City of Janesville, developer at odds
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Broken windows seen from the rear of the building at 5 S. High Street - Monterey Hotel.
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Broken windows seen from the rear of the building at 5 S. High Street - Monterey Hotel.
JANESVILLE — The latest installment in a feud between the city and property owner Jim Grafft includes fresh concerns over the Monterey Hotel and a raft of code violations at a Grafft-owned building on the city’s south side.
The city on Wednesday sent Grafft an “order to correct” four violations at the vacant hotel in downtown Janesville that’s considered a key property in downtown redevelopment efforts.
The city says the violations target broken windows, piles of building materials and other trash and a leaking roof that already has caused one ceiling to collapse in the six-story building.
Grafft said he’s become a favorite target for city officials and that he’s spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years battling the city.
“You ought to do an open records request on the money they’ve spent on special prosecutors to go after me,” he said.
Grafft bought the hotel in 1996 at a bankruptcy auction. He said architectural studies are under way, and he plans to convert the building into a mixed residential and commercial space.
After opening in 1930, the hotel hosted some familiar names, including Louis Armstrong, Eleanor Roosevelt and Sen. John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie. The hotel has stood empty for years, frustrating those who hate to see a beautiful structure waste away and those who think it could be a major asset in downtown revitalization.
“The city is very concerned about the continued dilapidation of the structure and wants to ensure that this important piece of architectural history is preserved for years to come,” Gale Price, the city’s manager of building and development services, wrote in a letter to Grafft.
In the order, Price noted Grafft has been parking a gas-powered scooter in the hotel lobby, which violates building codes that say parking areas must be separated from other occupied spaces.
“I’ve been parking that there for four years,” Grafft said. “When it’s topped off, it probably holds a gallon of gas, and they’re worried that could create some sort of inferno.”
Grafft said the scooter issue is an example of the petty nonsense the city has put him through for years.
The city on Wednesday also issued an order for Grafft’s adjoining property at 319 W. Milwaukee St., the front of the former Jeffris Theater. Two years ago, the city and Grafft butted heads over the demolition of a portion of the theater building.
In June, the city filed 15 ordinance violations against Grafft for a property he owns at 1029 S. Jackson St. The city alleges materials are stacked so high they interfere with the sprinkler system.
The cases are making their way through Rock County Court.
Grafft said he’s attended several meetings on the alleged problems on Jackson Street, and what the city’s fire marshal really wants is a new sprinkler system that Grafft says isn’t necessary.
The city and Grafft have had issues over many of the buildings he owns in Janesville. Most of the problems, Grafft said, can be traced to a personality difference with city officials, some of whom, he said, aren’t competent in their jobs.
“I’ve hired 30 to 40 people in the past six months, and I recently bought properties in Fond du Lac, Oshkosh and Neenah, and I’m working on buying one in Indiana,” Grafft said.
“Why screw around in this town where absolutely everything is a problem?”
Grafft specializes in buying old properties and developing them for different uses. He said city officials interpret codes, and they become gospel without room for other interpretations.
City officials said they will let the code violations speak for themselves.
Grafft has until Tuesday, Oct. 20, to resolve the alleged violations at the hotel and adjoining property. He faces fines for any violations not resolved by that deadline.
Sep 21, 2009 at 1:13 p.m.
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Clean up your buildings bum!
Sep 21, 2009 at 12:02 p.m.
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Janesvegas, do you have any idea how goofy it looks for you to write posts that complain about how much other people post?!
Click on my user name.
By the way, hannah is right-on about Grafft.
Sep 21, 2009 at 11:47 a.m.
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If it were just one comment per article per day I am sure no one would have a problem but when it gets to be 10, 15 , 20 times on the same article it is very annoying. You are not the only person reading these articles that has a voice. When other people comment it gets mixed in with your rants and is overlooked by a lot of others including myself who usually just skip over your comments.
Sep 21, 2009 at 11:04 a.m.
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Hannah - according to this site you joined the Gazette site on Dec 14 2007 (641 days ago) and in that time you have commented 4870 times, that is approximately 8 times a day including weekends and holidays. Do you have nothing better to do that litter this website with your opinions which do not make sense the majority of the time?
Sep 21, 2009 at 9:37 a.m.
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hannah...do you have something personal against Grafft? Just wondering, you seem unusually upset with him.
Sep 20, 2009 at 10:37 a.m.
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displaced...Amen.
Sep 19, 2009 at 9:47 p.m.
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Its a crying shame, as i see these pictures of the hotel :(
If it was redone an up to par & codes...it would be such a lovely site, an to think of the jobs it would bring in to the city of janesville, during remodleing as well as to keep it running. I'm sure if the walls could talk..... theres so much that could be said. I feel it would also be a wonderful place to have visitors from all over the world.an for that to happen....would be great for the town of Janesville.
