Milwaukee sues out-of-state landlord for tax delinquency, code violations

The city of Milwaukee is suing one of the area’s most delinquent landlords, calling the company’s properties “public nuisances.”

Officials filed the lawsuit last week against Highgrove Holdings Management, LLC, also known as Residential Properties Resources. The Delaware-based company is owned by David Tomblin. It oversees 425 rental units in Milwaukee. The complaint alleges that as of January, only 218 of the units were occupied.

The city argues that the company uses a “business model that prioritizes investors over the health, safety and welfare” of Milwaukee residents. Milwaukee officials requested that its practices and properties be declared public nuisances and that the court appoint a receiver to take control of the company and its assets. They also are seeking delinquent tax payments, order corrections and other relief.

Since 2017, there have been 4,380 code violations found at the company’s properties, according to the Milwaukee Property Ownership Network Project. That’s around 125 violations for every 100 units per year.

Tenants’ concerns about unsafe conditions are rarely properly addressed, the complaint says.

“High Grove came to Milwaukee with a business model built on extraction,” said City Attorney Evan Goyke in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “They promised to rehabilitate distressed properties while delivering returns to investors.”

Instead, residents have been bombarded with unkempt grass, weeds, scattered trash and unshoveled sidewalks during winter months. Tenants fear punishment, including potential eviction, if they report hazards, the complaint argues.

“The public can no longer bear the burdens of High Grove neglect and today we are holding them accountable,” Goyke said.

Highgrove Holdings did not immediately respond to WPR’s request for comment.

The company owes the city more than $570,000 in delinquent taxes. The complaint argues this is because the company only pays the levies “when it is convenient for them to retain properties that are cash-flowing.”

Residential Properties Resources owns over 250 single-family, duplex and triplex homes, mostly on the North Side of Milwaukee.

Many apartments are in federal opportunity zones, part of a program giving tax incentives to private companies investing in low-income communities. The city argues they use this to attract potential investors. On its website, the rental company wrote that it chose Milwaukee partly because the city “boasts many ‘friendly-to-landlord’ city policies.”

To qualify for the incentives, the Internal Revenue Service requires properties in opportunity zones to be “substantially improved” during the 30 months after purchase. The complaint argues Highgrove lacks “sufficient capital, borrowing capacity or creditworthiness to engage in substantial improvement.”

One in every four Milwaukee buildings owned by the company is vacant or abandoned, the city claims. Six are eligible for foreclosure.

The company also allegedly owes US Bank more than $8 million. The trust alleges Residential Properties Resources borrowed nearly $7 million from them with Albert Barton as guarantor but never paid.

The bank filed a petition to appoint a receiver in 2025, which the city of Milwaukee later supported.