CLEVELAND — Frustrations are mounting for tenants at Euclid Beach Apartments, who told News 5 they’re fed up.
“I’m tired,” said Graham Robinson, who lives at Euclid Beach Villa Apartment. “Somebody has to become an advocate in the community.”
Tensions are high for Robinson and other tenants who live at the Euclid Beach Villa Apartment building in Cleveland.
“We’re having constant issues,” said Robinson. “Last year in September, we had a fire on the eighth floor.”
Now, residents said they’re back in the same situation after Cleveland Fire responded to flames that erupted at a unit on the apartment’s 12th floor late Thursday night.
Fire officials said two people have been displaced from their homes, along with about $200,000 in water damage and more problems for renters like Robert McKinney.
“We don’t have any water in the building,” said McKinney, who lives at Euclid Beach Villa Apartment.
To make matters worse, McKinney said his apartment doesn’t have any air either.
“They put a temporary unit in, it’s not sufficient. My apartment says 82 degrees inside of it, and there’s seniors here with health issues that really don’t allow them to be in these conditions,” said McKinney.
Days before this fire, News 5’s Remi Murrey met Vannessa Dawson, who lives at the Euclid Beach Club Apartment building and is concerned for her health after finding signs of mice in her unit.
She is also worried having only one running elevator will cause problems since their main one has been down for more than a month.
“I’m on the 16th floor so I can’t be walking up 16 flights and walking down is a lot for me as well,” said Dawson.
In light of these issues, Dawson says she has organized a petition and gathered close to 100 hundreds detailing concerns ranging from safety to people’s quality of life, which she plans to send to Cleveland’s Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“People much older than I am in here, and they’re suffering,” said Dawson.
Dawson said she’s also been in contact with Councilman Michael Polensek, who told News 5 the following in this email response, “I am constantly dealing with these buildings on a regular basis. Residents are sick and tired of dealing with this company based out of New York.”
“I think it’s a disgrace. I think it’s sad when investors are buying properties just to have money,” said Dawson.
News 5 has reached out to HUD and Fairstead Management, the real estate developer based in New York, and they have yet to respond to our request.
In the meantime, Dawson said she is scheduling a peaceful protest at the complex next Tuesday.
Euclid Beach Apartments issued the following statement Friday evening:
We continue to work closely with our residents at Euclid Beach Club and Euclid Beach Villa to quickly resolve any property management complaints, as well as assess any damage and begin any remediation necessary following last night's fire. We have no open or ongoing reports of cooling, pest or security issues, and the property has 24/7 on-site security. We thank our residents for their patience with today's water outage at Euclid Beach Villa as a result of this morning’s fire, as well as the elevator outage at Euclid Beach Club following a severe storm that damaged one of the elevator’s transmitter, which we are working with our vendor to expedite repairs in the next week.
