearly an easy case to take before a judge – which is where these matters end up when Code Compliance does take action. It’s all so clear – and yet clearly nothing is being done.
Your assignment, Mr Henry, should you choose to accept it, is to do some investigative reporting – and I do mean investigative – to find out why the City does not take action using powers that it clearly has, to deal with these, and many other commercial code violations scattered across the City?
Who’s interests are being served by the “commissioner of public works or any duly authorized agent of the department of public works or other city departments”, who have the power to enforce the City’s Code of Ordinances?
Who’s election campaigns have received contributions from property owners like Inman Park Properties, and how have they responded to requests from their constituents for City action to deal with these decade old (and longer) code violations?
Your assignment is a dangerous one, filled with “no comment” and “I had no idea” responses delivered with straight faces. Your challenge is clear – are you up to it?
We’ll monitor the Loaf to hear of your success – or failure – to get the real story. Good Luck with your mission!
Buzz
June 30th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
I take comfort in the fact Nortrica is so well hated. I have hated him myself for the past two years I’ve watched Gordon Elementary decay. I am sickened by it’s interior condition described in the article and by the numerous other landmarks I had no idea he owned. I, like everyone else, am trilled he’s losing his properties and hopefully will be broke & prosecuted.
June 30th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
While you’re working on Buzz’s excellent assignment, Scott, you may as well look into Capn Ken’s story of Notrica’s unpaid taxes. For how long have Atlanta, Fulton and APS let him get away with not paying? And if we bloggers were to decide to withhold our property taxes, how long would we get away with it? If this didn’t require grease, our public servants are exceptionally unenterprising.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Jeff was not the mastermind to all of IPP problems. His mother Rochelle was the one dealing with the money. I wonder if I can buy the saltwater fish in Jeff’s office? He spend more on those fish that some of his employees.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
fruad is a nasty word
but jail is worse
he will be in jail within 3 years
there is no way he did not commit fraud
somebody has got to get him
please
July 20th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Finally others feel as I do about Jeff. He is even worse in person. I knew him personally and he feels like Atlanta is his and it should be changed to Notricaville. He actually thinks everyone is jealous of his success and the billions of equity he has in real estate. He truly thinks he is a celebrity.