Orange Terrace Condominiums

A Place To Call Home... Barely

"Pay attention to the cracked streets and the broken homes
Some call it slums, some call it nice
I want to take you through a wasteland I like to call my home

Welcome to paradise"

— Welcome to Paradise by Greenday

Orange Terrace is a collection of nine structures inside a gated complex of townhomes, just on the edge of the ghetto (as if you could call any area in this county a ghetto...) You might think that its purpose is to provide a comfortable home that adheres to a reasonable standard of living for area citizens. Unfortunately, as is so very common for the time, its true objective is to make as much money for the owner of the property, Mitch Billig, while putting as little of those funds back into the property as possible. To help accomplish this task, Billig employs Pete Latur, slumlord extraordinaire, as his property manager.

Outdated Architecture

Orange Terrace sits behind an electric iron gate, blocking access to the complex from eleven at night until six in the morning unless a code is entered into a small keypad conveniently mounted nearby. Entering the complex reveals a smattering of buildings, covered parking areas, and a few small, open spaces filled with scraggly crabgrass mixed with copious amounts of Cenchrus echinatus - sand spurs. The overwhelming abundance of the latter often makes it difficult for residents to use the area for the intended purpose of dog walking. Each unit has one parking spot located directly opposite the front door, parking for additional cars or visitors is upon availability.

The Gate by Midjourney

The Orange Terrace Condos are of masonry construction, consisting of eight buildings that house six 1,296-square-foot townhomes each. The front of these structures have a crumbling red brick overlay on the front, and a dingy cream stucco on the sides and back. Each apartment has a green front door with a colonial-style lintel decorating the top. Eight two-story white square columns hold up a second-floor portico, coated in a profuse carpet of bagworm cocoons. There is a front window on the first floor looking into the kitchen and one on the second looking into the smaller bedroom of each unit.
The backyard of these units features a four-and-a-half-foot concrete slab patio on the bottom floor and a balcony of a slightly larger size on the second. The balcony is slightly larger due to a utility closet on each patio that can house a dryer or be used for storage. Unfortunately for the residents, neither the patio nor the balcony are equipped with a screen, although some inhabitants of the complex have rigged up their own mosquito netting to combat the ever-present swarms of bugs.

The Pool by Midjourney

The property also features a dinky rectangular pool, shaded by a solitary, scraggly piece of vegetation that could laughably be called a tree. Any furniture designed to relax by the water has long since disappeared, never to be replaced. Adjacent to the pool stands a one-story building intended to be a clubhouse for residents, but in reality is a storage house for secondhand scratch-and-dent replacement equipment for the property. Attached to the other side of this building is a small, gazebo-style laundry facility that holds four dilapidated machines that have a tendency to leave a film of rust on all of the clothing running through them.

Inferior Interior-ity Complex

As previously mentioned, there are 1,296 square feet of living space in each unit, containing a kitchen, a common room, two bedrooms, and two and a half bathrooms. Immediately upon entering, visitors have a choice of going up the stairs, down the hallway, or into a small bathroom in the foyer. This is the half bath and contains a chipped blue porcelain toilet and matching tiles - a style that was quite popular in the 1970s.
Proceeding down the hallway will take you by the kitchen, the closet under the stairs, and then to the common room of the apartment. The kitchen, while quite large for a multi-family rental unit, is equipped with particle-board cabinets that were hung when the buildings were constructed and appliances that are almost as old. The units are designed with a dishwasher in place, but those have all been ripped out by the landlord, leaving a gaping hole in the cabinetry for the resident to deal with.

"There used to be dishwashers in here but it got to be too much work. They were always springing a leak, so I just took 'em all out. If I put one back in I'd have to charge you a lot more money. Plus, I'm not doin' it."

— Pete Latur - Landlord, Orange Terrace

Back in the hallway, under the stairs, is a large closet with double bi-fold doors that hide the air conditioner and washing machine hook-up for the home. This is a great area for storage unless the resident actually owns a washing machine, which will take up all available space if installed. The ceiling here contours due to the staircase, so adding additional shelving is almost an effort in futility.
Finishing up the downstairs tour, the common area is simply a large square room featuring a pass-through window to the kitchen and a sliding glass door leading outside.

