Staff photo / Allie Vugrincic Snoopi Botten, a 15-year resident of the Reeves apartment building, was among tenants who earlier last month got an eviction notice telling them they must leave in 30 days. The building is set to be renovated into upscale housing. Warren Community Development Director Michael Keys said the manager is helping the remaining tenants find a new place to live and won’t begin renovations until everyone has done so.

CORRECTION: This story has been corrected to indicated that A&K Investment Group LLC serves as asset and property manager for the Reeves Apartments in downtown Warren. The building is owned by investor Barry Taintz. Previous owners David Hanus and Darryl Myers are no longer affiliated with the apartment. Also, Even Bay Real Estate of Boardman no longer serves as property manager for the apartment building.

WARREN — Remaining tenants of the Reeves Apartments will be given time and assistance needed to find new accommodations, according to Warren Community Development Director Michael Keys.

The real estate managers of Reeves Apartments, 295 W. Market St. — working with the city and area housing organizations — will help those remaining in the apartments find new places to live before beginning the renovation of the building.

On Feb. 1, tenants were given 30-day eviction notices, meaning they would have to move out this week.

Investors from Los Angeles who bought the Reeves apartment building will turn it into a “higher-end apartment complex” with first floor commercial space, the property manager said in October.

Reeves apartment resident Snoopi Botten said he has lived in the building for 15 years.

“I love this building,” Botten said.

He said a few months ago, he was told he would be able to stay in his apartment despite the renovation, but then “out of nowhere” an eviction notice was posted on the door, just days after he paid the month’s rent. Botten, who is disabled, said he cannot afford to move.

The original eviction notice gave residents 30 days to move. Botten said “no one knows” if that deadline has been extended, but Keys said management assured him no one will be displaced.

Only a handful of residents remain in the building, which Botten said no longer is being repaired. The back door is broken, letting cold air spill into the building, and the elevator is not level, leaving Botten to worry his electric wheelchair may tip over.

In other parts of the building, broken windows are held together with tape and closets and abandoned apartments are left filled with debris.

Botten, like some of the other remaining residents, does not know where he is going to live.

Residents were told they could move to the Pauni Apartments in Cortland, but Botten’s church and regular haunts are in Warren.

“I wouldn’t be by anything,” Botten said.

Another tenant, Dave Gilcher, 68, who has lived in an efficiency apartment on the building’s third floor since 2015, said Feb. 22 that many of the dozen people still living in the building are on fixed incomes and are having trouble finding new places to live in their price range.

“They’re trying to get all of the poor people out, so they can fix this up and move in people who can pay higher rents,” Gilcher said.

“They are charging $550 a month for those (Pauni) apartments,” Gilcher said. “Most of the people still living here pay about $400 a month for efficiency apartments. Personally, I have a monthly income of about $1,100. I cannot afford having my rent increased by $150 a month.”

“The management of the apartments want to work with the tenants,” Keys said. “The management has already found new places for four of the dozen people that were still in the apartment.”

Other tenants will be contacted either in a group or individually, so they can be helped to find new places to live, Keys said. Some tenants may be having problems locating new accommodations because of issues in their backgrounds, Keys said.

The Reeves Apartments are owned by investor Barry Taitz, with A&K Investment Group LLC as asset and property manager.

The property is in the area known as the “peninsula” because it is surrounded on three sides by the Mahoning River.

Developer Mark Marvin of the Downtown Development Group has noticed the amount of interest from people in renting downtown apartments, so he thinks “there is a desire for upscale rentals in downtown Warren.”

When asked about the project in October, Marvin said he was “extremely optimistic” about the likelihood that the project will enhance the peninsula, including the former SCOPE building he owns across the street that houses the new CharBenay’s Winery on the River.

Marvin expressed his displeasure at a Warren City Council meeting in April after learning that a 65-bed recovery center was being proposed for the Reeves building, calling that an “economic-development killer.”

Renovation of the apartment building is expected to begin in April and take a year to complete, Keys said. The new owners are investing between $4 million and $5 million into this project.

Reporter Allie Vugrincic contributed to this story.