Rocky Hill suing apartment complex owner, its top taxpayer, over conditions
After months of litigation and years of complaints by residents, a lawyer for the Town of Rocky Hill said he expects the owners of an apartment complex to agree to an outline of repairs by Friday.
“If they cared about their reputation, I don’t see how they can allow this to go on,” town legal counsel Morris Borea said publicly of the owners of Concierge Apartments at a town council meeting Tuesday.
“If they don’t do what they need to do, we will try the case. They will pay. They will lose,” he said.
In addition, renters at the 544-unit Cold Spring Road complex — at the council meeting, one called it a “hell hole” and another alleged it “should be condemned” — were publicly offered the services of an attorney to file a class-action suit against Century Hills Property Owner LLC.
In May 2021, the town and Central Connecticut Health District filed suit against Century Hills. The suit alleged five counts: violation of building codes, violation of Connecticut fire safety code, violation of public health code, violation of the town’s housing standards and public nuisance.
Rent, living conditions
Borea said residents’ complaints regarding rent started in 2016, about three years after Century Hills bought the apartment complex. Complaints about living conditions have increased in the ensuing years, he said.
The complex has five buildings. Borea said residents in all buildings have reported problems, some buildings more than others. Mayor Lisa Marotta, in a phone interview Thursday, said many of the problems are in common areas, affecting all tenants.
Marotta said in response to the Concierge complaints, the town reactivated its Fair Rent Commission in 2021, after months of inactivity. In addition, the town is restructuring its team that handles the uptick in resident complaints, and is hiring someone to help in the Human Services Department.
“It’s actually a busy task for a small town,” Marotta said.
“We certainly understand families are experiencing horrible living conditions. They are horribly frustrated. ... Some are displaced. It’s no way to live,” she said.
Grim conditions
At the town council meeting, four residents of the complex painted a grim picture of life at the Concierge.
Gary Pope described the most often-cited complaint, of hot water that shuts off frequently and for lengthy periods of time.
“I haven’t had a lukewarm shower in two weeks. We are currently staying at a hotel two nights. This is the second time we’ve had to do this in the past two weeks,” Pope said. “We’ve been living there for about four months, five months now at this point and this has been a problem since day one.”
Another renter, Stella Onochie, also cited water issues. “I have to take my kids to a hotel,” she said. “They are learning how to take a shower using a baby wipe and some rubbing alcohol ... or hand sanitizer.”
She said before renting, she was given a tour of the complex, entering by the back door.
“If we had entered through the lobby, we would have seen there were buckets, big plastic tubs, there to catch the leaks, the water falling from the roof of the lobby in building 200. If we had gone through the front we would have seen the damage of the graffiti,” she said.
Onochie, who called the complex “a hell hole,” said the town should warn potential renters about the pending litigation. “Making it clear what people are getting into is probably the chiefest thing that people could do now,” she said.
Jason Barco, a firefighter, said he has to shower at work because his apartment had no hot water.
“In three months I called them 15 times for the same issue, no heat, no hot water,” Barco said.
Borea said a few weeks ago, the fire department distributed palettes of bottled drinking water to residents who had no water at all.
Barco said management has used extension cords to place space heaters in the drop ceiling to prevent pipes from freezing.
Pope added that parking costs extra and the conditions in the garage are harmful to cars. “It’s totally normal for the pipes to just suddenly burst. Water falls on your car in freezing weather and it damages your car,” he said.
Barco agreed. “I pay to park my car. The ceiling fell on my vehicle. [Management said] ‘Go to your insurance company’,” he said.
Julian Finnegan said she pays $2,100 a month “for a two-bedroom apartment that is not safe, that is a literal death trap for my children and myself.”
She cited broken glass, broken windows and racist graffiti at the complex. “It is dilapidated. It should be condemned,” she said.
Top taxpayer
Century Hills is a subsidiary of JRK Property Holdings of Los Angeles, which owns 80,000 residential and business rental and hotel units in 30 states. In the town’s 2021 grand list, Century Hills is listed as the top taxpayer in town, with an assessment of $41,972,350.
At the meeting, Borea said JRK management in Los Angeles “may not have been completely aware of” the extent of the Concierge complaints. Borea also believes the on-site managers misled town officials.
“I think ... they took advantage of some of ... our enforcement officials, that they made promises and representations that they did not keep,” he said.
The defendant’s attorney, Evan J. Seeman, did not attend the meeting Tuesday to hear Borea’s update.
Through Seeman, Concierge’s management team issued an email statement on Thursday: “We were alerted to an isolated issue late last week involving a single boiler at the property. Our maintenance team, in conjunction with third party contractors, worked quickly to resolve the issue. Like all property owners, our complex experiences maintenance issues from time to time. Since acquiring Concierge Rocky Hill we have spent nearly $10M improving the property to create a better living environment for our tenants. As a customer facing company, we pride ourselves on providing a best in class living experience for all our tenants.”
Over the course of the lawsuit, the plaintiffs have filed two motions for default for the defendant’s failure to plead, and one motion for the defendant’s failure to appear. All three motions were denied.
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
