NEW ORLEANS - It's a facility that houses some of the New Orleans Police Department’s most valuable possessions - not in monetary terms, but when it comes to numerous ongoing criminal investigations.
In June 2007, the city began leasing the space at 1116 Magnolia Street and using it as the NOPD's evidence storage facility.
In the time since, Robert Maloney, the building’s owner, says collecting the more than $17,000 per month rent has been a hassle.
"We've had problems getting the lease paid ever since its beginning," Maloney said. "They'll get three or four months behind and we'll complain and we have to file suit. You know, the lawyers will get involved and then we'll get a couple of months rent."
Maloney showed Eyewitness News page after page of e-mails he's sent to city employees, asking for payment.
But the excuses, he says, keep piling up.
As of Monday, Maloney said the city owes him more than $72,000.
The balance includes rent, interest, legal fees from earlier lawsuits, and even repairs made to the building, which he says the city agreed to pay, but hasn't.
In three days, when the calendar shifts to July, Maloney says the total will exceed $91,000.
"It's just a day to day fight. I don't think we've ever, ever been paid rent on time," Maloney said. "I thought when we had a new administration that, at least, people would take care of their obligations. It's an obligation. It's a lease transaction. I have to pay the bank. So, I can't tell the bank that the city doesn't pay me."
Cedric Grant, the city's deputy mayor for facilities and infrastructure, says this issue is one of many problems inherited from Mayor Ray Nagin’s administration.
Grant says the evidence facility lease is a 100 percent FEMA-funded deal.
But under Nagin's administration, Grant says the city didn't have the appropriate mechanisms set up to channel the FEMA cash toward Maloney.
Instead, the city, he says, often fronted the money.
"I have corrected that. We've now put that back in the queue to where it should be and going forward, there should not be a difficult problem at all because that's what the money is for," Grant said. "We're dealing with millions of different problems, but what I can assure you is, we've gotten to the bottom of this one. We've fixed it and (Maloney) should not see any problems going forward.”
Grant says the city will pay its due balance this week.
If it doesn't happen, Maloney says he's prepared to take legal action, again.
"My next step is, I'm gonna have to file suit,” he said. “My understanding of the suit would be -- they'll go in there one morning after notice and lock the building down, and the police wouldn't be allowed in the building.
