City of Orange sues property owner to force repairs

ORANGE, N.J. (PIX11) -- The City of Orange is suing the owner of the Kingston Apartments on Vose Avenue, claiming the building conditions are unsafe and deplorable.

The lawsuit alleges more than 100 violations against the property, including exposed wires, damaged floors and ceilings, and a shattered front door with no locks.

“The front door’s been broken like that for about a year,” said tenant Santos Escobar. “You call the office and they never get back to you, or when you do contact somebody, they just give you the runaround.”

Tenant Emoni Sears said her kitchen sink was overflowing for five days and said she had mushrooms and black mold growing in her apartment.

“You can smell it,” said Sears. “The mold, it’s just so strong. And I tried to spray bleach and it kept growing, it kept growing.”

According to the City’s lawsuit, the building’s owner must close the building or make necessary repairs. If not, the City can move to condemn the property.

When reached by phone, Orange Mayor Dwayne Warren said that neither he nor the City can comment because of the pending litigation.

PIX11 News tried multiple times to reach Joseph Heimann, the owner of Vose Equities LLC. When we called a number linked to Heimann and his LLC, a man who identified as Heimann answered the phone but denied owning the property. Subsequent calls went unanswered.

Tenants of 765 Vose Avenue are asked to contact the Orange Law Department at 973-280-1621.