Tenants of decaying apartment building learn it has changed hands to prolific evictor Berrada
PUBLIC INVESTIGATOR TAKING TIPS, CHASING LEADS, EXPOSING PROBLEMS
Milwaukee landlord Youssef “Joe” Berrada, the city’s most prolific evictor, is adding to the portfolio of his fast-growing rental empire.
His latest acquisition is the deteriorating west side apartment building at 2904 W. Wisconsin Ave. that has faced multiple violations, including over a lack of heat, insect and rodent infestations, and flooding. Its former owner, landlord James M. Crosbie, sold it to Berrada in January.
In the midst of the change of hands, a fire broke out on the second floor of the building.
Berrada Properties Management told the Journal Sentinel the company plans to upgrade the building, offering tenants a place to live in nearby buildings and hotels for a short period of time while they fix the structure. The company said it would not evict tenants in the process.
While Berrada and his management have cast their purchase in a positive light, tenants coming off of their experience with Crosbie are wary of Berrada’s reputation as the city’s top evictor.
In late 2021, Wisconsin’s Department of Justice sued Berrada, with charges including unfair billing practices, fraudulent representation and requiring tenants to pay the costs — including legal fees — of exterminating pests. The case is ongoing.
To date, Berrada has amassed roughly 9,000 units in the city. In January, Berrada filed 354 eviction filings — which made up roughly 26.6% of Milwaukee County’s total eviction filings and nearly 30% of the city’s total, according to data from former Medical College of Wisconsin data analyst Branden DuPont.
“There’s a limited amount of multifamily units and Berrada is kind of the biggest actor in this space,” DuPont said. “It’s actually more profitable to be a Berrada than a lot of the other small mom-and-pop landlords.”
The city recently sought to create a
task force to monitor Berrada’s properties in response to tenants’ complaints about substandard living conditions and unfair landlord-tenant practices.
But a Common Council committee quickly set the effort aside after Berrada’s lawyer issued a letter threatening to sue if they moved forward with the proposal.
“We hope Mr. Berrada makes the necessary repairs as soon as possible,” said Ald. Robert Bauman, whose district encompasses 2904. W. Wisconsin and whose proposal for more city oversight of Berrada-owned properties was delayed. “There are some long-suffering tenants in that building.”
Despite the terms of Berrada’s offer, Freda Washington, 47, who has lived in the building since October 2021, is skeptical.
“I haven’t heard lots of good things about Berrada. Berrada is strict and not a good landlord,” Washington said. “They’re going to force us out.”
Washington said she was also told that if tenants decide to remain at the building they will not have heat or hot water — two things she and other tenants have said they already lack — as well as gas and electricity while Berrada’s workers repair the rest of the building.
As it is now, Washington said, she has to boil water as there’s no hot water in her unit and her apartment windows were broken twice and left cracked as workers started gutting parts of the building and were throwing debris out of a fifth-story window.
Tenant Bobbie Jo O’Dell also said she was wary of the offer made to tenants. “He’s gonna make it sound like he’s doing something nice for us — like a sweet deal — but it’s really beneficial for him.”
“Berrada is known for putting people out,” she said.
Berrada Properties Management says the repairs will benefit the tenants and are aimed at avoiding a condemnation that could put them on the streets.
The company told the Journal Sentinel: “We frequently buy buildings that are in rough shape. But this is one of the worst we had ever seen.”
The company contends the only complaints it’s fielded so far at the building were two calls about heating issues that were promptly addressed.
Under former landlord Crosbie, the property has had a lengthy history of enforcement by the city’s Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS), mostly for no heat, disrepair of the building’s exterior, water leaks and infestations.
All of O’Dell’s cases, as well as others filed through the city’s Department of Neighborhood Services, have been closed despite the issues not being addressed.
“DNS is required, when there is a change of ownership, to close existing orders and, if the violations remain, reissue them to the new owners of record,” DNS Commissioner Erica Roberts wrote in an email to the Journal Sentinel.
Since Berrada’s takeover, the Department of Neighborhood Services has reported one ongoing open case and one order violation about issues including reports of electrical issues, a broken refrigerator, and mice and cockroach infestations.
A fire and a property sale
On the evening of Jan. 31, 2023, O’Dell was alerted to a fire that broke out on the second floor of the apartment building. She said she used three fire extinguishers to try and contain the fire while waiting for the Fire Department and other emergency services to arrive at the property.
A Milwaukee Police Department call dispatch log shows a call for service at 10:20 p.m. after reports of a fire at 2904 W. Wisconsin Ave.
A closed condemnation case with the Department of Neighborhood Services reports that there was an interior window sill fire, listing fire damage costing $3,769.
Tenants confirmed no one was hurt, but said there was substantial damage to the building.
It was only when the tenants went to pay rent the next day that they learned that there was a new owner of the building.
A deed shows that Berrada bought the property from Crosbie and the transfer occurred on Jan. 31.
The Journal Sentinel could not confirm whether Crosbie or Berrada had filed an insurance claim after the fire.
To date, Crosbie owes the state $185,631.92 in state income taxes, according to the State of Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue.
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