‘It’s been a nightmare’: Seattle business owner navigates repeated homeless vandalism

Another Seattle business owner is speaking out, having grown tired of the frequent crime and property damage traced back to local homeless people.

Frank Gillen, property owner of a now-former Bartell Drugs in Seattle, explained on “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that he’s frustrated with the ongoing property damage due to the neighborhood homeless population that, he said, keeps breaking into his building. He said he’s been dealing with vandalism since the drug store closed.

Business owners’ cause for concern

Gillen complained that doing business in Seattle has become an endless battle of reporting property damage, then dealing with the costly clean-up.

“[The homeless] are constantly graffitiing [the building], spray painting, ‘tagging it.’ We have been painting [the building] over and over again,” Gillen said. “It’s non-stop, and then all four sides of the building have been targeted over and over again.”

Gillen mentioned that the vandalism was not limited to the building’s exterior, and vital aspects of the property’s interior received substantial damage.

“I go inside the building, and I see the electrical panels all torn out, destroyed wires, literally like a tornado went through the place,” Gillen said. “They went underneath the building, cutting up all the copper wires, tearing out all the electrical conduits, tearing out the ceiling, pulling out the insulation…It’s just been a nightmare.”

Homeless vandalism makes renting property difficult

Gillen told Rantz that it took a couple of months to clean up recent vandalism on the property. But the homeless continued to do damage to the building, making it difficult to lease the property. 

“[The property] was all cleaned up and in fairly good shape. Then they show a prospective tenant, and I see the doors flung open. I walk through the building and see more damage and destruction, back in the same room again, tearing all the electrical panels apart,” Gillen said.

Gillen said that other business properties in the area, such as the neighboring QFC, have also been affected by homeless vandalism over the last five years.

“The QFC has graffiti on it. They’ve had a problem with shoplifting, and they’re afraid to say something. Well, I’m not,” Gillen said.

Gillen noted that the property has cost him more than $180,000 in damages to fix.

Listen to the full conversation below.

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