Empty units sit side-by-side in Camelot Village seven months after Tropical Storm Chantal rocked Chapel Hill.
One condo owner said the community has largely turned into a ghost town. Both renters and owners are wondering when it will come back to life.
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“I hope that progress will be made quickly on getting funds to build these units back so that this can be the vibrant little place it was in Chapel Hill before the storm,” Andrew Shaver told WRAL.
Shaver said he bought his unit in 2022. Before Chantal, his specific unit had no history of flooding. Since the storm, he has taken matters into his own hands, repairing the unit himself.
Of the 76 units impacted by the storm, roughly six owners have started their own repairs, according to the property management company.
“I did in anticipation of everything else progressing,” Shaver said. “Part of the question I have now is, what if we're one of a handful of people that ever live here again? Are they actually going to build this place back? That is a question. I don't know.”
Barbara Duffy with the property management company said red tape with federal emergency management and the insurance company has caused delays.
“We've seen one of the worst floods probably in 30 years, but this has been our most difficult claim in terms of working with the adjuster,” Duffy said.
She said they are working as quickly as they can to get people back into their units.
“It's not by any stretch been because we have not wanted to do the work. We've had contractors ready to work, and we've spent a lot of time and energy and doing the administrative side of things,” Duffy told WRAL. “I just hope that they understand that we've tried to do everything on our end to expedite this, but it's been a challenge.”
Both Shaver and Trey Tanner repaired their own units. They both say they spent roughly $20,000 to get back up to code.
They’re both hopeful that insurance will reimburse them.
“Obviously, hoping for the investment to come back through the investment company....I don't know if I can bank on that or not,” Shaver said.
Getting that money back will be its own process, according to Duffy.
“We can only pay out based on what the adjuster had approved for that unit,” she said.
Tanner said he has not gotten many updates since an insurance adjuster came out just a few weeks after the storm in July.
“I want to see a copy of the policy…Can I see what allowances were determined for our unit?” Tanner questioned.
Duffy said that because of the back-and-forth with the insurance company and the federal programming, the property management company is also still learning new information.
“I didn't have the number to tell owners really,” she explained. “I think we just got a few on Friday…It has literally been in the last week that we've just gotten information, so we have to assess it.”
