An empty, high-rise office building on Briarwood Drive that fell into disrepair and became shelter to vagrants is supposed to be demolished.
That’s according to an agreed order for the remediation and demolition of the One Briarwood property located at 460 Briarwood Drive that was filed May 11 and ordered by Jackson Municipal Court Judge Jeffrey P. Reynolds.
Briarwood One owner Mike Kohan of Great Neck, N.Y., and Briarwood Realty Holding LLC informed the court about plans to sell the property to a third-party buyer, Ready One Management, which will then demolish the property.
Briarwood Realty and Ready One Management set June 6 as the closing date for the sale of the property, and Briarwood Realty has agreed to allocate $75,000 to Ready One Management to assist in the cost of demolition, according to the order.
The city of Jackson is to cut off water to the property by June 6.
The order calls for Ready One to submit an application for a demolition permit of the building within 15 days of the order and for the city to grant it, assuming the application is in order, within 15 additional days.
Ready One Management and its managing member, Roger Thomas, accepted responsibility to demolish the property and remove associated debris from it within 120 days of the closing date, the order states. The building would need to be demolished by early October to comply with the order.
Kohan completed the required improvements to remedy the violations the building was cited for, according to the order. The city re-inspected the property on April 5 and verified that the trash and debris was removed, standing water was removed, a certificate of mold remediation was obtained and entrances to the vacant building were boarded up.
Upon the close of the sale of the property, Kohan and Briarwood Realty may move the court to dismiss the citations with prejudice, according to the order.
Dr. Roger B. Parkes, a periodontist, has watched the One Briarwood property fall into disrepair and established a routine of picking up trash and debris each morning in front of the building.
He noticed in January 2022 that the parking garage at One Briarwood was flooded with eight feet to 10 feet of water and then conditions inside the building grew worse as vagrants moved in.
“It’s like hell on earth,” said Parkes, who established the West Briarwood Beautification Initiative. “It’s complete, terrible chaos. That beautiful triangular building has gone down like you can’t believe. It could be great but instead of being great it’s horrible.”
Legal proceedings began when Reynolds declared the building condemned on Jan. 11.
John P. Martin, the attorney for defendants Kohan and Briarwood Realty Holding LLC, and Edna Jones-Stringer, attorney for Ready One Management and Roger Thomas, signed off on the May 11 agreement along with Jeffrey M. Graves, attorney for the city of Jackson, and Reynolds.
