The Pajama Factory sits along on Rose street between Park and Memorial Avenues. KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

The lofts at the Pajama Factory in Williamsport could be required by the city to be emptied out pending an appeal hearing before a city board on Tuesday.

Their evictions may be required based on an order to vacate the premises issued July 22 by the city Bureau of Codes.

Mark Winkelman, owner of the historic complex, along with his wife, Susie, who rebranded the former Raytown complex as an incubator for artists and small businesses at 1307 Park Ave., are none too happy about receiving the city order.

Winkelman said the order to vacate was handed to him “out of the blue,” and potentially means the couple and over 150 tenants, with 160 workspaces or 200 people who live and work in the complex, would no longer have a home and the city would experience a loss of the cultural and arts environment that has been around since 2007.

The most recent codes-related issue stems from an inspection of the buildings by a building and codes officer with Barry Isett and Associates, the third-party codes contractor and the city fire inspector, and the assessment that deemed the facility to be an unsafe building due to fire sprinkler and fire alarm systems issues that need to be addressed.

Attempts to reach codes and fire officials were not successful, however, Mayor Derek Slaughter briefed the Sun-Gazette on the matter.

“There’s no wiggle room,” he said, regarding what is in International Business Code (IBC) and fire safety regulations. “It is a life and safety issue.”

The Factory owners were given three options: Address or fix the alarm and sprinkler systems issues identified in the inspection; hire a fire watch service to provide live coverage 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week; or do neither, and they selected a fire watch service, Slaughter said.

There is an appeal of the notice to vacate before the city Building Codes Appeal Board, which will hold a hearing at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Community Theatre League, 100 W. Third St., according to the city.

In a telephone interview, Winkelman said the notice of possible eviction came as a complete surprise.

He said the city officials asked for a “tour to look” at the facility in July and that he obliged.

“They would not return my calls,” he said. He said he sent out a request for proposals for fire watch companies, which was an option for him to take. He said the codes and fire departments were to approve the companies selected, but never gave their approval. Once he received the order to vacate on July 22, Winkelman said he immediately filed for an appeal, which was ignored for 45 days, he added.

The selected fire watch service costs Winkelman $1,000 a day. He said it is preventing the immediate eviction of the tenants.

He gave credit to city Councilwoman Liz Miele with “expediting the process” to get this matter to the appeals board.

He also said the $1,000 a day and other costs were taking away from what otherwise could be invested into the buildings to bring them to proper form.

“We ought to sit down for discussion,” he said, rather than have what he perceived to be a more punitive process.

That money, he said, is being paid using a portion of a $2 million state Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program grant.

The Factory received the grant in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was to be used on the infrastructure, such as paving the parking space and stormwater management.

As for the lack of fire suppression and alarm systems, he said, there is one sprinkler system serving one building and seven sprinkler systems serving eight buildings. Four of those buildings are occupied, he said, and all the occupied buildings have working sprinkler systems.

Winkelman contested the city’s inspection assessment that the buildings are unsafe.

“We are doing so many things to make it safer over the past 17 years,” he said.

Two city officials have said the city has a history of issues regarding the Pajama Factory struggling with building codes adherence.

But Winkelman disputed such an assertion.

“I had difficulty with parking,” he said, adding it was a matter of finding the financing to pave a part of the parking lot on the complex. He also acknowledged in the past he permitted tenants to reside on the premises when he was not supposed to, but said the facility needed a “cash flow.”

As an architect by profession, Winkelman said the IBC and International Existing Building Code and fire safety regulations for buildings are “complex.”

But, he added, how he has worked hard to make sure the buildings are protected in terms of fire safety and he got the building registered with the Department of Interior, which provides a 20% tax credit for improvements to be made to the building.

“One-hundred percent of the rent is paid,” he said.

“I am a steward of the project,” Winkelman said. “I work for them,” he said of the many tenants. “I am trying to get the building restored and occupied. That is my goal. That is my dream.”

“This is a direct threat to our community, our local artists, and the preservation of this historic treasure,” he and his wife stated in a co-signed letter to their tenants, urging them to attend Tuesday’s appeals board hearing.