Zombie houses have a way of creeping up on you.
Bob Heath figures the row of neglected buildings around the corner from his West Brighton home turned eight years ago.
Lawns became litter and overgrowth. Windows got boarded up. Thoughtless squatters replaced responsible tenants. A bamboo garden in the backyard adjacent to Heath's own transformed into an outright jungle, thick with the giant woody grass sheltering possums, cats, rats and raccoons.
And, before Heath knew it, the three homes were an "eyesore" and "a go-to spot for drugs."
"I've lost track of the time," Heath said recently, standing in front of a neglected home at 177 North Burgher Ave. "Would be a nice house if someone took care of it, God knows what it looks like on the inside."
Arthur Barnickel has been living on Upton Street in Dongan Hills for nearly half a century. He thinks the home next door has been vacant for at least four years.
"Maybe it's a little longer even," Barnickel said. "That house has to come down — it's in disrepair. There's rotten wood and whatever else."
The house at 68 Upton St. is still owned by George Jensen, who is dead. A sedan full of garbage with an expired license plate sits outside the house, which is partially obscured by unkempt grass and weeds. A single window was once boarded up with a scanty piece of plywood.
"On a street like this we gotta have this?" Barnickel asked.
Hundreds of homes and properties are neglected, abandoned or vacant across Staten Island.
So-called zombie homes are typically in foreclosure and abandoned, but others are left vacant and in disrepair by landlords and other private owners or family estates.
Staten Islanders have shared the locations of more than 100 "zombie" properties in their communities with the Advance in recent months.
Worsening quality of life
Neighbors say the properties risk public health and safety, decrease home values and worsen quality of life. Trashy conditions can help spread disease or even flames.
"The biggest concern is we're going to get vagrants moving in there," said John Giba, who lives across the street from a vacant home at 230 Evergreen Ave. in Ocean Breeze.
That house is owned by Drita Karpuzi, who couldn't be reached for comment. A woman who answered a call to a phone number listed as Karpuzi's said she couldn't speak English.
Giba said that the house has been empty since January 2014. While FDNY had no record of a blaze there, Giba said that about a year and a half ago a vagrant broke in and nearly set a fire.
"People squatting, setting fires — it's a concern," Giba said.
'Daily drug use'
Isiah Baskin, 20, described "daily drug use" at a set of abandoned homes on Prospect Street in Stapleton. The homes are owned by "Prospect Jv Development LLC," a limited liability company that could not be reached for comment.
"I've had numerous encounters with the squatters that live here, they're usually drunk or shouting," said Baskin, who works nearby at 5050 Skatepark. "It's just sad to see this part of the neighborhood still be a pit."
Bill Martin lives near two abandoned homes in Grymes Hill. One that was rented by the Wagner College baseball team has been vacant since catching fire in March last year. Squatters lived in the other, a few doors down from Martin at 33 Ridgefield Ave., until a sign was put up warning about video surveillance.
"As you can see it's deteriorating rather badly, the roof around the eves is collapsing, there's some holes in the top," Martin said. The home is owned by Ridgefield Ave Holdings LLC, which couldn't be reached for comment.
At least four windows were shattered at 776 Leverett Ave. in Eltingville on a recent afternoon. A heavy mildew smell wafted from the exposed rooms and poison ivy was found in the backyard. That home is owned by an entity of PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust, which didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
"It's a shamble. I wouldn't go in there," neighbor Ronald Mantovani said. "The windows are busted, there's probably a leak on the roof."
'Creditors calling, calling, calling'
Heath and his wife Kathy live on Henderson Avenue, near a row of four neglected properties on North Burgher Avenue with a vacant lot and three dilapidated homes. (A fourth home on another property wedged between two of the neglected houses is kept maintained.)
Jenson Development Inc. owns the smaller vacant lot at No. 179 and another home next door at No. 185. Public records also show Richard Montalbano owns the other two homes at Nos. 177 and 189. Attempts to reach Jenson Development and Montalbano weren't successful.
Another Richard Montalbano said he doesn't own the properties but has received "hundreds" of calls about them over the years. Creditors, banks, developers and even the city have reached out.
"They tried to arrest me once," the other Montalbano said, noting he had to get rid of his landline and prove he wasn't the owner in court . "Creditors calling, calling, calling..."
'We are at a loss'
After the Advance visited the North Burgher Avenue properties in June, Kathy Sullivan-Heath said the plywood on No. 177's windows were taken down and windows were quickly shattered. She said plants were stolen from neighbors and two strangers were found on her and Heath's front porch. They called the police.
"We don't know if these 2 unwelcome strangers are the squatters," Sullivan-Heath wrote in an email. "We are at a loss re: what to do."
When the Advance returned to the properties in July after receiving her email, 189 North Burgher Ave. was still sealed with cement and boarded with wood panels.
A construction crew was working on No. 185 using electricity from another property across the street. A worker taped three permits to the window only after seeing a reporter and photographer.
Next door at No. 177 also showed signs of life.
The door was open and a pink children's bicycle was parked in front of the house, below one of two large blue "X" marks on the dull beige sidling. One window was broken and most others were ajar. Clothes hung inside swayed with the wind.
"These zombie homes absolutely affect the quality of life, safety and security and property values of us all," Sullivan-Heath wrote.
