New Bayshore apartments were forced to evacuate in July because of a carcinogen. Here’s what we know.
Developers of a new luxury apartment complex at Bayshore have found themselves mired in controversy after residents were forced to evacuate due to unsafe levels of a dangerous carcinogen.
Lydell Apartments was supposed to add 344 luxury units as part of the redevelopment of the historic and financially troubled Bayshore Mall. Instead, developers have now been scrambling for six weeks to remove Trichloroethylene, or TCE, from the building after failing to complete state-recommended testing prior to moving residents in.
After these emergency clean-up actions, which were mandated by state and local agencies, failed to fix the issue, the North Shore Health Department was forced to order the evacuation of six units on July 17. Lydell operator, Cypress Bayshore Residential, is now voluntarily relocating the remaining residents.
Cypress and property manager Lincoln Property Management, which has now terminated its contract with Cypress, have been accused of misleading and defrauding residents in two lawsuits.
Cypress and Lincoln also flouted a June 21 health department order to cease new occupancy, moving in at least three people after this order, according to the suits.
The first lawsuit is brought by James Neubauer, one of the three people who moved in after the June 21 order, and the other is a class action lawsuit brought by two residents, Selamani Ngaruko and Catherine Vlahoulis.
Here’s what you need to know:
What is TCE?
Trichloroethylene is an industrial-grade solvent which has been listed as a known carcinogen since 2000. It has been linked to immune and nervous system damage, kidney disease, liver damage, Parkinson's disease and death.
More: What is TCE? What to know about carcinogen TCE that caused two Milwaukee apartment evacuations
How much TCE was found at the apartment building?
The Department of Natural Resources value exceedance limit for TCE in a residential area is 2.1 micrograms per cubic meter. TCE levels between 2.1 and 6.3 micrograms per cubic meter may pose a threat to pregnant people or people who wish to be pregnant.
Any value above 6.3 micrograms per cubic meter is dangerous for any person. To evacuate a residence, per NSHD procedure, a residence must have 10 times the limit.
The six residences that were evacuated — 110, 212, 214, 220, 402 and 416 — have continued to have TCE readings ranging from 18 to 70 micrograms per cubic meter.
Six units still occupied — 412, 406, 314, 218, 208 and 202 — have TCE exceedances, but they are below the threshold for evacuation.
According to the June 2 testing data, Building 3’s staircase had TCE levels of 53 micrograms per cubic meter. The building’s elevator had 150 micrograms per cubic meter.
How many tenants are left at the Lydell Apartments?
Between 25-30 units are still occupied, per the North Shore Health Department.
In June, representatives of the property developer told the state and local agencies said that the building had 64 residents, or 75% occupancy.
Is an evacuation because of TCE contamination normal?
No.
According to DNR Remediation and Redevelopment Program Director Christine Sieger, evacuations of buildings with historical TCE contamination are "highly unusual."
Per Sieger, testing before residents move in is an industry standard that is followed “99%” of the time.
Lydell developers knew that there was a problem in 2021 and provided a plan to clean up TCE in 2022.
After receiving this plan, the DNR recommended that the developer complete their testing before residents move in. This timeline was also part of the plan laid out by building developers, but testing at the site began three weeks after residents moved in.
In a statement provided to the Journal Sentinel as well as in communications to residents, Lincoln Property Management has insisted that the developer had done rounds of testing during construction that showed there was no issue at the site.
When asked to provide this data, Cypress Equities Chief Financial Officer Brian C. Parro told the Journal Sentinel that the LLC "has no comment at this point."
The developer is required to disclose any data at an open environmental site to the DNR within 10 days of testing. No records of any test data exist on the DNR's public website.
Is this the first time a TCE evacuation has occurred in Milwaukee?
No.
On March 25, 150 low-income residents at Community within the Corridor, a former industrial site on Center Street in Milwaukee, were forced to evacuate due to TCE.
Like Lydell, residents had been moved in before state-recommended testing had been completed. Lydell is the second evacuation in the state's history after CWC.
Residents at CWC are now suing developers after the developer decided to terminate resident leases. Residents at CWC lost their housing on July 14, and some are now homeless.
More on who knew what when at CWC For months, Milwaukee officials knew people could be living at contaminated affordable housing site
What has happened at Lydell Apartments since June?
On June 14, the developer sent a formal notice to all residents informing them that their building had levels of TCE over the legal limit.
The Journal Sentinel has previously reported on how developers attempted to soften the language of this letter which eventually forced the North Shore Health Department to send its own notice to residents.
“I don’t think we will be willing to agree with the attached (letter),” Cypress employee John Ausburn wrote to his staff. “It is far too overreactive and one-sided. Send me your version, one that doesn’t make it sound like the tenants have had a month-long exposure to the plague.”
On June 15, building operators were verbally told to not move any residents to the North Shore Health Department. On June 21, Cypress Equities and Lincoln Property Management were also provided a written letter to this effect which building operators agreed to.
On June 30, a couple, Alondra Terry and Kristopher Alexander, moved into the building, and they were not told there was a problem “until the second after they got their keys,” according to Terry.
During the last two weeks of June, residents were also provided with air purifiers, which the DNR and North Shore Health Department instructed developers to install. Property Management employees spun the installation to resident Anna Lagoe as “more for Canadian wildfire smoke than TCE.”
On Aug. 2, two separate lawsuits were filed against the developers alleging that they defrauded residents and misrepresented safety in the building. Both suits are seeking unspecified damages.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New Bayshore luxury apartments contaminated, evacuated. What we know.
