NEW ORLEANS — It's an apartment complex authorities are calling a crime hot spot, and now they've shut it down. Months of surveillance footage was shared with Eyewitness News.
The Mid City Lofts at 635 N Scott St. are now chained closed. After an extensive investigation involving multiple agencies, the building is now vacant.
Tenants were evicted on April 18. Witnesses told the Mid-City Messenger that a man with a bullhorn made the announcement.
Councilman Joe Giarrusso says he got complaints of crimes happening at Mid-City Lofts back in January. After a joint operation involving the city council, Project NOLA, NOPD, code enforcement, LASPCA, and the health department, the building is now closed.
Pictures speak volumes, and these pictures captured by Project NOLA are speaking loudly. Pictures upon pictures of people with rifles outside Mid City Lofts, including one of a person grabbing a gun from his waistband and another where someone is seen shooting out a crime camera. There are also several images of alleged drug deals.
"The city took a multi-disciplinary approach to this, they sent out NOPD, they sent out Unity, they sent out sanitation, health," said Giarrusso. "Project NOLA got more engaged, they started showing what appeared to be more drug transactions in the area. Then we had the departments go in, and they started reporting to us the terrible squalor that was inside, the horrible conditions."
The property is owned by Josh Bruno. Last year our partners at NOLA.com reported Bruno took tenants' money while they lived in deplorable conditions over at the Oakmont Apartments in Algiers.
Bruno says a third party was responsible for the property and leasing management, maintenance and repair, and operations at Mid City Lofts. He says they're to blame for the conditions inside and the crime.
Bruno said in a statement, "On December 15, 2022, we discovered that the building was indeed occupied by individuals who were engaging in vandalism and theft, who broke into the units and buildings and were NOT leaseholders. Additionally, we found that the illegal occupants were stealing electricity from the property."
Councilman Giarrusso says Bruno reached out to him Wednesday, saying he wants to meet and talk about the inaccurate depiction of what was happening at Mid City Lofts.
Email chains show Giarrusso agreed to meet. He wrote, "I'd like to know what evidence you have to rebut the neighbors' considerable emails showing a parade of horribles with the complex itself. He needs to come forward with evidence of what everybody else has wrong and what he has done to try and make this as livable as possible."
Giarrusso says that evidence is yet to arrive in his inbox. So, for now, Mid City Lofts will remain closed. All that's left inside is broken glass and discarded items from long-ago tenants.
The New Orleans Police Department gave us information on three separate incident at the location.
- On January 30, 2023, the NOPD responded to a call for service and filed a report for Criminal Damage to Property in the 600 block of N Scott Street.
- On March 20, 2023, the NOPD responded to a call for service and recovered a stolen vehicle in the 600 block of North Scott. That vehicle was returned to the owner.
- On March 30, 2023, the NOPD arrested William Jackson for Illegal Discharge of a Weapon and Convicted Felon in Possession of a Firearm.
The NOPD told us the following in an email "The NOPD met with Mr. Bruno on an initial complaint in mid-December that was determined to be civil in nature and therefore not under the purview of NOPD. Mr. Bruno was advised of such.The NOPD later attempted to meet with Mr. Bruno on continuing to address the issues of concerns in the neighborhood, but he declined."
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