A group of men loitering outside a corner store scatter as Joyce Smith walks a reporter up to a couple of rowhouses in a roughed-up Southwest Baltimore neighborhood known as Shipley Hill.

Choked with weeds, vines and debris, the two attached houses are both slated for demolition – but the process has stalled for over a year.

One rowhouse, 42 South Franklintown Road, is owned by Texas real estate tycoon Scott Wizig, who was ordered to demolish it last August in a rare legal victory for communities battling out-of-town investors who hide behind opaque corporate entities.

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