Borrer Towers
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Borrer Towers VSB |
| Borrer Towers
Williamsville [38, 99]
Basic Info:
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Description
A 12 story sandstone apartment building, comprising a total of 24 apartments.
Barricading policy
Borrer Towers is to be kept Extremely Heavily Barricaded at all times.
If you're looking for an entry point and don't want to waste any AP, take a look at the Williamsville Barricade Plan.
If you're looking for nearby Revive Points, take a look at the list.
Note: This advice is according to the local barricading plan, and may vary from the UBP or locally developed plans.
For more info on barricade plans, click here or take a look at this location's suburb page.
History
When Borrer Towers was first built in 1964, it claimed to offer living space for 48 families in 4 units per floor, but in reality Alfred Borrer, the Hungarian-American project developer who owned the property, had overestimated this severely to maximize profits.
Mr. Williams, who moved to one of the "luxury" apartments shortly after the building was finished immediately filed a complaint with the Malton City Council. Since Mr. Borrer had bribed most of the members, however, his complaints were largely ignored and Mr. Williams moved out in August 1967 after losing several thousand Pounds on unsuccessful lawsuits.
In 1968, only about half of the apartments was actually rented out, 18 of which were actually used by families as their primary home. A manifest, found in the basement when the building was renovated in 1999, stated a full list of tenants from this period:
- 1st Floor: Mr. Walker & family, Mr. Munroe & family, 2 vacancies.
- 2nd Floor: 4 vacancies.
- 3rd Floor: 4 vacancies.
- 4th Floor: Ashendale Inc., Mr. Ashen & family, 2 vacancies.
- 6th Floor: Ms. Lovelace, Mr. Carson & family, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Fankers & family.
- 7th Floor: Whitty Bank
- 8th Floor: Mr. Simons & family, Mr. Quartermane & family, 2 vacancies.
- 9th Floor: Mr. McGreggor, Mr. O'Donnely & family, 2 vacancies.
- 10th Floor: Mr. Scolch & family, Mr. Fastesi & family, 2 vacancies.
- 11th Floor: 4 vacancies.
- 12th Floor: Williamsville Real Estate Co.
The vacancies on the 2nd and 3rd floors can be explained by complaints that had been filed since the opening of the building in 1964: most of them were about leakages from the floors above and it never seemed to have been handled properly. According to construction workers involved with renovations decades later, the stench was "the stuff o' nightmares".
Whitty Bank had taken custody of the entire 7th Floor as collateral for several outstanding loans of Mr. Borrer, and they planned to use it as storage, but that idea never really came to fruition, most notably by a severe lack of elevators.
Mr. Borrer had sold the 12th floor to the Williamsville Real Estate Co., a local initiative that was supposed to enable small investors to band together and participate in the thriving market that was Malton real estate. The Borrer project was their first and only investment.
In 1991 Mr. Borrer was charged with dozens of cases of fraud, embezzlement, blackmail and half a dozen other crimes. When officers of the Dibbings Plaza Police Department arrived at his home, they found he had already fled and taken as much with him as possible. Whitty Bank took full ownership of Borrer Towers as Mr. Borrer was no longer willing or able to fulfill his loans with them. Over the next few years, the last few families left the building for more proper homes more towards the city center, and when the Williamsville Real Estate Co. filed for bankruptcy in 1997, the bank was free to do with the building as they pleased.
Several plans were suggested throughout 1998, and in November of that year they chose the idea of Mr. Elijah Frump, a local project developer with political ambitions, who wanted to upgrade the living standards in Williamsville as a way to kickstart his image after earlier rumours about infidelity and financial trickery had damaged said image. The building was to be entirely renovated and the amount of living units would be halved. An elevator would be installed at the very center of the marble lobby and the square footage of each apartment would be expanded considerably.
Along with new plumbing and a complete rewiring of all cables, Borrer Towers cleaned up rather well and Mr. Frump made a colossal profit on the sale of apartments.
The outbreak put a stop to all that, and over the past decade, the building has reverted to its rundown state...
