Steve Levitz, the owner of The Landings @ 237 apartment complex, has found himself in the middle of a political kerfuffle caused by the installation of a moveable observation building at his Wrightsboro Road property.
When it was first installed, the building held a banner with the Augusta logo thanking District 3 Commissioner Catherine McKnight and District 10 Commissioner John Clarke for helping to clean up the crime riddled complex.
However, after complaints made by other commissioners, the banner was taken down, and the observation post remains at ground level.
“I wasn’t trying to make a political statement; (the banner) was just to say thanks for the help. It was done out of respect,” Levitz said.
Over the past year, Levitz, who lives in New York, says he has spent millions of dollars to upgrade the property with fencing, a gate and camera surveillance equipment as part of a plan to renovate every unit in the complex.
According to Levitz, he issued more than 30 eviction notices, but the effort to remove the troublemakers ran into a bottleneck in the court system. Levitz says that McKnight and Clarke helped push the process through the Marshal’s Office so the evictions and forced move-outs could take place.
However, despite the security upgrades, Levitz says gang members and their leader keep finding ways into the complex. Levitz had to relocate his apartment manager to another job outside of Augusta because of their threats of violence.
“These are real threats; these people aren’t kidding,” Levitz said.
Levitz has been successful to a degree in evicting the troublemakers, but because of some of the wording in the leases he inherited, eviction can still be a long and drawn out process often taking months before people can be legally evicted.
Levitz says he purchased the observation building with a specific purpose.
“You have people who you know are up to no good, — criminals sneaking onto the property to sell drugs right in front of children playing and so a building with cameras like that sends a message,” Levitz said.
The platform, when raised, also gives a birds-eye view of the Smart Grocery which is adjacent to The Landings. Smart Grocery has long been the location of criminal activity. Drug deals are conducted out in the open and, most recently, 17-year-old Zayquantez Jones was shot and killed in the parking lot on Sept. 30.
Once the platform was discovered, District 1 Commissioner Jordan Johnson and District 2 Commissioner Dennis Williams came out to the property to inspect. At some point, code enforcement was called. Johnson said neither he nor Williams called code enforcement.
Levitz says that while he has not received any document specifically telling him not to use the platform, he says he certainly does not want to pick a fight with code enforcement.
“We are trying to do what is right for our residents and the community, and it is sad that this has turned political, and code enforcement is being used not as a tool for compliance, but it’s been weaponized,” Levitz said.
The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office has been chronically understaffed since before the pandemic, but Levitz says he has had nothing but help from the department. Levitz has made his live feed from the cameras available to law enforcement and has even offered to convert one of his units to a substation for police to use.
Levitz also countered the criticism over the camouflage wrapping on his observation building and says they are produced that way in the factory, but he will be happy to change the color if it makes some people feel better.
“I’ll have it wrapped in rainbows with butterflies and unicorns, if that is what they want,” Levitz said.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
