By Deborah Goonan, Independent American Communities
This is not the first time I have covered the chaos at Tymber Skan condominiums in Orlando. The latest news: several fires, the last two of which have been ruled to be arson.
Most of the townhouse style condos are vacant. According to WFTV, this time last year there were 600 squatters living in Tymber Skan – now there are only seven. Believe it or not, about 40 legal owners remain on the property.
However, the game plan appears to be vacating all units, razing the remaining buildings (17 have already been torn down) and starting all over.
In the meantime, how much money is Tymber Skan costing taxpayers? Between fire and police services, social services, housing assistance to relocate low income residents, condemnation and demolition of properties, trash removal, unpaid utility bills, and other costs too numerous to mention, one can hardly regard this once affordable housing condo complex as an asset to Orange County.
Tymber Skan is just one example. Look at Green Terrace Condos (Palm Beach County, FL), Lynnhill Condos (Temple Hills, Maryland), Brannon Hill (Dekalb County, GA), for more evidence that the condominium is a financially and socially unsustainable model for housing, particularly for residents with modest or below median household incomes.
My question is, who is this HOA president, Lorenzo Pinkston, interviewed several times by WFTV? Why has he suddenly emerged, and what does he have to gain by taking on this hellish condo association? Is there money to be made in redevelopment?
Let’s follow this saga, wait and see.
Second fire at embattled Tymber Skan condo might be arson
Updated: Nov 10, 2016 – 5:23 PM
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Firefighters spent several hours Thursday morning fighting a blaze at a condo in the embattled Tymber Skan community, and officials said they believe it may have been set on purpose.The vacant building was slated to be bulldozed, officials said.
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