"According to deed records, the Indigo is owned by Big Bostonian 1 LLC. When the complex sold last year, The News reported that Bostonian Investment Group purchased it for about $13 million. The company had previously operated as the Lindahl Group, based in Massachusetts.
Records show that all of the companies are affiliated with David Lindahl, who has written books about multifamily investing and has marketed his techniques to other investors around the country.
Meszaros told The News last year that [Lindahl's] company owned more than 4,000 apartments in Texas. On Thursday, a representative of the Lindahl Group in Massachusetts referred all queries about the Indigo to Meszaros. Meszaros did not return a message left at his Dallas office, and no one answered the phone at his Dallas home.
After Wednesday's fire, Carey Jones, vice president of operations for Enviro Engineering LLC in Waxahachie, wrote an e-mail to The News saying his company recently had filed a lien against the Indigo's owners for nearly $47,000 in unpaid work.
In an interview, Jones called the Indigo's air-conditioning system "incredibly run down and dilapidated." He said his workers walked off the job a couple of months ago when it became apparent they weren't going to be paid.
"I can't begin to describe to you the issues they had there," Jones said of the Indigo.
Records confirm that lien and another by Enviro Engineering for nearly $10,000 against a Lindahl-affiliated apartment complex in Arlington.
Jones said he has turned the matter over to attorneys.
Other contractors also have had problems getting paid, records show.
BCJ Professional Mechanical Services Inc. of DeSoto filed a lien last October (since paid), saying the owners of Indigo owed $38,000 for work performed at the complex between July and September.
Guardian Construction and Guardian Interior Design of Farmers Branch filed three liens, totaling $98,000, against Bostonian Investment Group last month for work at [Lindahl's]complexes in Dallas, Arlington and White Settlement."