Residents in the apartment building located on Beech St. in Curwensville were given an eviction notice stating they only have 15 days to move out.
“It’s just the short notice of things that makes it so difficult,” tenant Deb Sykes said. “That is the thing with all of us. It’s just impossible to comprehend two weeks.”
The apartment property is being purchased by the Curwensville Area School District– which neighbors the apartment building.
The district plans to tear down the building and use the property to expand its parking lot.
“In our current parking situation, we just really don’t have the space for them to park and come into the school,” superintendent Ron Matchock said. “It allows to make a pretty major increase in the safety of getting kids out of the building to the correct parents at the end of the day.”
The district stresses that the sale won’t be finalized until at least spring 2019 and it has nothing to do with the eviction notices.
“I do agree with the school needing a bigger parking lot, this area does get very congested before and after school” apartment tenant Donna Orcutt said. So I agree that it does need to go, but be humane about it.”
In a statement, landlord Holly Shoff said, “I do feel bad that it was a short time. We did go through our attorney. One of the reasons is that almost all the tenants there owe us money. We’ve tried to help all the individuals the best we can, but it puts us in a spot that we can’t take care of the building the way we need to.”
Residents said they are hoping for more time or for anyone with resources to help to reach out.