Bright yellow signs papered windows two months ago at a west Jackson apartment complex, condemning the Grand Chateau as uninhabitable and warning trespassers they could be fined.
Despite the city’s efforts, several squatters remain in the dilapidated building. Furniture still sits abandoned in walkways, and clothes hang from railings.
Prompted by the city’s request, a city judge last month put the property’s owner, Ramesh Ramchandran, on notice: Fix the property or go to jail.
The Grand Chateau has become an early test of Jackson’s more aggressive approach to landlords accused of neglecting properties and contributing to blight across the city. In recent months, city attorneys have filed lawsuits against the owners of three apartment complexes in Jackson’s environmental court, including the Grand Chateau.
A look at some of the units at the Grand Chateau Apartments, located at 1576 W Capitol Street, Monday, July 27, 2026, in Jackson Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodayWithout the money to eliminate Jackson’s blight issue, the city is turning to more aggressive means to reduce stress on the city’s resources.
Jackson has more than 3,200 identified blighted properties, the majority of which are single family homes but also includes large apartment complexes and commercial properties.
“It would cost something like $80 million to locate and clean up and or demolish all of the blighted properties in the city,” City Attorney Drew Martin said.
“That’s almost the entire city budget,” he said. “We don’t have the kind of money to do that.”
The city can only afford to demolish a few large-scale properties a year, with larger developments like apartment complexes costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to demolish, Martin said.
Jackson usually relies on liens to recoup costs on cleaning, maintaining and demolishing blighted properties. Ward 7 councilmember Kevin Parkinson said at a recent council meeting that the city netted $12,000 out of the nearly $900,000 spent on work this past year.
The recent environmental court filings are meant to shift costs to property owners — focusing on those the city deems to have the resources to rehabilitate or demolish properties on their own.
The Grand Chateau is not the only property the city is targeting.
Environmental Court Judge Jeffery Reynolds found the owner and senior asset manager of Chapel Ridge apartments, another development in west Jackson, guilty of four code violations because of debris and burned structures.
Khristina Miracle, left, chats with former neighbor Joe Jackson near the unit where they once lived at the Chapel Ridge Apartments located at 1636 Raymond Road in south Jackson, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. The apartment unit was destroyed by a fire Saturday night. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodayOwners of another property, Addison Place Apartments — which shut water off to residents in July — appeared in environmental court Tuesday over various code violations. In addition to the lack of running water, the property had broken windows, mold, roof damage and unmowed grass.
While litigation has become the face of the fight against blight, Martin said the city is working to enforce more administrative action early on by better enforcing existing codes, including Mississippi’s nuisance laws.
Martin said the city will be filing similar suits with Hinds County Chancery Court to rehabilitate dilapidated properties.
The city can do more to prevent properties from falling into disrepair, Martin said, so blighted properties don’t become city responsibilities.
He pointed to House Bill 1404, which was passed during the last legislative session and signed into law, that makes it a criminal offense for landlords to receive payment for utilities from a tenant but fail to pay them to the provider — resulting in interruptions to the tenant’s utility service.
Chapel Ridge faced a $100,000 unpaid water bill with JXN Water — an issue that led to the complex rapidly becoming a blighted property.
While the city is turning to the courts to hold property owners accountable, it can only do so when owners can be located and are willing to cooperate.
Ramchandran was served with a trial notice at his 6,000-square-foot Georgia home on Aug. 22 — just short of a month after Entergy shut power to the Jackson complex.
Ramchandran serves as the manager of Kayram Atlanta LLC, according to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office. The Georgia-based company has owned the West Capitol Street property since 2021.
Criminal charges can help hold property owners accountable. In the event they flee, they can be arrested. Martin said there’s not much the city can do against a property owner who disappears prior to action being taken.
City Attorney Drew Martin speaks on the city’s water issues during a town hall meeting held at City Hall, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today“We’ve got to do more to make sure people don’t feel like they can get away with that,” Martin said.
Last month, Reynolds found Ramchandran guilty of seven environmental charges stemming from unsafe structures, illegal dumping and lack of upkeep. He called the Grand Chateau a “dangerous menace.”
He ordered Ramchandran to pay $1,750 in fees and face 630 days in jail unless he applied within 30 days – now about two weeks left – for a permit to fix or demolish the property.
Ramchandran was also required to post a $1.25 million secured appearance bond in case he fails to comply with the court’s order. The amount would cover the cost of razing the Grand Chateau.
Ramchandran did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
The Grand Chateau became part of the city’s fight against blight when Entergy cut power to the complex in July after signs of meter tampering. The complex was supposed to be vacant.
Ramchandran testified during his court hearing that eviction notices were sent to tenants in May 2025 to prepare the complex for renovations, which the property owner asserts were ultimately stopped because of what he described as gun violence.
One former contractor, Kendrick Holmes, disputed that claim and asserted that renovations stopped in 2024 because of payment issues. He recounted being sent to Lowe’s weekly for renovation supplies using Ramchandran’s company card, only for it to be declined.
A previous property manager, Pierce Wiburn, corroborated Holmes’ claims about the lack of gun violence and payment issues.
The property incurred several violations from code enforcement officers after Holmes left the project.
Outside of legal action, city officials are exploring other avenues to lessen the city’s blight problems.
Jackson City Council member Vernon Hartley listens during a council meeting at City Hall in Jackson on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayCouncilmembers Vernon Hartley and Ashby Foote want to establish a blight and neighborhood recovery plan, now in the works for more than a year.
In collaboration with Jackson State University, which helped collect data for the city, Hartley said the plan creates a step-by-step guide to clear roadways, remove trash from illegal dumping sites and demolish properties.Hartley said the city hopes to present the plan during the state’s next legislative session to get financial backing for the city’s fight, although he could not specify an amount Jackson would seek from lawmakers.“We’re gonna have to show something first,” Hartley said. “It’s gonna require us going in and showing folks, ‘Hey we’re serious about it.’”
Hartley said there are discussions to hire an investigator to help the city identify and build cases against owners of blighted properties.
Parkinson also wants to enlist volunteers to help already strained code enforcement officers identify blighted properties. In September, the City Council approved a proposal from Ward 4 Councilmember Brian Grizzell’s that would partner the city with a debt collection firm to recoup costs from owners who owe the city money.
It’s not clear if these efforts will make long-term changes to Jackson’s blight issues. There’s no tangible evidence that any of these efforts are working outside of current pending litigation, and there won’t be for several months, Martin said.
However, he said he’s confident Jacksonians will begin to see results from the continued efforts within the coming months.
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