AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — North Amarillo resident Keith Grays revels in the history of the North Heights neighborhood, and reflects on a time when it was an anchor for working families.
“The history of the apartments here was an elder in our community whose last name was Mrs. Ray, who really started this complex, probably in the mid 1960s,” said Keith Grays, a north Amarillo resident. “It was the pride and joy of North Heights Amarillo.”The apartments Grays speaks of are the old Hilltop Apartments, which was once full of families and life. It’s now a vacant building full of hazardous conditions.“We shouldn’t have to live like this. Who wants to walk past a haunted house? The kids in school are calling these things haunted houses. This is a neighborhood. It’s not a dump yard!,” said Grays.
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Another concern, according to residents we spoke with, there are squatters living in the building, which sits right across the street from an elementary school.The City of Amarillo told MyHighPlains.com that its working towards resolution.“This property is currently going through the condemnation process,” said Jacob Marshal, City Marshal for the City of Amarillo. “On October 15, we declared it a dangerous structure, and that’s essentially because it is a nuisance and it is a hazardous due to the being an open structure.”But it will take time, Diaz told us it can take anywhere from three to six months for a decision, depending on several factors.
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“We’ve been working with the property owner to try to keep it secure, and they’ve been doing a fairly good job of that up until mid summer, and we started getting more complaints again. We followed up, and that’s when we decided to declare a dangerous structure. So the process now it’s got to go to the Condemnation Appeals Commission,” Diaz explained.Diaz told MyHighPlains.com that the date of the hearing is Thursday, February 5th, 2026. From there the decision as to whether or not to demolish the building will be made.“They’ll make the decision on whether we demolish the property move forward with demolition, or if the property owner shows up to the hearing or asked to have a to rehab the property or remodel the property,” Diaz said.The bidding process for a demolition contractor could take up to eight weeks. As for North Heights residents, they said they’re glad to see a resolution coming soon.
For the latest Amarillo news and regional updates, check with MyHighPlains.com and tune in to KAMR Local 4 News at 5:00, 6:00, and 10:00 p.m. and Fox 14 News at 9:00 p.m. CST.…