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GREENSBORO — When bulldozers leveled the cinder-block houses and duplexes on Guerrant Street two years ago, city leaders, housing advocates and neighbors thought it was the end of a long battle with a difficult landlord.

“They were in bad shape,” said Guerrant Street neighbor Harry Elium.

“Everyone was happy to see them go down,” said his wife, Mary.

But the protracted fight with landlord Bill Agapion continued this week, when he sued the city, charging wrongful taking of real estate.

Agapion alleges that he had made partial or full renovations to the nine buildings, but the city unfairly denied his requests for additional time to complete the repairs and razed the buildings, according to the complaint filed in Guilford County Superior Court.

Agapion requested unspecified compensation for damages.

Irene Agapion-Palamaris, his daughter and spokeswoman, declined to discuss the details of the case Wednesday.

Butch Simmons, Greensboro’s director of engineering and inspections, called the claim frivolous.

“They did try to do some work, but it was way too little, way too late,” Simmons said. “At that point they had been deemed to be torn down by the housing commission.”

For years, Agapion’s low-rent properties have been a source of considerable attention from housing advocates and city inspectors.

Agapion is among the landlords with the most inspection violations, according to the Greensboro Housing Coalition. In 2006, he settled a lawsuit brought on behalf of a child who got lead poisoning while living in one of his apartments.

But city leaders said Agapion’s company, Arco Realty, has been making some headway in the past few years, fixing up some of its properties.

“We have always welcomed inspections and worked with inspectors,” Agapion-Palamaris said. “We want to be able to get along well, otherwise we can’t function.”

In 2004, the city ordered Agapion to repair the Guerrant Street properties.

Two years later, a housing advocate testified before Greensboro’s Minimum Housing Standards Commission that the buildings had snakes, rats and cockroaches. The city inspector testified that he found damaged foundations, broken windows and rotted walls.

The housing commission ordered Agapion to repair or demolish the Guerrant Street houses by April 2006, or the city would hire someone to do the demolition.

Agapion said he put $200,000 toward repairing the buildings, but the city refused to give him additional time to complete the renovations, according to his lawsuit.

Agapion alleges that one home, 223 Guerrant St., even had a certificate of occupancy issued in March 2006, according to his suit.

In July 2006, Simmons said inspectors planned to take one last look at 223 Guerrant St., but the buildings were demolished by a contractor before the city had a chance to see it.

On Tuesday, the city inspections department had no record of a 2006 certificate of occupancy or work permits for the house at 223 Guerrant St.

Agapion has tried to fight Greensboro in court before. He sought a restraining order to prevent Greensboro from razing the homes in 2006.

But Judge Stuart Albright would not grant the order, finding that Agapion failed to make a timely appeal to the housing commission and did not make the repairs by April as ordered.

“He knows how to work with the system,” Simmons said. “That is why he has always been difficult to work with.”

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com