While a severe nor’easter thrashed the New Jersey coast, a candidate for council in Somers Point found himself without running water in his apartment.
Levi Fox, the last remaining tenant of a property that’s poised for redevelopment, said his water was turned off on Oct. 13 — part of what he described as ongoing harassment from his landlord that he’s faced at the property.
Fox, a Democrat, believes the move, and the fact that a campaign sign for his Republican opponent was placed on the property, are politically motivated, and are among the reasons he’s running for office.
Except no one knows for sure who did it.
Fox has lived at the Highbank Apartments at 90 Broadway for 18 years. Tenants in 16 other rental units vacated the building by Dec. 31, 2024 after they were told the property was being redeveloped, leaving Fox and his wife as the only residents left on the property.
A redevelopment agreement between Exceler Building Solutions and Somers Point from July 2024 says it’ll be turned into 25 multi-family residences. According to Fox, the bayfront homes are expected to have million-dollar price tags.
The redevelopment agreement with Exceler was rescinded in August by city council, and Somers Point Acquisitions was designated the owner and redeveloper.
The property was under contract to be sold in July, but a condition of the sale was that all tenants vacated the property, according to a report from the Ocean City Sentinel.
Fox said Point Property Holdings, the company that is listed on tax records, and its principal, John Folz, are to blame for turning off his water.
He said he turned down a $70,000 offer from Folz on Oct. 3 to leave the apartment and drop a lawsuit he filed against the Somers Point Planning Board challenging the approval of the redevelopment plan.
He claims he has an agreement with Folz, Point Property Holdings, and the redeveloper to stay on the property until September 2026.
“Besides our water being turned off during a state of emergency, the laundry room was locked, a dumpster has been moved from the property and there lighting issues on the property,” Fox told NJ Advance Media.
Fox said water has been turned off to the property’s laundry room since Oct. 10 and has not been turned back on. However, the water to his apartment was turned back on on Oct. 13 shortly after it was turned off.
On a phone call, Folz denied owning the property and declined to answer further questions before quickly hanging up.
Fox, who lost a 2020 election for city council by only 47 votes, has also accused Folz of aligning with his Republican opponent for council Sean McGuigan in the upcoming election. A sign for McGuigan was placed out front of the apartments, but then disappeared. Then, the water was shut off.
McGuigan posted about the missing sign on Facebook on Sept 19, but said last week that he didn’t know anything about Fox’s water situation.
“I don’t know what that property owner did or did not do. I didn’t know that Levi’s water was turned off,” McGuigan told NJ Advance Media.
A picture Fox sent of a New Jersey American Water dashboard that lists Point Property Holdings as the account holder shows a description that the water was scheduled to be turned off because the tenant was moving out on Oct. 10. Fox denies that’s part of the deal.
New Jersey American Water did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox said he reported the incident to the borough, but Somers Point officials are just as confused about the situation as Fox is.
According to Somers Point’s attorney, Thomas Smith, Fox had a conversation with city officials about the water issue, but never responded to a follow-up email Smith sent to learn more about what happened.
Smith said the deed for the property’s sale has not been filed yet and it’s unclear at this time who actually owns the property.
The city has been told by both Fox and the developer’s attorney that there is an agreement for Fox to stay at the property, but that legal agreement has never been shared with the city, according to Smith.
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