CINCINNATI — A group of 137 Madison House condominium owners has lined up to oppose a November lawsuit seeking major structural improvements at the Hyde Park property, claiming they’ve lost millions in property value because of the dispute.
The Madison House Owners Protection Group claims the market value of condos at 2423 Madison Ave. declined by $5.25 million after fellow owner Edgar Ragouzis publicly complained about leaking balconies and crumbling concrete in the 19-story tower. The group is seeking the dismissal of a Nov. 21 lawsuit in which Ragouzis and six other Madison House owners sought the removal of the Madison House Condominium Association board and its management company, Towne Properties LLC.
The group’s 28-page counterclaim asks Hamilton County Judge Christian Jenkins to declare Ragouzis a “vexatious litigator” subject to punitive damages, alleging he has no evidence to support his claims and accusing him of “bringing down the fair market value of the owners’ units so (Ragouzis) can buy the units at a price lower than the market value.”
The I-Team reviewed five years of Hamilton County property records and found the average sale price of Madison House units actually increased 9.6% since Ragouzis went public with his concerns 16 months ago.
But a local realtor said that increase could have been larger without the controversy because property values skyrocketed during the pandemic.
"Values don't grow when there's controversy," said Lee Robinson, broker-owner at Robinson Sotheby's International Realty in Hyde Park. "The lawsuit causes negative dynamics associated with it and that’s not positive for the building or the unit values."
The claim over property values is the latest in a string of legal controversies that began in 2018, when Madison House sued Ragouzis for foreclosure to collect past-due condo fees. Ragouzis responded by accusing the building’s managers of failing to “allocate reserve funding for the execution of regular inspections, repairs and maintenance of all exposed structural concrete.”
The feud went public in 2021, when Ragouzis invited the WCPO 9 I-Team to document exposed rebar and loose concrete in the building’s garage and façade. He said he feared the building could fall “just like Surfside,” a reference to a Florida building collapse that killed 98 people in June 2021. His complaints led to a pair of city crackdowns for building code violations, including orders six months ago to “repair windows, balcony doors, flashing, cracks in the exterior walls or roof leaks that are the source of water infiltration.”
In September, Hamilton County Judge Christopher Wagner cited “serious defects” with Ragouzis’ arguments in the foreclosure case, including his failure to notify all parties who could be impacted by his claims. That case is still pending, but a Jan. 30 hearing will determine whether it should be dismissed because Ragouzis waived his right to sue the condo association when he settled a 2018 claim over water damage in his unit.
Ragouzis joined with six others in a 330-page lawsuit in November that requested a court order halting “all further remediation work” at Madison House “until a safe and reliable process, overseen by independent mechanical and structural engineers, can be instituted through a receiver or a new board.” The lawsuit named more than a dozen Madison House contractors as defendants and every unit owner as interested party defendants, which makes it easier for them to file counterclaims against the building managers and each other.
Dozens of owners retained attorney James Cummins to represent them. His Dec. 28 counterclaim seeks a dismissal of the November lawsuit and a court order forcing Ragouzis to “cease and desist from further litigation.” It also seeks compensatory damages of $5.25 million against Ragouzis and others who joined his November lawsuit plus punitive damages “sufficient to deter the Plaintiffs/Counterclaim Defendants from repeating their unlawful actions.”
The Madison House Condominium Association has yet to respond to the November lawsuit, although it vigorously refuted Ragouzis’ allegations in the 2018 foreclosure case.
“The only support for his claims that the condominium has structural problems is the mere existence of citations issued to the association by the city of Cincinnati,” said one motion filed on Nov. 22. “The director of the city’s Department of Buildings & Inspections, Art Dahlberg, informed Mr. Ragouzis and another owner that the concrete spalling and cracking they reported do not present structural concerns.”
The litigation has gotten personal, with Ragouzis accusing condo managers of using their positions for personal gain while the condo association and residents accused Ragouzis of using threats and bullying tactics to get his way.
Several defendants have asked for more time to respond, while others asked to be dismissed as defendants in the case.
Perhaps the most poignant response came from a Madison House owner who lives elsewhere in Hyde Park but purchased a third-floor unit for future use by a family member.
“Sometimes, as I try to grasp what is happening at Madison House, I think of children playing in the backyard,” wrote Evelyn Roehrig, an 84-year-old former social worker whose two-page letter was filed Dec. 20 as an answer to Ragouzis’ November complaint. “I guess that my prayer is that maturity and common sense will prevail and that a prompt and peaceful resolution to the bullying and bickering will be found, so that work can proceed in a timely, well-coordinated and mutually beneficial manner. The residents deserve to live in a peaceful environment where their peace of mind and overall well-being are not constantly threatened.”
