NORTH COLLEGE HILL, Ohio — A North College Hill dance studio had no choice but to leave its space after water leaked from the roof and flooded the building.
Kimberly Stewart said the leaky roof has been an ongoing problem since August 2023. The Arabesque Dance Academy founder told WCPO 9 News she's been asking the landlord to fix the leak for more than a year, but the problem has gotten worse. The landlord allegedly told her that he couldn't afford to pay for the repairs, so she's looking for help.
"Water was just pouring from the ceiling," said Stewart. "Excuse the mess."
Stewart took us inside the studio Wednesday, showing us what the inside looks like after multiple ceiling tiles fell, with water leaking from the ceiling and flooding the dance studio. There were dozens of missing ceiling tiles on the first floor and basement, pieces of drywall cut out, as well as buckets, plastic containers and garbage bags off to the side. Cell phone video and pictures captured the damage from the water leaking into the studio.
The property was inspected on Feb. 2, which showed holes in the roof. Some of the holes were four feet wide, and pieces of the roof peeled off. The report noted water and roof damage.
"It started to get so loud and it was so active, that's when I said alright you guys got to go," said Stewart.
Now Stewart and her students are having dance classes off-site. When we asked her about the interactions between her and her landlord about fixing the problem, she said it comes down to one answer.
"I'm doing the best I can, I can't afford a $20,000 roof right now," said Stewart.
Watch our interview with Stewart now:
We called the owner of the building, Frank Calloway, to get his side of the story. When we called, a man answered who identified himself as "Mike," but wouldn't give us his last name. He said he was the property manager of the space on 1500 Goodman Avenue.
We asked to speak to the owner, who "Mike" said wasn't available.
When we asked "Mike" about when the owner would be fixing the roof, he said they've made several attempts to fix the problem and they aren't neglecting the building, but said things take time to fix. He also said the cold weather has impacted what they could do and said they've been "wasting money" doing patch jobs.
Later that afternoon, a man called us back and identified himself as owner Frank Calloway, who gave us inconsistent answers over the phone about whether or not the roof had been fixed or will be fixed. The man then said to direct all questions to his lawyer.
"Things like this kind of overshadow the good stories," said Stewart.
Now, she and her students are getting ready for two dance events in the coming weeks, without a permanent dance studio.
"It's disheartening because you work very hard to build your business and to build your brand for someone else's bad business to affect you," said Stewart.
"I have had families who have told me they're not going to return until it's been fixed which is loss of business income which means I can't pay my teachers. We have two big shows coming up where costumes were damaged that just came in that parents just sized their children for."
Records from the Hamilton County Auditor's Office show the property listed to a company called The New Start Enterprise II LLC. and shows the owner is delinquent on property taxes for $11,092.55. The last posted tax payment shows the owner paid $79.76 on October 17, 2023.
We have also reached out to the City of North College Hill for comment, but we haven't heard back.
