The yellowed papers covering the insides of the first floor windows at 202 Center St. in Oil City are now starting to sag and show water damage. Some are coming unfastened, revealing sheets of plywood set up several inches behind the windows.
All that is left of an awning that once shaded the sidewalk is the metal frame, above it the lettering “Grandview Estates” still hangs, but that business has been closed for several years.
New Jersey developer Milan Adamovsky, who bought up five buildings in downtown Oil City almost three years ago, including 202 Center St., and then largely disappeared, is facing yet another citation from the Oil City code enforcement office, this time for using the former Grandview Estates building as a warehouse.
The address of the building noted in the citation is 202 Center St., the former Grandview Estates site.
During his remarks at a June 8 nuisance hearing conducted by Oil City Council regarding one of his other buildings, Adamovsky also brought up the former Grandview Estates building saying, “I come up here regularly. I use the 202 Center for my own storage, I use it like a warehouse.”
Oil City code enforcement officer Travis Hartman noted, after looking at a transcript of that hearing, that Adamovsky had said twice he was using 202 Center as a warehouse and that he also spoke of having a lot of stuff in the building that he didn’t want to get wet, due to leaks in the roof.
The citation also notes that a copy of the enforcement notice “was sent on June 6, 2023 via certified mail. Upon being returned the notice was physically posted on the property Aug. 18, 2023.”
Hartman said he hasn’t heard anything back from Adamovsky regarding the citation.
Adamovsky is also in hot water after part of the roof of the IOOF building blew off in an April storm and damaged the neighboring Seneca Court roof, causing that building to be evacuated of its tenants.
Seneca Court was quickly repaired and the tenants moved back.
In addition to the IOOF and Grandview Estates buildings, Adamovsky also purchased the National Fuel building at 308 Seneca, 217 Seneca and 106 Center St., a corner building that previously housed the Rosen, Rosen and Varsek law offices.
All the buildings were purchased around the same time at the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021, and each was put into a different LLC.
To date, Hartman said, no building permits have been filed in regard to the IOOF building, and he is not aware of any repairs being made, unless someone made repairs “in the dead of night.”
Concerns were raised at the April 27 Oil City Council meeting that more of the roof of the IOOF building could blow off in a future storm.
It was noted at the council meeting that a 20 by 16 foot piece of the roof flew off, struck part of the parapet on the building and knocked it down, then flew over another building and landed on the Seneca Court building, causing significant damage to the roof.
Adamovsky came to town for the June 8 nuisance hearing, and both he and the city had their say at that session.
In July, city council voted to pursue legal action in regard to the neglected IOOF building, and the matter remains ongoing.
At the beginning of this year, Adamovsky received four citations from the code enforcement office for, among other things, leaving his buildings to rot for two years.
The citations were for the former National Fuel headquarters, the IOOF and Grandview Estates buildings and 217 Seneca, which was once an Isaly’s store.
In late 2022, Adamovsky also received four citations for the IOOF and Grandview Estates buildings, 217 Seneca and 106 Center.
