LANSING, Mich — Residents at Sycamore Townhomes are scrambling to find new housing after receiving 30-day notices to make way for a court-approved $15 million rehabilitation project.
- Residents said they received the notices to be out by May 31. last week.
- The reason is due to a nearly $15 million renovation project that the court approved.
- Watch video above for more.
The property was cited as a public nuisance with multiple code violations by city officials in 2023, resulting in all 339 units being pink tagged and nearly 150 units red tagged.
"The housing conditions have deteriorated and needs have not been met," said resident Jodi Kamae.
Kamae, who has lived at the complex for over 4 years, expressed concern about the sudden notice.
"It's not right, a lot of these people like me may not have anywhere to go... where are we going to put our stuff," said Kamae.
Court-appointed receiver John Polderman, who took over management of the property last September, said initial repairs have already cost about $1 million.
"Within the first month, we removed abandoned vehicles, we hired a security team, so that the residents would be safe..and we made some basic infrastructure improvements," said Polderman.
Earlier this month, all 80 remaining Sycamore tenants received a letter stating they needed to relocate by May 31st, 2025.
The upcoming renovation will be extensive, according to Polderman.
"It's going to be everything from new dry wall, plumbing, electrical, so its going to be a wholesale renovation," said Polderman.
***LAYOUT OF RENOVATIONS AND PRICING BELOW***
Renovation Plan layout by larry.wallace
Polderman told me the management is providing financial resources for tenants in good standing, which amounts to about 30 residents out of the current 80.
"The security deposit is about 6 or 700 and then we will give them 1000 dollars," said Polderman.
When asked if he thought that was enough money to help people move, Polderman responded, "No, no."
Despite the financial challenges, Kamae remains hopeful about finding new housing.
"I am hoping to find something, I know its going to be hard, but all I could do is hope for the best," said Kamae.
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