Sep 19, 2009 at 2:28 p.m.
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hannah maybe you could help get the job done you seem to know all the answers to the issues maybe you can volunteer and then you wouldn't have so much time to post your gossip colume education in here
Sep 19, 2009 at 2:22 p.m.
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Maybe they should go after the vandels breaking the windows and stand by the charges issued for criminal damage to property... Yes it is an eyesore and I to remember the beauty in the hotel at one time. the simple way to solve the problem is get the place cleaned up and do what ever is planned for the hotel and don't let personalities stand in the way of doing what he said it was going to do. Just do it!!!!!!
Sep 19, 2009 at 2:12 p.m.
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Every time I go downtown and see the Hotel, I get tears in my eyes. I remember when I was a kid how the hotel did big business. If he buys it to fix it up, he should do it without buying other old buildings to retore. The city has the right to fine him for his lack of concern.
Sep 19, 2009 at 11:58 a.m.
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If this guy doesn't have the $$ to bring the place up to code, what business does he have buying other property? Fix it and deal with it.
Sep 19, 2009 at 11:26 a.m.
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I am well aware of the feud between the city and Grafft. Grafft has many allies outside of the city who he "rewards" when they go to bat for him. He has no such "cronies" for fighting the city so all he can do is whine. I think the city does go after certain people unfairly but I don't see it with this Grafft guy. I know better than most where many of his properties are. Many, Many of them are in dissaray and not maintained properly. He is merely "milking" them for all he can (get away with) It's about time the city came down on him hard, Harder than they ever have before. I would like nothing better than to see him sell his properties here and move elsewhere. The one thing that causes most of Graffts problems is that he is EXTREMELY cheap!....And I do mean CHEAP !
Sep 19, 2009 at 10:08 a.m.
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If he is so worried about his scooter he secures it in a lobby, that must mean he acknowledges that there are many citizens passing by that area.Otherwise, he would park it out on the street. Wait till one teenager gets hurts crawling on those piles of rubble, THEN he'll know what it's like to get picked on. He'll be selling off buildings in his other town to pay off the settlement.
His argument of "But the OTHER cities don't pick on me..." is childish and unprofessional. All he has to do is read the codes and follow them. Volia'! No more issues!
The codes are there for a reason- if he was in a city like Chicago or NYC he would have had his property seized and auctioned by now. Heck, even Madison has seized over ten apartment units in the past two years, for both problem tenants and safety codes.
The Monterey Hotel has great potential for this city, I think I'll check into some urban renewal projects opened by Fed Stimulus dollars to see what some other midrange cities are doing. This guy Graff is a slumlord, no more no less. Janesville should seize the property and secure it.
Sep 19, 2009 at 9:20 a.m.
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In all fairness, that does sound like a complaint. ;-)
Sep 19, 2009 at 9 a.m.
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Who cares
Sep 19, 2009 at 6:56 a.m.
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Jimmie tear down the Montery & give city hall something to really p & m about.
Sep 19, 2009 at 6:14 a.m.
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It's nice of the Gazette to have a forum like this.....sad to see that one person has THIRTEEN posts in a single day. I would like to see the Gazette limit number of posted comments per story.
Sep 18, 2009 at 9:24 p.m.
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I don't think anyone realizes that Charter has a huge junction box on top of the Monterey, that is probably why he can keep the building going and why it still has power. I am completely in love with the Moterey Hotel, he should just give it to me! :)
Sep 18, 2009 at 6:20 p.m.
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It's hard to believe that the demolition drama was two years ago -- yet there's still rubble sitting around. That shouldn't take too much to clean up, nor should it be difficult to enclose the building from the elements again. The city is right to be concerned because winter weather can wreak havoc on open buildings in a very short time. They aren't meant to sit like that and before you know it the entire building is in danger of collapsing. Wood rots, brick erodes, and foundation walls collapse. Look at any unused barn on the outskirts of town.
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The city isn't rushing to judgement here; they've been quietly working with him for some time without effect.
Sep 18, 2009 at 6:05 p.m.
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If they find out about the green property at the end of racine st. he would be in a world of hurt.
Sep 18, 2009 at 5:18 p.m.
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It sounds like the city of janesville is head hunting, so there has to be a motive besides city ordinance
Sep 18, 2009 at 4:45 p.m.
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Codes are in place for a reason, is it going to take someone getting killed by a falling ceiling or a firefighter getting killed in a fire that could have been stopped by a sprinkler system that was up to date? If this guy would have simply brought the items up to code in the first place he wouldnt have spent "hundreds of thousands" fighting the city. Theres an old saying, "you cant fix stupid" that applies very well here.
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