The RR Hardware building across from Roosevelt High School, a run-down property associated with land owner Hugh Sisley, caught fire early Friday morning.
There were recent signs of squatters on the property, and firefighters were not entering the building on Friday because of possible danger in the vacant space. See photos of the fire here.
The wood-frame building, built in 1923, is one of the Sisley properties that the city of Seattle has tried to address for years. RR Hardware was run by Drake Sisley, Hugh Sisley’s brother, though the building has been abandoned for years.
Earlier this year, the city outlined plans to take over a plot of Sisley properties and turn it into either a park or housing. Some of the properties were demolished. However, neighbors around the abandoned buildings said the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department project doesn’t solve the issue of Hugh Sisley’s remaining properties, which have been derelict for years.
Follow this link to see photos of the Friday morning fire.
As of July, Sisley owed more than $3 million in fines for code violations on various properties throughout the city. City leaders proposed exchanging that amount for parcels near the school to make more productive use of the space.
In August, the City Attorney’s Office "received $3.48 million to satisfy the penalties owed on four properties owned by slumlords Hugh and Martha Sisley whose housing code violations have plagued the Roosevelt neighborhood for decades," according to an office news release.
“Our success in bringing this long-term scofflaw in compliance with municipal laws will be used with other property owners who flout City codes,” City Attorney Pete Holmes said in a statement that month. “We adjusted our enforcement strategy to break the Sisleys’ economic model and show that the rules apply to everyone. All corners of City government came together to not only bring the Sisley properties into compliance but also to try to make up for past harms.”
Seattle leaders have been litigating with the Sisleys over the penalties since 2008, continuing through this year. The Roosevelt Development Group supplied funding to pay the penalties. The City does not know what agreement for repayment has been entered into between RDG, and the Sisleys and their daughter Karen Jandacka, according to the August statement.
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