The owners of the old Presidential Hotel at Spaghetti Junction reach an agreement with DeKalb County over its disrepair.
Habib Osta and Vincent Lu have agreed to pay $7,250 in fines for multiple code violations for broken windows and trash and old tires that have piled up at the vacant building.
The fine is greatly reduced from the $34,000 that they originally faced.
In return, both will have to clean up and maintain the building until its sale--hopefully within the next six months. The fine will be deferred until that time.
“The parties have been working diligently and in good faith to undertake the necessary repairs and maintenance of the property. We think the county recognized that,” says Osta’s attorney Ken Sokolov.
The building, which was most recently the Presidential Boutique Condotel, has been sitting vacant since the two owners failed to pay electric bills resulting in the occupants moving out. The two call it a matter of disagreement over which one owed the money. Osta maintains he owns a different part of the building.
The property is in receivership right now and the proceeds from its sale will be split among the two men minus the amount in fines.
“I think everybody will be happy at the point. But over the years that they’ve been partners, we’ve just had a lot of disputes. It’s unfortunate, but we are doing what we can to resolve it,” says Lu’s attorney Reggie Snyder.
The two men will have to send bi-monthly reports to inspectors on the building’s condition. If at any time the agreement with the county is violated, the men will be responsible for the full amount of the fines.
