RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Ohio — Dozens of Richmond Heights families, as well as some of the city’s leaders, are calling for improvements at the city’s largest apartment complex. Despite efforts from the City Council and the building commissioner, many neighbors at the 444 Park complex feel their health and safety concerns are being ignored by the apartment owners.
“Not only do I represent them, my shop is here. And a lot of the residents feel comfortable with that and they come down and they talk,” said Richmond Heights Ward 2 Councilman Frank Lentine, whose barber shop has occupied a first floor suite since the apartments opened.
In recent years, he’s noticed much of the talk centers around the state of things at the 738 suite complex.
“It’s the big things. It’s the water, it’s the air conditioning, it’s the heater, it’s the elevators,” Lentine explained. “Last month we had 78 apartments that didn’t have heat. 78.”
Several weeks ago, Lentine hosted a community forum with other city leaders to allow residents to voice their concerns and hear how the city is addressing them.
“There were a lot of upset people at that meeting,” said Mary Ballinger, who’s lived in the apartments for more than seven years.
She showed News 5 none of the security lights atop the buildings work, rendering the parking lot very dark in most areas at night.
“It’s a wonder nobody’s gotten hit in this parking lot. The lighting is terrible. I don’t want my guests to come out at night, my family or anything because I don’t want anything to happen to them. It doesn’t look safe,” she said.
Ballinger explained many of the other common spaces at the complex have begun deteriorating in recent years, including filthy hallway carpeting, sporadically working elevators, intercom systems, heat and hot water.
“There’s times when there’s no water, so you can’t take a shower,” she added. “For a couple of days, you might not have water to do anything, if you didn’t have water [bottles] on hand. So that was a problem.”
At one point, a bat flew out of a hole in the hallway ceiling, grazing her hair. Ballinger invited Richmond Heights Building Commissioner James Urankar to tour the complex and see the issues firsthand.
Urankar shared nearly 60 photos with News 5, documenting broken security doors, stained carpeting, clogged trash chutes, leaky pipes and pooling water.
The city gave the property management and owners several notices after the inspection, pointing out more than a dozen code violations. An adjudication order issued in September warned the complex was at risk of losing its certificate of occupancy if the issues weren’t addressed.
“The toughest part we had was finding who the ownership is. They have these LLCs and they just hide behind these things,” said Lentine. “The last time we looked it up, we found an elderly lady – beautiful portrait on the computer, 94 years old – as the owner. And she passed away five years ago.”
Adjudication orders issued by the city list property managers located in Lyndhurst, Ohio, as well as owners in New York.
“I think it’s the owner’s responsibility,” Ballinger said. “If you own the building and the property, you need to take care of it, maintain it for your residents.”
News 5 got in touch with an attorney representing the owners and property management. He issued the following statement:
The owners and management have been and are working to resolve the issues that have been identified by the City of Richmond Heights. The current ownership group has spent over $4 million on the building since they bought the property in 2018. The COVID pandemic added significant challenges to addressing buildings that were subjected to deferred maintenance for decades before my clients became involved with them. We have a plan to abate the conditions identified by the City. Some of the conditions have already been abated. Some of the remaining conditions will be resolved in a matter of days, others in weeks because of supply chain and contractor availability issues. By the time the work is done everyone will be able to take pride in the buildings.
Ballinger said she’s seen minor improvements recently, but is skeptical significant action will happen soon. She added she’s frustrated with a lack of communication and transparency from the owners.
“What’s going on? What’s really going on? Communicate with us. That’s all we’re asking, for more of that,” she said.
The owners have appealed the orders. City leaders warn future appeals could extend the process if they move through the courts. During the Jan. 31 community meeting, they shared a list of free and low-cost options for residents to pursue their own legal options.
“The city can only do so much,” Lentine said. “The residents also have to take the ball and run with it.”
The council member reiterated the city is willing to work with the property owners and they’re rooting for its success in Richmond Heights.
“We don’t want them shut down, we want to work with them. We’ll give them time. As long as you’re showing us you’re making a good effort, we can live with that,” he explained. “We’re trying to keep that image going because we don’t want it to fall apart, we don’t want it to become a blighted area.”
Some residents told News 5 they plan to organize and pursue legal help if conditions at the apartment complex don’t improve.
“You’re not keeping up your end of the contract if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do,” Ballinger said. “I like where I live. If the owners would come forth and do what they need to do [it would be better].”
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