Louis Aguilar

The Detroit News

The artists and small businesses in the Russell Industrial Center, a facility the city contends is plagued with safety and code violations, can keep operating there as long as the building owners continue to work on the long list of mandated repairs.

The ruling came Friday afternoon, providing some relief to the hundreds of tenants at the sprawling factory complex. On Feb. 21, they were told to vacate their space within days.

“There’s been so much uncertainty, and none of it’s been our fault,” said Terry Myles, who has had a woodshop at the Russell for 28 years. “This is good but, it’s not a final decision. We’re just tired.”

On Friday, the board of appeals for the city Building, Safety and Engineering and Environmental Department approved a consent agreement that will allow the tenants to stay. But the building owners must make a series of fixes with rolling deadlines that begins as soon as three weeks. The board is made up various members of city agencies and the two fire department officials voted against the agreement because they said the complex may still pose major safety threats to the tenants.

The building owners countered major fixes to the sprinkler system have already been made.

The owners illegally allowed artists, antique furniture resale, photography and music studios, a counseling center and fitness space to operate there, city officials said.

“They have erected walls using combustible materials, illegally installed plumbing and heating systems in numerous units without the proper permits, inspections and approvals,” Detroit buildings department director David Bell said in a statement at the time of February order. “During a recent inspection, the smell of natural gas from the multiple illegal installations was so strong, DTE had to be immediately called to correct the leak.”

Since the February vacate order, many tenants have pushed back, saying it’s virtually impossible to leave their spaces under such short notice. Still, about 70 percent of the tenants decided to permanently move out, said Eric Novack, manager of the center.

Glass blower Adam Thomas, 33, is among the remaining tenants. His Juicebox studio includes a 2,000-pound furnace, and a 1,000-pound kiln — objects that are virtually impossible to move quickly, he said Friday before the hearing. “It’s been confusion ever since I got that notice,” he said.

“How could you not expect financial ruin by having to suddenly move out,” he added. Thomas said he has had his studio at the Russell for four years.

The cost will be heavy for the building owners to implement the requested repairs, which includes sprinkler system maintenance and a host of code violations, a lack of permits and fines. Owners earlier estimated the changes could cost from $250,000 to $500,000.

The Russell center is among the dozens of Detroit properties owned by entities linked to Dennis Kefallinos that are need of repair or are vacant. Kefallinos, in a recent Detroit News interview, said he has ownership in a “lot of empty buildings” that he’s “eventually working slowly to open.”

Kefallinos said he aims to keep things affordable. “Some developers are going for $2 a square foot,” he said, referring to the formula for rent of residential spaces. “Sometimes we go for 50 cents a square foot.”

Some tenants are paying $400 for 1,000 square feet.

The building was designed by Albert Kahn in 1915 and first housed J.W. Murray Manufacturing Co., which made stamped metal parts for the auto industry. It later served as the Michigan Stamping Plant before Harry and Leona Helmsley, famous for their chain of hotels, became owners in the 1970s. More recently, Wintor-Swan Associates bought it to house an advertising circular printing business. That venture failed and, in 2003, the Clay Street Group purchased the complex.

Since then, Russell has become a haven for artists and small businesses, and its spaces have served as the site for movies, including scenes in 2016’s “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.”

laguilar@detroitnews.com

Twitter@LouisAguilar_DN