EUCLID, Ohio — Days after Euclid neighbors found out their homes were being condemned, many are scrambling to figure out their next move.
Friday, Parkside Gardens residents were loading their vehicles and moving trucks with their belongings. Before they were granted a Monday extension, most were racing a noon deadline to vacate the Euclid apartment complex.
“All of us are like, ‘Well what are we supposed to do? Where are we supposed to go? What options do we have?’ We have no idea when we’re getting our rent back,” Kristen Hickman said Friday.
The mother of two told News 5 on Wednesday she had received an email the night before about her family’s fate.
In a release that day, the city said 26 of 33 buildings at Parkside Gardens were being condemned because of significant building and fire code violations.
“I cried all day Wednesday. My eyes were puffy. My 7-year-old child asked if we were being evicted and I had to sit and explain to her, ‘No baby, it’s just not safe,’” Hickman said.
Public records showed the owner of Parkside Gardens is an affiliate of the Chetrit Group, a New York-based real estate firm facing foreclosures and complaints about the conditions at its apartment buildings in multiple states.
In 2023, a federal judge in New York appointed a receiver—a third-party expert— to oversee a large, financially troubled group of Chetrit-owned properties including Parkside Gardens, according to court records.
Neither the property owner, nor the receiver, responded to requests for comment Thursday or Friday.
RELATED: Tenants still searching for answers after given 3 days to vacate condemned Euclid apartments
Euclid Municipal Court records obtained Friday show the owners, ROCO-Parkside, LLC were cited by the city in 2022 for numerous violations. In 2024, a judge ordered a lien on the property for failing to address the issues.
“I call them slum landlords because people have children here, older people live here and they’re not recognizing them or they don’t care,” said Janice Robinson, whose son was moving out of the complex Friday.
On Friday, Euclid Police and city building inspectors were clearing some of the vacant buildings and securing them with padlocks.
News 5 crews also saw several repair trucks replacing fire alarms and sprinklers in several buildings. The apparent repairs were sending mixed signals to residents who were told their buildings were unsafe.
Some said they still intended to stay in their current apartments until they got more clarity.
“There’s not that many, but there’s still a bunch of us that would like to stay,” said Catherine Doller.
She said the city told her she would be allowed to stay until at least Monday.
We reached out to the city for clarification about the extended deadline and apparent repairs but did not receive a response.
Hickman said she felt fortunate her family was able to find a new apartment to move into immediately Friday morning, but she was frustrated for her fellow residents and the lack of communication.
“I don’t even understand it. We’re having to be uprooted from our home because of someone’s negligence and basic disrespect for human beings,” she said. “We deserve to be treated with respect and we weren’t. We were given zero, nothing.”
