2 Old West End buildings targeted for razing aren't 120 years old

3/10/2010

No doubt the two vacant and crumbling apartment buildings at 2127 and 2131 Collingwood Blvd. in Toledo are showing their age. But that age is not 120 years.

The Old West End pair, it turns out, are merely octogenarians.

An error in the city's Auditor's Real Estate Information System mistakenly put 1890 as the structures' "year built" dates.

That error was repeated in the Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commission documents supplied to the Old West End Historic District Commission, which voted 3-2 Monday night in favor of demolishing the buildings after years of neglect by owners Foster and Barbara Price of West Toledo.

Yesterday, a city employee familiar with Toledo housing stock brought to The Blade's attention old maps and property cards showing that both apartment buildings - Collingwood Manor Apartments and The Georgian Apartments - date to the late 1920s.

Andrew Sager, historical review specialist with the city, presented an 1895 fire insurance company map showing two mansions along Collingwood Boulevard on the sites of what would become the apartment buildings. Property cards suggest the mansions were razed in 1927 and 1928, respectively, with new building permits taken out for the apartments those years.

Lucas County Auditor Anita Lopez said occasional inaccuracies exist in the AREIS property information system, which went public in 1999.

Ms. Lopez said residents who notice errors on AREIS regarding their own property should call her office, 419-213-4406.