Shabby Red Bank apartment complex changes ownership

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

photo Mold, trash and a collapsed ceiling mark one unit at the Ridgemont Apartments in Red Bank. Tenants at both the Ridgemont Apartments and the nearby Cambridge Park Apartments say they're frustrated with conditions at both complexes.

Red Bank residents living in Cambridge Park Apartments will have new ownership and, hopefully, speedier repairs when problems arise, according to a court ruling this morning.

In Hamilton County Chancery Court, Hawthorne Residential Partners, a Greensboro, N.C.-based company, agreed to take the reins from John Gosnell and Cambridge Hamilton, LLC, after a property manager and loan agent detailed late water bills, unresponsive maintenance staff and overwhelming piles of garbage.

John Gosnell and Patrick Phelan - the former property owners, who live in New York State - did not attend Wednesday's hearing, and they did not have an attorney present for the proceedings.

Ed Harrington, principal executive from Hawthorne, said he will tour the Cambridge Park apartments today in the first step to fix what Chattanooga attorney Nelwyn Inman called "extreme disregard" from its previous landlords.

Inman represents Wells Fargo Bank, who loaned money to Gosnell and Phelan in connection with Cambridge Park.

Chancellor Jeff Atherton required Harrington to submit monthly financial statements so the judge can monitor the business transactions at the apartment complex.

For complete details, see tomorrow's Chattanooga Times Free Press.