A LaGrange landmark, the Broad Street Apartments, sits vacant, a victim of foreclosure.

A hole in part of the roof has caused wooden floors to buckle from rain and ceilings to cave in.

Kitchens left with spoiled produce and milk, garages filled with trash, rusted radiators, broken door frames - it’s not the condition the building was in when it was completed in June 1936.

Known as the city’s first apartment building, it was designed by the architectural firm of Ivey and Crook for the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation and built by Newman Construction Co.

The building’s face “is kind of floating around,” City Manager Tom Hall said.

BB&T bank foreclosed on the building at 301 Broad St. on Aug. 8, four days after it was sold.

Denis Burke of Broad Street Ventures LLC had purchased the structure in March 2007 for $1 million and completed repairs to improve the building. The land is valued at $240,000 for a total value of $495,990 according to county records.

But less than 2 1/2 years later, he sold the property for $793,329, according to Troup County property records.

Property taxes of $5,884 were paid Nov. 3. And BB&T is accepting sealed bids on the property, said Alton West, LaGrange’s director of community development.

For now, the 15-unit, three-story structure is empty except for belongings left by tenants forced to move this summer because of delinquent water bills owed by the building’s owner.

The city sent a letter to tenants June 5 warning of a water shutoff, but service was restored for the few tenants still left. Another letter sent June 23 warned of a permanent shutoff at the end of that month for the three tenants still left. With no water, the residents moved out.

“All of those units are … vacant, so there’s no service at this point,” said Patrick Bowie, the city’s director of utilities.

The building has had some previous unpleasant moments.

In January 1991, an apartment caught fire due to an electrical short, killing a tenant’s dog and causing $8,000 damage.

In September 2004, a disabled traffic light at Broad and Greenwood streets caused an accident that sent a vehicle reeling into a natural gas pipe attached to the apartment. Officers cordoned off Broad Street from Broome to Gordon streets and Vernon to Haralson streets when a massive amount of the flammable gas was released into the air.

But the building’s history has been more positive than negative. Its purchase by a Columbus woman in 1948 was the largest local real estate deal at that time since Callaway Mills transferred its physical assets to the Callaway Community Foundation, now Callaway Foundation Inc.

Its reasonable rents and location two blocks from Lafayette Square made it popular.

A 1948 newspaper article noted: “The apartment building has never had a vacancy and keeps a long waiting list of possible tenants.”

Troup County historian Clark Johnson hopes the deterioration can be halted.

“It’s particularly bad for Broad Street because once that (damage) starts, it’s hard to combat,” he said. “… That could be such a wonderful downtown apartment.”

Trey Wood can be reached at twood @ lagrangenews. com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 228.