opinion

Towers East owner responds to HUD complaints; building to be sold

Now for the rest of the story about Towers East.

If you recall, a few weeks ago I did a column about my friend, Terri Lynch, who lives there and about her near-death experience.

The reason I actually went there to visit her was because of some complaints she had been making about the conditions and living environment at this subsidized housing facility on Main Street at the north end of downtown Greenville.

At the time, I wasn’t able to confirm her complaints because the company that owns the building and manages it under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had gone through and pretty much fixed things.

I did a little more digging, though, and found that HUD had sent the property owner, LHP Capital of Knoxville, Tennessee, a letter in February notifying the company that it was in violation of its agreement with HUD “to maintain the Project in decent, safe, sanitary condition and good repair.”

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Among the deficiencies noted in the letter were missing fire sprinkler heads; missing, damaged or inoperable refrigerators; holes in walls; missing emergency exit signs; damaged doors; mold, mildew and water damage on ceilings, floors and walls; and windows that were inoperable or couldn’t be locked.

HUD gave the company 60 days to correct all the problems or it could be declared in default of its contract and face possible foreclosure or other “appropriate remedies.”

LHP sent a letter back to HUD a couple of weeks later saying it had fixed everything.

“I can't speak for HUD but, yes, Towers East meets if not exceeds all HUD standards,” LHP spokeswoman Amy Styles told me.

Then I learned that residents had been told Tuesday that the power was going to be shut off for three days while work was being done on a transformer.

It turned out that there was some “miscommunication” and that a backup generator would be in operation while the main power is down, so the building won’t go without electricity, Styles said.

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“A notice was posted in the building yesterday that had not been approved by the property manager and that incorrectly said power would be shut off for three days starting next Monday,” she said Wednesday. “To correct the matter, staff this morning posted and hand-delivered to each apartment a notice that said there would not be a power outage and residents would have power.”

I’m still trying to find out why a transformer to a building with 275 residents has to be relocated, and how those other problems were allowed to develop.

There are changes on the horizon, though.

Styles said the building is under contract to be sold.

Ginny Stroud, community development administrator for the city of Greenville, said the sale to New York-based Capital Realty Group was expected soon.

I haven’t been able to get in touch with Capital Realty Group.

My friend Terri isn’t the only person who has complained about conditions at Towers East. We got a letter from another resident expressing similar concerns, and I talked with several more who had issues but didn't want to go on the record.

Mayor Knox White said the building’s “operations and condition has been a concern for years.”

He said the new owner says “changes will be made," but he's taking a wait and see attitude.

“With all of the attention to building more affordable housing, including lower cost rental, it's important to keep the affordable housing we have now,” he said.

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Stroud said the city has “received complaints from the residents who live there and also complaints from some of the neighbors nearby related to concerns with safety, concerns with criminal activity.”

I checked with the Greenville Police Department to find out about the level of criminal activity there.

According to statistics provided by Donnie Porter, the department’s public affairs manager, there were a total of three drug arrests there in the previous year and just two the year before that. No arrests had been made for prostitution.

That didn’t jibe with what I’d been hearing.

He also reported one robbery and no aggravated assaults in the previous year.

That one threw me, because on the day I was there, I saw one assault myself. A man, who I was told was a resident, was loudly cursing another resident in front of the building, and a few minutes later, as the victim had walked across the street over near the entrance to the cemetery, I could see fists flying and bodies flailing.

The police came and took statements from witnesses and I didn’t see how it ended up – but I was surprised to see in the next day’s incident reports from the police department that there was nothing about it.

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“I’m told there are lots of reasons why to include (a report),” Porter said. “The responding officer didn’t find a reportable offense or possibly the parties didn’t want to pursue charges, etc. No way of knowing for sure at this point.”

Anyway, this makes me think there is likely to be more going on there than is being documented.

Dayna Elliott, who lives in an apartment building across the street, said she enjoys interacting with residents of Towers East, but she doesn’t believe the police are doing enough about crime in the area.

“I thought as many times as fire and first responders are at Towers East, they would have an overview,” she said after discussing the issue with police. “And they do, off the record. But they say that’s not their job. Their job is just to respond incrementally.”

“So that’s why a neighbor and I said we’re the only ones that can bear witness to this.”

I know it’s a challenging situation, because you have all kinds of people living there, and it is an urban area. But I hope the new owner, and the city, will give it the attention it needs.

As Dayna Elliott says, “These people deserve better.”

Contact Ron Barnett at rbarnett@gannett.com.