Violating city building codes in Oakland just got expensive.

Saying poor upkeep is "wreaking havoc in the city of Pittsburgh," District Judge Gene Ricciardi yesterday slapped $460,000 in fines on two landlords whose properties have faced lengthy city enforcement efforts for safety violations.

"They want my building!" shouted Atallah Khalil, who owns 343 McKee Place, as he left the South Side courtroom after being hit with a $260,000 fine for violations first noted in August 2006. "They've been trying to get my building for a long time."

"Wow!" said Jason Cohen, after Judge Ricciardi levied a $200,000 fine for violations at his 3408 Parkview Ave. property, the scene of a fire and four days of inspections in two weeks. "It's a hit. It's nothing that can't be taken care of. At the same time, we intend to appeal."

Judge Ricciardi gave Mr. Cohen six weeks to turn another property, 331 McKee Place, into "a model building." If he does that, he'll get off without fines for that property, which was ordered vacated by the city two weeks ago after two years of fire code enforcement efforts.

"Either give your money to the courts and the city and the community, or spend it on your building," the judge told Mr. Cohen.

The fines are unusually high for city housing code cases, which rarely generate even five-figure penalties. Both landlords said they would take the cases to summary appeals court.

Judge Ricciardi told Mr. Khalil that by causing repeated inspections by the Bureau of Building Inspection, he is "diverting important resources" from city needs. "You're putting your own tenants at risk of their lives. And also you're damaging the fine reputation of our Oakland community," he said, noting the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's coverage of student housing problems.

Mr. Khalil said he's tried to work with Senior Building Inspector Robert McPherson. "Everything he wanted me to do, your honor, I did to the best of my ability, with the money I've got," he said. "I'm not a rich guy."

Mr. McPherson said he brought a fellow inspector there for his last run-through because on a previous visit he "was treated very rudely" and "felt threatened" by Mr. Khalil. He said the building needs more lighting in the hallways, self-closing doors, more smoke alarms and fireproofing.

Judge Ricciardi calculated that he could fine Mr. Khalil $1.8 million, but weighed the $86,000 in annual rent the building can generate and its assessed value of $260,000. Asked whether the fine would hold up on appeal, he said that's "really not my arena."

Next up was Mr. Cohen, whose Dormont office runs JLB Property Group, JLB Investment Properties, Elrod Investments and Trends Capital.

Mr. McPherson reported that a year after his first inspection, there were still windowless bedrooms, doors with large gaps at the top or bottom, holes in the foundation, trash on the hillside -- all violations.

Mr. Cohen argued that a city fire inspector cleared him of some violations that were then renewed by Mr. McPherson, likening it to "double jeopardy."

The 27-year-old Mr. Cohen said he shouldn't be held responsible for every problem in 100-year-old 3408 Parkview building, which he bought two years ago. "I've owned this company for about three years. Started with nothing, zero money. ... I was the only guy doing the maintenance."

Judge Ricciardi relied on Mr. McPherson's testimony that 10 code violations remained as of Tuesday, and fined Mr. Cohen $1,000 for each, multiplied by the last 20 days of noncompliance.

Public Safety Director Michael Huss, who was not in court, would not comment on the fines.

He said that Mr. Cohen's crews "did get detectors up in all of the apartments and all of the corridors, and they got the alarm system repaired" at the 42-unit 3408 Parkview. Some issues will "take a little more time to repair," he said.

Mr. Huss said aggressive Oakland code enforcement would continue. "When our inspectors find these serious issues and point them out to the owners, corrective action needs to be taken."