A former luxury home on Chamblee Dunwoody Road that had fallen into disrepair, causing years of speculation about its reclusive owner, may soon have new life after it was purchased by an investment company.
The story of its former owner has as many twists and turns as the home itself.
The once-beautiful 5,500-square home – which today has its windows, doors, and garage entrance boarded up – even now is valued on tax records at more than $850,000. Networks Properties & Investments, bought it for $20,000 in 2022, and after paying more than $75,000 in back taxes and penalties, is rehabbing it for resale.
A representative from Networks Properties said the company filed a suit for a “quiet title action,” which is a special legal proceeding to determine ownership of real property.
A quiet title action occurs when a party with a claim of ownership to land can file an action to quiet title, which serves as a sort of lawsuit against anyone who has a claim to the land.
The representative from Network Properties, Richard Steele, said the quiet claim was accepted and in January “we were granted a clear and clean title.”
Located near the busy corner of Vermack and Chamblee Dunwoody Roads near the historic Donaldson-Cheek farmhouse, the property’s decline was the source of speculation by neighbors and government officials starting around 2017.
DeKalb County tax records indicate that Tara Faye Lecky, under the operating name Picky Pickens LLC, stopped paying property taxes that year. At some point, there was a fire in the home, causing it to be condemned, but reportedly Lecky continued to live in the garage of the unrepaired house without power or electricity.
At a Dunwoody Homeowners Association meeting in 2021, city officials discussed their challenges with trying to bring the house up to code and outlined plans to obtain a court order to minimally maintain the exterior of the property, which had grass three feet high and bushes and trees even higher.
Dunwoody officials said they spent about $4,000 maintaining the property before it was purchased by Network Properties, which has reimbursed the city.
The downward spiral of its owner has garnered sympathy in the community, despite its frustration with the very public disintegration of the home.
According to DeKalb County Jail records, Lecky was arrested in 2015 and charged with one count of theft of service. She was subsequently arrested for probation violation and failure-to-appear charges several times in the fall of 2020.
An open records request to the Dunwoody Police Department yielded no information on the nature of the charges, nor any disposition.
In addition, several news stations reported in November 2018 that Lecky, who is also known as Tara Faye Johnson, had been missing for more than four months after jumping out of a car at the intersection of North Peachtree Road and Cotillion Drive and running into a wooded area.
The story reported that relatives had been transporting her to a medical facility for treatment. Local hospitals, friends, attorneys, and known associates were contacted, but the story reported she had not been found.
Her whereabouts have been largely unreported since then. In February of this year, Lecky, under the name Tara Faye Johnson, was arrested in Miami-Dade County and charged with entering a park during after-hours. The record did not report the disposition of the case, other than saying “charge satisfied.”
DHA President Bob Fiscella said he was pleased that house is being rehabbed, as it was a topic of much discussion over the years.
“It was an eyesore for everyone who drove by there,” he said. “It will be great to see it restored. It was a really beautiful home.”
