Photo courtesy of city of Hoover
An apartment in the 5100 building at The Park at Hoover apartment complex off Lorna Road shows significant mold damage and deterioration in April 2026.
The Hoover City Council in July declared The Park at Hoover apartment complex off Lorna Road to be a public nuisance, with at least 49 of 59 buildings deemed unsafe for occupants.
The declaration came after city officials found what they termed “deplorable” living conditions, including widespread mold and mildew, missing firewalls, gas leaks, missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers, exposed live electrical lines, electrical outlets and fixtures exposed to water, evidence of fire-damaged wood that had been painted over, collapsed ceilings, improper venting, standing water, improperly installed water heaters and furnaces, open construction pits, and evidence of vagrants living in vacant apartments.
The council on July 13 voted to have City Attorney Charlie Waldrep seek remediation in Jefferson County Circuit Court for the complex, which, with 920 units over 74 acres, is believed to be the largest apartment complex in Alabama.
The complex originally was known as Rime Village and was built in 1988. The property has changed hands and names multiple times and most recently was acquired by a group of owners affiliated with Westside Capital Group in Miami about five years ago for more than $100 million.
Hoover City Planner Mac Martin said city officials have been receiving complaints about The Park at Hoover dating back to at least 2024. Initial complaints related to garbage piling up and going uncollected for months in some areas and frequent shutdowns of water service, sometimes for three days or more, Martin said.
The garbage issue appears to have been addressed, but more reports of unsafe conditions came in early 2025, with a former employee of the management company sending in pictures of widespread mold in the interior of some units, Martin said.
The Fire Department and city building code enforcement officers in March 2025 visited three buildings to investigate the reported issues, and the conditions were so bad that the city formed a larger team to evaluate the entire complex, Martin said. That team found then that at least 51 of the 59 buildings were unsafe for occupancy and ordered that anyone living in those buildings be removed, he said.
“It was a mess — an absolute mess,” Martin said.
The owners of the complex challenged the city’s ruling, claiming city staff were being overzealous, but the city’s Board of Code Appeals sided with city staff and upheld the “unsafe for occupancy” status, Martin said.
City staff and the Fire Department worked with the owners to develop a remediation plan to bring the buildings and campus up to code, Martin said. The owners got permits for mold remediation in three buildings, and some work has been done, but there was not much follow-through on the remediation plan by a year later this spring, he said.
A follow-up inspection in April of this year confirmed that unsafe conditions remained in at least 49 buildings, and city staff also found evidence of significant work being done without permits and proper inspections, Martin said. People were still living in the unsafe buildings, and piecemeal repairs being done on private water lines within the complex have continued to leave residents without water for extended periods of time, he said.
Jakub Hejl, a principal with Westside Capital Group, said owners already have spent more than $10 million on The Park at Hoover since acquiring it. He said his company managed the complex successfully the first two years, but other owners brought in another management company, and they’ve had some problems since that time.
His company took on a greater ownership role within the past year and is managing it once again, he said. They are committed to remedying the problems, he said.
Chris Moulder, an engineer for the owners, said the buildings should be able to be refurbished instead of demolished, but his company, Rimkus, was developing a detailed remediation plan. Hejl also told the council no one was living in the buildings deemed unsafe.
