BILLINGS - The owner of the Colonial Apartments in downtown Billings has died, leading to another twist for the future of the crime-ridden complex.
The city has sued owner John Skauge to force repairs or demolish the building, citing ongoing code violations and hundreds of police calls.
Watch a neighbor's reaction in this video:
City leaders say the case through code enforcement will move forward in district court, despite Skauge's death, which was confirmed at a Monday Billings City Council meeting by Assistant City Administrator Kevin Iffland. No cause was given.
Neighbors say something needs to be done about the Colonial.
“Police action all the time, very frequently there from theft to assault to drugs, stolen vehicle, more of the violent crimes there, has a history of that,” said Catherine Card, who lives a few blocks from the apartments on South 27th Street and Third Avenue South.
Card sees vehicles going through the alley near her home, and she wants the city to do something. But she fears closing it down will leave some homeless.
“The broader ramifications of closing that down and then caring for the people that are in it, I don't think that is even being considered,” Card said.
The city of Billings filed a lawsuit in 2023 against Skauge for code violations that included peeling paint, broken windows, roof and foundation damage, and some basement rentals having windows nailed shut.
“For quite a few months, if not years, we've been getting complaints about that property,” said Iffland. “The condition of the property, the living conditions in the property, also the public nuisance side of it.”
Iffland started working for the city as a police officer and says the Colonial has had problems for decades.
“The conditions of that property were poor 30 years ago,” Iffland said. “I don't think a lot has ever been done to that property since that time.”
Iffland says the trial date was scheduled for October, but now that's unknown since Skauge recently died.
The city first needs to hear from the court as to who will represent his estate.
“We are on an automatic stay at this point with the Colonial Apartments and the legal action,” Iffland said.
Iffland says owners will often bring the property into compliance before it ever gets to a lawsuit.
But that is no longer possible in this case, as they wait for the result of the legal proceedings.
“We could see anything from somebody wanting to invest some money into the property, bring it back up to standards, all the way to demo-ing that property and see something else built in that location.”
“And that's not what I would like to see,” Card said. “I would truly like to see something good come out of this, and that would be shelter.”
