Waukesha, Horizon West condo lawsuit; new raze agreement reached
WAUKESHA, Wis. - After engineers determined Waukesha's Horizon West condominiums building was at risk of collapse, the unexpected evacuation itself only took hours. It's aftermath, though, has been dragging on for more than 18 months.
Not only have many evacuated residents been on the hook for their mortgages at a building they can't live in, but potentially the bill to tear it down. A new development Friday, June 23 brings the end in sight.
"Anybody who buys a condo thinks OK, if I pay for this inspection and the inspection says everything is good then I’m all good," said condo owner Laurel Peterson. "You don’t expect that anything like this could ever happen."
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Peterson may have moved out 18 months ago, but she hasn’t been able to move on. She's one of roughly 50 condo owners evacuated in December 2021.
"We’ve had just months and months of hurry up and wait," she said. "It was just hard not to feel like the whole world was against you."
Condemned Horizon West condominium building, Waukesha
The city of Waukesha took the condo owners to court to get them to pay to tear down the building deemed at risk of collapsing.
"That’s been something that’s kind of been hanging over us," Peterson said.
Peterson said many owners' finances are already in ruins after having to permanently relocate – not able to put together money to demolish the building
"Especially not when you’ve lost all your home equity in one fell swoop," she said.
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The demolition price was estimated at more than $1 million – that works out to more than $20,000 from each unit owner.
"We basically were hoping that the city would realize there’s no way we could front the money to pay for the demolition up front," said Peterson.
A recent agreement between the city and condo owners, Peterson said, comes as a relief. The city can raze the Horizon West building in October. Money could come from the condo residents’ insurance company if they win their current lawsuit against that company, Travelers Insurance. If not, the city can cover the upfront cost with a lien on the property.
"We knew the next step would be the city would have to come in and essentially take our share of what the demolition costs were and bill us in the form of a tax lien after the fact," said Peterson.
Horizon West Condominium Homes in Waukesha
Peterson said even knowing her former home is coming down is "a little emotional," but things are looking up.
"It’ll be good to finally be closing that chapter," she said.
Peterson said depending on what happens, she may have to file for bankruptcy. She's hoping for more news on the lawsuit against Travelers Insurance this summer.
FOX6 News reached out to the city, Waukesha's mayor and the condo association's attorney but did not immediately hear back.
A GoFundMe online fundraiser was created for those displaced.