The city of Topeka said it’s addressing ongoing concerns about overflowing dumpsters at several properties throughout town owned by Oklahoma City-based real estate developer Lew McGinnis.
Topeka said of the 34 properties cited for violating Topeka’s property maintenance code, 14 remain in violation as of Tuesday. The deadline for the developer to resolve its trash issues was Dec. 26.
The city conducted a series of coordinated cleanup efforts that morning to remove rubbish that had piled up around dumpsters of McGinnis-owned properties.
Trash piles accumulated outside several Topeka apartment complexes owned by an out-of-state developer over the past month.
The properties have not had regular trash pickup for more than a month. On Dec. 16, the city said McGinnis had taken steps to resolve the issue and that new dumpsters were expected to be delivered within a week. But the timeline apparently wasn’t met.
“Despite previous engagement and citations issued by the city’s Property Maintenance Unit, the property owner failed to clean up the affected sites within the allotted timeframe,” the city said in a news release.
The city said it plans to charge the cost of the cleanup to the property owner, Eucalyptus LLC., which is owned by McGinnis. It also said criminal affidavits for the violations will be processed.
Tenants impacted by property maintenance issues were asked to report it to the city, though it’s believed many don’t for fear of a retaliatory eviction.
“To address these concerns, the Topeka City Council strengthened its retaliatory eviction ordinance in May 2024. This ensures that residents can assert their right to a clean, safe, and sanitary home without fear of repercussions,” the city said.
Earlier this month, Topeka officials asked state legislators to create a law allowing greater authority to do code inspections at federally subsidized housing projects.
McGinnis’ past complaints
McGinnis has long fielded complaints in any of his 35 multifamily rental properties in Topeka. A Capital-Journal article in 2021 said Topeka’s property management division received more than 400 complaints since 2015 about issues in his properties.
Meredith Monaco, legal counsel for Eucalyptus, told WIBW that the trash issues started after a payment dispute between the real estate company and its former waste management company, and said the issue will be resolved in court. She didn’t share which court and claimed that Topeka news media is on a “witch hunt for Lew McGinnis.”
The Capital-Journal’s attempts to reach Monaco on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topeka cites landlord Lew McGinnis for trash piles at 14 complexes
