Mike Higgins got what he wanted out of the Farwell Building: a bunch of money for basically no investment at all. Of course, that came after he sold off the best pieces from the once-spectacular lobby, as noted above, and left the building open allowing the rest of it to be stripped.

Now I'm sure he is hoping for a similar deal on the Leland, which is a potentially valuable property in today's downtown market. But not so valuable that the long-time slum king is willing to put any money into it, or do anything for the human needs of his tenants. I was once unfortunately a neighbor of this sleazeball and he was every bit as greedy and repulsive as you might guess. I'm appalled that he is still operating by his old slumlord playbook in our otherwise much-improved city, but I guess I shouldn't be. Once a slumlord always a slumlord. In a just society he'd be in prison, instead he's still out there drooling for his next windfall.