CLEVELAND — Residents at a senior living apartment complex on the east side of Cleveland are going outside to cool off, after they said they’ve experienced poor or no air conditioning in their units in more than a month. At the same time, the management company tells 3News they have “no open or ongoing reports of cooling issues.”
After 3News’ Matt Rascon pressed them for more, Fairstead Management acknowledged one of its buildings — Euclid Beach Villa — had issues with the AC when it was turned on after May 15, at the start of the warmer season. The company installed a temporary chiller that it says supplies cold air to the entire building. Fairstead said no issues have been reported.
But when 3News visited Euclid Beach Apartments, it didn’t take long to find residents struggling to cool off. With the chiller running outside the building, dozens were outside sitting in the shade and many said they had cooling issues in their units.
“What is that?” tenant Marian said, pointing to the chiller. “We still don’t have air!”
Marian, who didn’t want to share her last name, said she’s lived at the complex for more than 12 years. She said she gets little airflow in her apartment.
“The average temperature is 82 degrees in the apartments with this thing running,” tenant Robert McKinney claimed.
“Just standing in her apartment trying to set up fans, sweating bullets. Its 90 plus degrees already and it's only 11 o’ clock. So, it’s horrible in there,” tenant Jeremy Harris said.
Harris’s mom Elaine has lived in the Euclid Beach Club building for around 12 years. She says overall it hasn’t been a bad experience, but with no cool air and an unreliable elevator recently, life has been difficult.
“I complained to corporate and they sent somebody and they tell me the same thing. I’m just tired of hearing excuses. I need action,” Elaine Harris said.
“Who wants to sit in a microwave and still have to pay for it?” Jeremy Harris said. “So they need to do what they need to do to actually fix the issue if they expect to get rent.”
Jeremy Harris sent 3News a photo of the thermostat Friday. It read 85 degrees. He said he and Elaine have reported the issues multiple times. However a spokesperson for Fairstead Management claimed they are not aware of any AC issues at the Club building.
In a separate incident at the Euclid Beach apartments overnight, a woman was taken to the hospital when a fire started in one of the buildings. Fairstead confirmed in a statement the fire and its response caused the water to shut off on Friday.
“Now we’re without water or air. So that’s why you see a lot of people out here, trying to stay cool,” McKinney said. “If I had the opportunity I’d move. But in this type of situation right now everywhere I’ve applied there’s a waiting list.”
Fairstead, which manages Euclid Beach Club and Euclid Beach Villa sent 3News the following statement:
"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."