After flooding and damage from bursting pipes worsened over the past week and a half at the troubled Concierge Apartments in Rocky Hill, town officials officially condemned 200 apartments in the massive complex Thursday afternoon.
The emergency shutdown meant hundreds of tenants had to relocate to hotel rooms or stay with friends or relatives, and was the latest crisis at the sprawling complex that some tenants have described as “a hellhole.”
Two state legislators and Attorney General William Tong toured badly damaged sections of the complex this week, and slammed JRK Real Estate, a multibillion-dollar California corporation that owns the 544-unit complex through its Century Hills Property Owner LLC unit.
“According to complaints, your company has a long history of breaking its commitments to tenants,” Tong wrote in a letter calling on JRK to provide a detailed plan of how it would help tenants or potentially face legal action.
State Sen. Matt Lesser and Rep. Kerry Wood cosigned the letter, and Lesser on Friday condemned the company’s response that it would waive a month’s rent and pay for alternate housing — but not let tenants escape their leases.
Responding for JRK, the Hartford law firm of Robinson & Cole told Tong on Thursday that affected tenants have been offered “lodging.”
“Any tenant who has submitted a work order or provided other proof of loss of hot water will be receiving a one-month rent credit. In light of providing lodging and rent credits, Century Hills does not see a basis for permitting tenants to break their leases.”
In a Facebook post displaying the letter, Lesser wrote “tone deaf!”
Town Council member Zachary van Luling posted a video showing emergency workers wading through inches of water in a Concierge hallway, and said he is more concerned than ever about what’s happening with the complex.
Concierge tenants have sustained frozen pipe emergencies during the past several winters, but never on as widespread a scale as this time. The town began getting complaint calls during the harsh cold wave that came before the severe snowstorm Jan. 25, and the rate has increased since.
Numerous tenants complained of going days without hot water during the most severe cold snap of the winter, and photos from the complex show sheets of ice on some walls and a ceiling collapsed on cars in a garage.
“It’s been an ongoing issue for more than a few years,” tenant Dave DeFelice told the town council Monday.
In previous winters, the bathroom pipes in his unit froze making the toilet and shower unusable, but property managers resolved it within a day or two, DeFelice said.
“But this has been a major disruption. Nine days without water,” he said. “I’d really hope there’s some type of accountability.”
DeFelice and other tenants said JRK initially directed them to use their renter’s insurance to pay for alternate lodging; the company later agreed to pay those expenses after talking with town officials.
“I didn’t ask to be put in this situation. I shouldn’t have to use my insurance,” DeFelice said.
Local fire and building officials have been at the property for days to keep watch on conditions and monitor emergency repairs. Late this week, pipes for the fire-suppression sprinkler systems in Building 400 and Building 500 froze and in some cases burst, making them unsafe, according to the town. Tenants were asked to leave by midnight and hotel rooms were offered.
Town workers, who’ve already been trying to help other Concierge tenants without hot water or heat, scrambled to line up more than 140 hotel rooms for the JRK’s management company to disburse.
The 544-unit complex has had mold and other issues in recent years, and the town at one point sued JRK and closed several apartments to expedite repairs.
In its letter this week for JRK, Robinson & Cole said the company estimates it will spend $2 million replacing pipes and sheetrock, installing insulation and heat tape on pipes and doing other remediation. It said because of the demand for contractors during the current cold wave, JRK is bringing in contractors from out of state to expedite the work.
Recently-elected Mayor Allan Smith praised Rocky Hill staff, particularly those in the fire department, building department and human services agency, for working extra hours day after day to help tenants.
“Other departments have helped too. People have been up there unloading bottled water from their cars at 11 at night,” he said.
The ownership group’s woes expanded to the federal level late Friday when U.S. Rep. John Larson called on the Department of Housing and Urban Development to investigate.
“JRK Property Holdings is the recipient of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financing. Given that JRK Property Holdings is the beneficiary of HUD programming, this gross mistreatment of tenants warrants an immediate investigation” by HUD, Larson wrote.
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