NASHUA – Although city officials say the owners of the Temple Street Hotel have addressed some of the dozens of code violations uncovered in a September inspection, they still have quite a bit of work to do before the city will considers them in good standing.

But work is progressing, city code enforcement manager Nelson Ortega said Friday. He said the owners, listed in city property records as 23-25 Temple Street Realty, immediately responded to the most critical violations – those that fall in the “life-safety” category – and corrected them well within the required five-day period.

The violations discovered in a Sept. 9 inspection at the former YMCA building at the corner of Temple and Spring streets were listed in a report that was sent to the owners, giving them five days to fix issues such as replacing missing or broken smoke detectors, repairing a substandard fire door, cleaning dust- and grease-caked sprinkler heads, and replacing expired or
missing fire extinguishers.

The law gives the owner 45 days to take care of other violations, such as dirty or cluttered apartments, holes in walls and ceilings, rodent and bedbug presence, and one case where “multiple sealed bottles of urine” were discovered in a room with “a very pungent odor,” according to the health department’s portion of the report.

Ortega said representatives of code enforcement, the fire marshal’s office, the Police Department and the building safety and environmental health departments conducted the Sept. 9 inspection, with each completing a report on its findings.

The rooming house, built 110 years ago as the Nashua YMCA, has changed hands several times over the years. Ortega said the current owners inherited numerous problems.

“The building had a lot of issues, violations,” he said. “For the most part, the owners have been compliant with code enforcement over the past year and a half or so.”

The five-story, brick-faced structure also has had more than its share of visits from police, firefighters and medical personnel, who, records show, averaged more than two calls a day to the address over a recent one-year period.

The calls – more than 950 in all over that period –
were for a variety of reasons, ranging from medical emergencies and fire or smoke calls to disturbances, fights, armed and unarmed assaults, and warrant arrests.

Its dubious reputation drew the attention of members of the Board of Aldermen and became a topic at an August meeting of the aldermanic Finance Committee.

“If we looked at the resources between our police, fire and ambulance services in this city, it’s staggering,” Aldermanic President David Deane said at the time, referring to the numerous calls to the address.

Although code enforcement sets deadlines for owners and landlords to get the violations fixed, the officers typically don’t issue citations as long as the owners or landlords communicate with officials, Ortega said.

“As long as they work with us and keep us informed, we won’t cite them,” he said.

“But when they ignore us or don’t respond to several attempts to reach them, then we have no choice but to cite them.”

According to the Sept. 10 report, the team of inspectors found at least one violation in 62 apartments – about half of the building’s total apartments.

They ranged from things such as clutter and “dirty dishes” to broken light fixtures, exposed wiring, missing or damaged window screens and no-heat issues.

In one case, inspectors reported finding a propane tank and overloaded electrical outlets in a second-floor apartment.

A window in a third-floor apartment needs repair, inspectors, wrote, because “window crashed into room during inspection.”

Also on the third floor, inspectors found another apartment “vandalized by tenant … needs lots of work.”

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-6443 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Shalhoup on Twitter (@Telegraph_DeanS).