Wooster Square Hovel Condemned

Michael Smart was walking home on William Street in Wooster Square when a man who spoke little English asked for help: He had no running water in his apartment, he said, and his building was falling apart.

“I’ll make a call for you,” Smart told the man. He was New Haven’s city clerk, who used to represent Wooster Square on the Board of Alders.

Soon officials from the city’s anti-blight agency, the Livable City Initiative, along with the fire and building departments, were at the man’s house — and encountering a sight and stench so wretched that one of them had to pause and step aside, gagging.

“It had to be one of the worst houses I’ve ever seen,” remarked city Building Official Jim Turcio, who has navigated many a wretched dwelling. ​“The back porch broke as soon as I walked on it.”

That scene took place late Saturday afternoon. By the time the team was done, Turcio condemned the three-family house as unfit for human habitation. And LCI found hotel rooms for the two Spanish-speaking families who rented apartments there.

Turcio and the other inspectors encountered ceilings crumbling on all the floors, already caving in.

They discovered hoses running from the basement, where a water main and pipes had broken. The hoses were carrying water to the first- and third-floor apartments, leaking and gradually destroying ceilings and filling the house with mold. ​“The guy on the first floor hadn’t had water for a year,” Turcio said. The stench of animal feces and mold pervaded the house, especially on the third floor.

Outside, columns were rotted out. Portions of the roof were missing. The place looked ready to collapse.

The second-floor apartment, where the owner of record, Nikola Klissourov used to live, has been vacant. Klissourov could not be reached for comment Sunday.

“We’ve had our eyes on that house for a while. It’s been an eyesore for years,” said Smart, who used to own the house next door to it.

The building was unsecured on Sunday. A stroll through portions of it revealed wreckage, peeling and partially collapsed ceilings and broken stairs. The apartment and basement were clogged with junk.

The house is now in foreclosure.

According to the city’s database, Nikola and Victoria Klissourov bought the house in 2000 from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD first purchased the property for $22,5000 from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, according to the database, then transferred it to the Klissourovs for $0. The property is recorded as having been transferred solely into Nikola’s name in 2008. Thanks to over $212,600 in improvements, its appraised value is listed as having risen to $317,000 by 2014.

But also in 2014, the city won a foreclosure judgment against Klissourov over a $10,438.84 debt, according to state court records. The court set the property’s fair market value at $325,000. And a foreclosure sale was scheduled. But then, according to the state judicial website, Corelogic, a lender made a payment on behalf of Klissourov, staving off the foreclosure.

Bank of America had a separate foreclosure action dating back to 2012. The bank assumed Klissourov’s mortgage on the property from the late Fleet Bank. According a Bank of America’s court filing, Klissourov owes an unpaid balance of $253,697.56 on that mortgage, all of which is in default, plus interest and collection costs. The water authority and sewage authority also have liens on the property for unpaid debts. In January the bank filed a motion for default based on Klissourov’s failure to appear in court. The bank’s latest filing in the case was this past March 15, when it submitted a motion for judgment of strict foreclosure.

If Bank of America’s track record in town is any indication, the house on William Street could remain vacant, and a neighborhood problem, for quite some time.