Owner of burnt-out Lynn house makes case

LYNN – The owner of a fire-damaged apartment building on Green Street that had stood unkempt since the April 26 blaze said Tuesday he will take care of the overgrowth and litter, but he can’t touch anything inside the house because of instructions from his insurance company.”All of that stuff is gone,” said Stefan Davis, the building’s landlord. “We left it there because the insurance adjuster said, ‘We don’t want you touching anything.'”While much of the litter, including suitcases and mattresses strewn in the yard, has been removed by Davis, he said there are some things, including all of the building’s interior, that must remain as is until a claims adjuster visits the property.”It’s almost like messing around with a crime scene just because you don’t like the smell of the dead bodies,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do with the inside. The clothes the tenants left behind, we’re not going to attempt to clean that.”Davis, who said he plans to have someone cut the grass this week, responded to complaints made by neighbors of the property to the Daily Item that animals had taken up residence on the property, saying the boards he placed over the windows and doorways soon after the fire prevent anyone or anything from entering the building.”That’s part of the precautions we’re taking so it doesn’t get to the point where there’s no point securing it anymore,” he said.”Davis also said he plans to restore the property as soon as he hears back from his insurance company, and said some former residents plan to return.”I bought that place in 2002 and I know (the) condition it was when I bought it and it’s not the same thing. We’ve always made it better than what it was on the day we bought it,” he said.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].