Inside Orange Terrace by Midjourney

Returning to the front door and heading up the stairs leads to a small landing featuring a linen closet and three doors. The door to the immediate right of the steps (or left for mirrored layouts) is a door leading into the smaller bedroom. This room has a small, standing-room-only walk-in closet and a window that overlooks the parking lot. Door number two hides a "full size" bathroom, the highlight of this room being the incredibly claustrophobic standing shower cabinet. It should be noted that this room is also heavily accented by the oh-so-groovy blue tiling seen downstairs.
Finally, door number three reveals the master bedroom of the home. The same wall that contains the entry also holds the doorway leading to the final bathroom of the home. Here you will find more of the same psychosis-inducing blue, but this bathroom contains a full-size tub. Of course, the layer that seals the tub has gouges marring the surface that causes the tub to leak if one were to actually fill it with water.
The entire wall adjacent to the entry of this room is occupied by a double reach-in closet with double bi-fold doors. Opposite the entry is a sliding glass door that opens to The Balcony, which is undeniably the best feature of the entire property. The entire upstairs is covered with threadbare beige carpet, and as one moves across the floor one can hear and feel the subfloor shifting and warping underfoot.

C'est la Building C

Our story begins with the folks who live over in building C. Over half of the village resides within this structure, and it is the place where holidays are celebrated, parties are thrown, gatherings are held, and lives are lived.
C-101 - The Collier-Byrne Household - This unit is home to a family of four. The father, Dean Collier, is about thirty-one years old and works in sales. Mom is Katherine Byrne, a twenty-five-year-old teacher and mother of two boys, Jaxson who is five, and Lincoln who is two. Katherine has had EMT training but did not graduate from the program. The family has one indoor cat and one outdoor cat.
C-102 - Heidi King & Sons - Heidi is a full-time receptionist at the emergency room. At home, she cares for her moderately autistic pre-teen son Ryan and her grown son Dillon when he is home from college. It should be noted that Heidi's ex-husband Marcus also lives in Orange Terrace in the F building and Marcus' new girlfriend lives in the H building. Despite the odd arrangement and of great benefit to the children, all parties seem to get along quite well. The Kings have two indoor cats.
C-103 - Eugene Richards - Eugene is a retired physical therapist, and is a part-time parent to his teenage daughter Bambi. After a brief and horribly unsuccessful attempt at dating a regular woman, Eugene is currently dating his ex-wife Lourdes who spends a large amount of time in the Richards residence. Eugene has no pets.
C-104 - The Tariro/Baker Household - Despite being almost fifty, Jeri Tariro still doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up. Even though she holds degrees in both crime scene technology and nursing, Jeri currently works from home in customer service. In her spare time, she organizes annual family ghost hunts. Jeri's adult son, Damien, also resides in the unit, along with his younger sister Meghan. Damien spent time in the Army before he was medically discharged due to an accident, and Meghan is sixteen years old, legally blind, and mildly autistic. The family has two indoor/outdoor cats, a dog, and a hamster.
C-105 - Arthur Stewart - Arthur is a retired Army veteran on a fixed income. Arthur has most of his shopping needs delivered to his home and often has packages outside his door. He goes out on his bike a couple of times a week, and once a week a member of his church comes to visit. Arthur is hard of hearing and has no pets.
C-106 - The Hottie in Unit 6 - At the end of the row is a new tenant to the building. Not much is known about him yet other than he seems to be about forty-five years old and he lives alone.
Of course, there are many more introductions to be made, but this is where our story begins. Residents here know the place is a dump, but make the best of it in the most creative ways, and the end result is homes that are inviting, warm, and welcoming.
At least, they were...

Pete Latur - Landlord, Orange Terrace by Midjourney

Founding Date

1975

Type

Apartment building / Tenament

The Collier-Byrne Family by Midjourney

C-101

Heidi King by Midjourney

C-102

Eugene Richards by Midjourney

C-103

The Tariro-Baker Family by Midjourney

C-104

Arthur Stewart by Midjourney

C-105

Hot Guy in C-106 by Midjourney

C-106

by WorldAnvil