Nature seems to have been the force chiefly at work during 2023 on five buildings in downtown Oil City owned by Milan Adamovsky.
Adamovsky blew into town from his New Jersey base around the end of 2020 with big plans, and he scooped up the five properties in a short period of time from late 2020 into early 2021.
But three years later, things haven’t worked out as planned for Adamovsky or Oil City, and several factors have been at play.
The roof of the IOOF building at 220 to 226 Seneca St., commonly referred to as the Odd Fellows building, still hasn’t been repaired more than nine months later.
In addition to the IOOF building, Adamovsky also purchased the Grandview Estates building at 202 Center, the former 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.
Each was put into a different LLC, and in the months that followed, after making his big splash and big promises, Adamovsky largely disappeared.
Last February, he received four citations from the city’s 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.
These citations came on top of four other citations Adamovsky received in late 2022 for the IOOF and Grandview Estates buildings, 217 Seneca and 106 Center.
Concerns were raised at a city council meeting in April that more of the roof of the IOOF building could blow off in a future storm, and a summary citation was issued in May for “dangerous structures or premises” for the IOOF building due to the roof.
In July, city council voted to pursue legal action in regard to the neglected IOOF building, and the matter remains ongoing.
And last week, two more citations from the Oil City code office were filed against Adamovsky due to the still dangerous condition of the IOOF building.
This week, Oil City manager Mark Schroyer said the city has been in touch with Adamovsky’s lawyer.
So far, Adamovsky has provided no proof to back up his claims that work has been done on his buildings, Schroyer said. He added that the city is still trying to work with Adamovsky.
Liquor license application
The placard spells out a request for an active restaurant liquor license held by Atlantic Development Corp. of PA be transferred to Adamovsky Liquid Assets LLC to serve alcohol at the premises of 106 Center.
The address that was associated with the license is the Oil City Pizza Hut at 394 Seneca St., according to documents on the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board website.
The mystery deepened a few days later when the LCB told the newspaper Adamovsky had not submitted an application to have a liquor license transferred to him for 106 Center.
“It turns out we have not yet received a transfer application for this, which means the orange placard has been prematurely posted,” Elizabeth Brassell, the deputy executive director for the LCB, told the newspaper.
The faded orange placard still remains in the window unsigned and still premature.
Grandview Estates building
In October, the Oil City code office issued yet another citation to Adamvosky, this time for using the former Grandview Estates building as a warehouse.
In the citation, the code office notes that Adamovsky is “using a building in the Central Commercial District for warehousing which is not a permitted use in that zoning district.”
Adamovsky said at a June nuisance hearing for him regarding the IOOF building that “I come up here regularly. I use the 202 Center (Grandview Estates) for my own storage, I use it like a warehouse.”
This seemed to be the first time Adamovsky publicly said what he actually does with one of his Oil City buildings, rather that what he claims to aspire to do with them.
When he first came to town, the only specific venture Adamovsky mentioned during one of his public gatherings was opening an upscale ice cream parlor in the 106 Center building.
Oil City code enforcement officer Travis Hartman said in October, after looking at a transcript of the June nuisance 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.
Since that time, the weathered, water-damaged paper covering the large windows on the first floor of the Grandview Estates building has been changed out for large sheets of black plastic.
All that is left of an awning that once shaded the sidewalk is the metal frame, and above it the lettering “Grandview Estates” still hangs.
