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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It's on the historic Kansas City`s current list of the 10 most-endangered buildings in the metro.

Sauer Castle, in Kansas City, Kan., is almost 150 years old, and many residents are furious with the condition it's in.

Fox 4's Melissa Stern spoke with the property owner Wednesday about his response to all the hoopla surrounding the landmark 19th century mansion that sits on Shawnee Road and Bower Street on a hill above the Kaw River Valley.

“Every year it's getting worse. This summer, the past storms we've had with the big winds, it's really taking a toll on the house, the roof, on the tower," says Jason Simmons, a sixth-generation KCK resident, who started the Sauer Castle Facebook group. "I don`t know if it's going to last a harsh winter.”

The group, which has almost 7,000 members, shares its unhappiness with the demise of the Sauer Castle property.

“If my grass gets tall, or if I have a car that hasn't moved for a while, I'm going to get a letter, like most of the people who live in the area,” Simmons says. “How is he getting by without doing anything?”

The man Simmons is referring to is New York City businessman Carl Lopp.

“I`m a fifth-generation Kansan. It was built by my great-great-grandfather, and my great-grandmother, my grandmother and my mother all grew up here,” Lopp told Fox 4 during a phone interview.

Lopp says the castle is 100-percent structurally sound, but there's always work to do.

“The castle is being well taken care of. There's a lot of work that needs to be done, but we're attending to all that, and it is my desire and goal to have the castle fully restored,” Lopp adds. “People should just lay off, and quit speculating about things that they have no understanding of and knowledge of.”

Simmons and others within the Facebook group say the castle is slowly deteriorating, and they want to see the registered national historic landmark restored.

“It needs major repair work, the brickwork may be good, the foundation may be good, but if you don`t have a roof, the rest of the house is gonna go,” Simmons says.

The Unified Government says it has made several attempts in the past to take action on the property.

When property taxes were delinquent, the owner would make payments at the last minute to keep it from being transferred to the land bank.

No one has lived in the castle for a long time. A video taken inside the castle from 2011 was taken by someone who says it's clear it's in terrible shape.

Despite the constant negative attention, Lopp says he wants to keep it in the family.

“We`re continuing working on improving the castle and working on trying to bring it back to its full glory,” Lopp adds.

The city did try to gain control of the castle almost two decades ago.

The Kansas Court of Appeals also threw out housing code violations the Unified Government filed against Lopp.

Due to a change in Kansas law years ago limiting local government power to involve itself with private property, there isn't much they can do about the complaints from neighbors.

Lopp did want to make sure it's known that the castle is private property and anyone who does not have permission to be there is trespassing.

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