City continues battle with owner of Water’s Edge apartments

Mayor appalled over Boston Housing Court ruling

  The City of Revere continues to be at loggerheads with the Connecticut-based Carabetta Companies over the properties it owns in Revere. Last week, the courts refused Mayor Brian Arrigo’s emergency request to impose a receivership for 370 Ocean Ave. to oversee the necessary repairs to the property. The City of Revere ruled the Water’s Edge high-rise building was unfit for habitation following a fire on the 11th floor in June.

  “As Mayor of the City of Revere I am appalled by the lack of action taken…by the Boston Housing Court on our city’s request for Emergency Receivership at 370 Ocean Avenue,” said Arrigo following the ruling last week. “If there was ever a question of whether this is an emergency the judge only needs to talk with the 103 individuals, including young children, who have been displaced from this property since a fire on June 21, 2022.”

  The judge refused an evidentiary hearing and would not hear testimony from Revere fire and safety officials, according to the mayor. “It is beyond disappointing that the legal system – set up to protect innocent people from the harm of irresponsible and careless landlords – has failed in its duty when they were called on by those most in need,” Arrigo stated.

  In addition to filing for receivership, Arrigo said, the City of Revere has taken steps to foreclose on all three Ocean Avenue properties owned by the Carabetta family for outstanding tax title issues. Currently, the property owners have $1.9 million in past taxes owed to the city.

  The City of Revere and Carabetta are due back in court on August 10 to report on efforts to make improvements to the high-rise apartment building.

  This week, Arrigo said Carabetta has not acted in good faith recently, or over the years, to address issues at its properties and cannot be trusted to fix code issues at Ocean Avenue. “The City of Revere works cooperatively with all property owners to ensure permits are properly issued,” Arrigo said. “Unfortunately, Water’s Edge has acted without good faith in responding to the City’s concerns. It has acted without care for its tenants and, according to its own contractor, has been grossly negligent in failing to provide proper maintenance at 370 Ocean Avenue, even for important life safety systems.”

  Arrigo said the Carabettas cannot say with a straight face that they are doing everything possible for their tenants while for more than a month since the fire they have refused to let tenants use their vacant units at nearby properties. “The Carabettas have proven that they would rather see their tenants on the street than in their vacant units,” he said. “They cannot be trusted to correct the severe code violations at this building. The City will continue to fight to protect its residents.”

  In a statement released to the media, the Water’s Edge Limited Partnership said, “The owners have diligently pursued all efforts to repair this building, even without the full cooperation of various city officials, and will seek to do so, until all repairs have been made in accordance with all building codes.

  “We understand how challenging this has been for our residents and are committed to doing everything we can to get them back into the building as quickly as possible.”