JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A nuisance home in Jacksonville’s Sandalwood area — long plagued by reports of drugs and criminal activity — is set to be torn down after the city condemned the property.
The News4JAX I-Team first reported on the home on Jefferson Road last week, highlighting safety concerns raised by neighbors. Following that report, the property owners say they are moving forward with demolition.
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Since Jan. 1, 2023, the home has generated 47 calls for service. Those calls include range from suspicious persons, well-being checks, trespassing, squatting, illegal camping, vandalism, an abduction in progress and assault involving injuries.
When News4Jax reached out to the city of Jacksonville for a code violation history on the property, the city responded with more than 140 pages of records. At the top of those records: a warning that the house is in danger of collapsing. The documents also detail electrical problems, plumbing problems and four active cases with municipal code compliance.
Monday, a fire broke out in the backyard of the home. That fire remains under investigation.
For many residents living nearby, the fire was the last straw.
Liz Carroll, a neighbor who lives across the street, didn’t mince words when describing what she believed was happening at the house.
“Who knows what they’re doing over there. You know, cracktivities is what I call it,” Carroll said.
Paula Laird, a landlord who owns a property across the street, echoed those concerns.
“This is really scary and it needs to be resolved. I just think they need to be aware of exactly what’s going on,” Laird said.
Even after the home was condemned, some neighbors say they saw the people who lived there, return.
“Two of them,” said Alan Schiessel.
The property owners told News4Jax on the phone they did not realize how bad conditions at the home had become. After hearing what neighbors had been saying, they worked with the city to get the property condemned. An orange condemned sign now hangs on the front door dated for Monday.
An anonymous homeowner who spoke with News4Jax by phone expressed his thoughts on neighbors being relieved about the home being condemned.
“Yeah, they should be. I never dreamed that was going on over there. It was a terrible shocker to see all of that,” the owner of the home said.
For Carroll, the condemned sign was only a partial comfort.
“The orange sign a little bit. You know, I won’t have comfort until it’s demolished,” she said.
The homeowners say the house could come down within a matter of days.
One of the owners of the home told News4Jax, “We want the neighborhood to know that we do care,” they said, “The city is being gracious and let us make it right.”
News4JAX has also submitted a request to the fire marshal’s office to determine the exact cause of Monday’s backyard fire.