LAKEWOOD, Ohio — The thermostat in Tony Prusak's apartment reads 86 degrees.
"The problem is, you can't open the windows to let the hot air out," Prusak told us.
He says the luxury apartments at Center North on Detroit Avenue in Lakewood have been without air conditioning for two weeks.
There is more than 200 residents that live there, some with pets. And, they want answers.
We did see trucks from Premiere Property Management outside the building on Wednesday, and the company maintains they're doing everything they can to help. Prusak says, it's not enough.
"I think one of the things is just showing empathy, coming on site, maybe passing out water, bringing ice cream, giving continuous updates," he said.
Prusak says the updates from management have been sporadic since this all began. However, they've offered some relief, providing designated cooling spaces like a third floor lounge with temporary AC, the indoor dog park, and the patio with a cool breeze.
They City of Lakewood is also offering Cove Community Center as a cooling center. But, Jason Shachner, Councilman for Lakewood's Ward 2, says, these aren't livable conditions.
"The fact that the residents that are living in this building and they pay premium rents not to only to be in Lakewood, to be in that location that's supposed to be luxury, that they are not getting what they need to live, it's painful for me. It's painful for the residents. I would love to see them do more."
After several attempts to reach Premiere Property Management, they sent a statement to our newsroom around 3 p.m. Wednesday. Read below for their entire statement:
"We are keenly aware of the situation and have been working on this 24/7 since it has happened last Friday. We have been, and will continue to be, open and honest with all the residents and the City of Lakewood. The city has supported our efforts to date. As part of our redevelopment of the property, we installed a brand new state of the art chiller less than 5 years ago, but unfortunately modern HVAC systems work off a computer motherboard. Apparently, through zero fault of ours, that motherboard was fried by an electrical surge. Due to the dreaded supply chain issues, those boards are difficult to get, and we have both worked feverishly to obtain both a new and refurbished board, hoping to actually get both in case this ever happens again. We are told that the new board has made it to Canada for programming by the manufacturer, and we are hopeful the new board gets to us by the end of the week. We offered to do anything we could to expedite the process (including offering to pay for flights for the techs to fly here, etc), but to no avail as of yet. We have inquired as to work arounds regarding the board, even on a temporary basis, but again, we are told that it is impossible. We have placed fans and temporary A/C units in various parts of the building, including our indoor dog park which is currently holding at 73 degrees. In the evenings, when the outside air temp is lower, we bring in fresh air to lower the temp of the building. We have staff in the building 24 hours a day, lending any assistance that is needed. The vast majority of the tenants of Center North we have spoken to, see our nonstop commitment to get the air up and running. We have not dodged the issue nor our tenants, and we have indicated that we will always do right by them. Rest assured that our main priority and focus is to get these units working."
Residents tell 3News that despite Premiere Property Management's statement that the air went out "last Friday," they have been without air conditioning since July 14.
Meanwhile, local businesses like Rozi's are stepping up to help residents. On Wednesday, they delivered dozens of water bottles to Century North.