News

Floyd Squires, who gained a Teflon reputation for his ability to evade decades of legal attempts by the city of Eureka, his tenants and neighbors to hold him responsible for unsafe conditions and pervasive problems at many of his properties, has died. He was 76.

The cause of his death on Sept. 18 was cardiac arrest in connection with a choking incident, according to his death certificate.

Long known for owning a multitude of rundown apartment complexes and homes across a region beset by a shortage of low-income housing, Squires also gained a reputation for taking in tenants no one else would, including those with histories of evictions and bad credit.


The city of Eureka was embroiled in prolonged legal battles with Squires and his wife Betty over code violations that culminated in its January of 2011 filing of a receivership case in an attempt to wrest control over nearly 30 properties within city limits away from Squires and his wife in order to bring the units up to standard.

In the end, several were condemned by the city, including the Blue Heron Lodge on Broadway, where Kentucky Fried Chicken now stands.

In a series of twists and turns stemming from that case, which the Squireses and the city settled in December of 2020, the couple filed for bankruptcy in 2017, which ended up seeing many of their properties sold off to pay off creditors, although some reverted back to the couple after they were determined to be in such bad condition that the agent overseeing the Squireses’ estate during the proceeding found it would not be beneficial to proceed with the sales.

According to the bankruptcy case docket, the estate continues to be liquidated. Floyd Squires last filed a document in the case Sept. 2 about title issues he needed cleared up to close escrow on some of those reverted properties.

It’s unclear what happens next with the case, in which Betty Squires is also named as a debtor, or with the properties that the couple retained.