NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Residents of the still condemned SeaView Lofts apartment complex may have read a different headline about their former home Monday morning.
Almost four months after safety violations forced residents out in July, Newport News authorities found a man dead inside the apartment complex.
They believe the man was in his 50s and died of natural causes. Attorneys representing the building's owner, Ben Weinstein, confirmed Tuesday the man who died was an apartment tenant.
What the city or police haven’t clarified yet is how long the man may have been inside before officers conducted the welfare check.
While residents were allowed to go back inside to gather belongings, the possibility of people staying in the building had been brought up at past court hearings by code officers and city attorneys as early as late August.
A Newport News spokesperson confirmed in August the city received complaints about people living in the building.
13News Now asked the attorneys for SeaView’s owner whether they were aware of these updates. The following is the full response from attorney Joshua David, one of the legal counsels representing Weinstein, on Aug. 22 following a status hearing:
“The city had told us about that late last week. Apparently people entered the building, but they’re certainly not living there. I don’t know if anyone was living there or they were merely coming in to get their possessions I’m not sure what people were doing, but if somebody was living there they’re certainly not 'living' there with the owner’s permission. We’re going to follow the law.”
Attorneys provided the following statement in our inquiry today:
Mr. Weinstein and the staff at Seaview are saddened by the passing of one of the Seaview tenants. Because of privacy concerns, Seaview cannot disclose the tenant’s identity, but can confirm that it understands the tenant passed away from natural causes. Seaview has not permitted any person to reside in the building since the condemnation order. However, Seaview has facilitated access by tenants to their units so that they could retrieve personal property.