In this Nifty he said-she said debate, only one thing’s for certain, owner says

Steve Jahn would have rather not talked for this story.

That’s because the Nifty Nut House owner feels like in a debate over his pending demolition of an apartment complex for a parking lot, only one thing is for certain:

“You can’t defend yourself in this . . . because you’ll still be the bad guy.”

The basic issue is simple, but some of the details get a little more complicated.

Here’s what happened:

Kris Sims’ family owned a 24-unit complex at 520 E. Central for decades. Technically, it’s a rooming house, which she said is similar to having a hotel and motel license. That’s how her mother set it up, Sims said.

“If someone does not pay their rent, I do not have to go and evict them. I eject.”

After her parents died, Sims said her siblings didn’t want to keep the building.

“Well, you know how it is when both the parents pass away and then siblings don’t want to mess with anything? That’s what happened.”

She said she knew Jahn was interested in the property, and the family sold it to him in 2018. At the time, he said he planned a parking lot there, but not for several years.

Sims said Jahn said he’d give plenty of notice when he was ready. Jahn said he doesn’t recall that but said it could be the case.

“I thought the kind thing to do was to retain her for the management of it,” he said.

Sims owns C-Rae Properties and manages a number of apartment complexes.

Last fall, Jahn said he approached Sims about some paperwork issues with the complex, and he confronted her about them again in March.

“There was a lot of discrepancies from my point of view,” he said.

Sims said there were issues because Jahn wasn’t as open as he needed to be nor was he available to sign checks.

“He got really angry and said, ‘I’m done,’ ” Sims said. “He didn’t say, ‘I’m going to tear the building down.’ ”

Jahn said he was upset and did say he was done, but he said he also said that “it’s time to take it down.”

“Whether she indicated this to her tenants or not, that seems to be where the problem lies,” he said. “She heard me plain and square in March. She was disappointed. She does not want that building to go down, and I get that.”

Sims said she would prefer to save the building, but if she can’t, she said what she wants is for Jahn to stick to his word and give tenants more time to leave.

“He told me to give everybody 30-day notice on the 29th of September.”

Though there are vacancies at some of the other properties Sims manages, she said none are as inexpensive as the $295 studios at this apartment.

She said 20 of the 24 units are rented, and most of those tenants are in studios.

“It’s about throwing them out on the street,” Sims said.

The issue has gotten a lot of attention on social media and from a couple of TV stations.

“It just became nothing but negative,” Jahn said. “A lot of people want to share the hate, and unfortunately, it seems to be aimed at me. . . . All I’ve done is read some of these (comments) that we’re putting profit before people.”

He said in a business selling candy and nuts, the margins are already slim.

“Most people know us and what we do, and I’ve tried to err on the customer’s side forever.”

Demolition of the building will take about a week, and the new parking — probably 30 to 40 spaces — likely will be ready in November.

During the busy holiday season, Jahn said, customers wind up parking on several streets around the store.

The new lot “will just allow for, honestly, better service for the customers and more convenience for them.”

Jahn, who is accustomed to having a business that makes people happy, is learning how things can sometimes come across and immediately added:

“That probably sounds crass in this whole situation. I don’t mean it to.”