Windsor and Maley apartments in midst of $59 million overhaul

DAYTONA BEACH — For the 300 people who live in the Windsor and Maley Apartments, the two high-rise buildings overlooking a Halifax River marina are their world.

Only people who have a physical disability or are at least 62 years old are allowed to live in the 12-story towers a few blocks south of Orange Avenue, and few of them venture beyond the gazebo out front, benches on the riverbank and the 7-Eleven down the street.

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So as problems have come up during an extensive renovation of the apartments that began early this year, they've felt trapped.

The residents who use walkers and wheelchairs say they've been confined to their apartments and balconies when elevators have glitched and stopped running. Some say they've endured a variety of insects, leaking ceilings, unsettling construction noise, homeless people wandering into the buildings and water from faucets that never gets cool, much less cold.

"We don't need to live like this," said Yette Scott, one of 50 Windsor residents who are temporarily living in Maley units while the first phase of construction takes place. "They don't seem like they care about us at all."

Some of the problems in the pair of 50-year-old towers overlooking the west bank of the Halifax River have more to do with the aging structures wearing out than the renovation work, but both construction and maintenance issues are being addressed as quickly as possible, the property's owners say.

"This renovation is to address issues of an older building, and we're working on maintenance issues as well," said Christianne Brunini, chief marketing officer with Knight Development, the co-owner of the apartments. "We're trying to get everyone back to comfortable living as soon as possible."

Every one of the 150 Windsor apartments and 148 Maley residential units will be gutted and redone as part of a $59.25 million renovation. The work is being tackled in phases of about 25 or 50 apartments at a time, and the tenants living in units that are being worked on are getting temporarily relocated to vacant apartments in the complex.

Work in the apartments will include kitchen and bathroom updates; plumbing and appliance replacements; building system and elevator upgrades; new flooring, doors and lighting; meeting and exercise room renovations; flooding abatement and community space modernization.

Changes at the Windsor and Maley

The remake of the Daytona Beach Housing Authority apartments was originally expected to be complete by the spring of 2024, but supply chain problems and COVID issues have already held up some of the work. The hope is still to complete the Windsor building by May of 2023 and the Maley building by April of 2024.

Sauer, Inc., is the general contractor on the project, and the developer is Louisiana-based Knight Development, formerly known as BGC Advantage. A limited liability corporation has been set up for Knight Development and the Housing Authority to partner as co-owners of the apartment buildings.

The Housing Authority is maintaining ownership of the land and has a ground lease with Knight Development.

An agreement between the Housing Authority and Knight Development requires the apartments to remain affordable for at least 15 years, and it prevents any other private company from taking over for at least 30 years.

Under the new arrangement, the property has been rebranded as WM At The River.

BGC was brought into the Housing Authority project largely to help with financing. The newly formed LLC has been able to apply for various types of debt, equity, grants and other financial resources.

The Windsor and Maley renovation will be paid for with a variety of funding sources including bonds, tax credits, equity investors and a loan.

'For seniors, it's not good'

Moving is not an option for most of the Windsor and Maley residents, many of whom live off of meager Social Security checks. Their rent at the downtown property can't exceed 30% of their income, and some pay as little as $212 per month. They could never afford market rate rents that have soared well past $1,000.

For many residents, it becomes a low-income retirement home they stay in for the rest of their lives. Tenants often wind up living there for decades.

Scott lived at the Windsor for 15 years, and then seven months ago she was temporarily relocated to a Maley apartment. She's been dismayed by the way the renovation project is playing out.

"For seniors, it's not good. It's dangerous," the 64-year-old said.

Scott said the building entrance doors used to be locked at 5 p.m. every day, but now "things are just wide open."

"We always had a homeless problem, but now they just come in," she said. "I ran a few homeless folks away."

A woman who lives in a house next to the apartments said she had a homeless man sleeping next to her fence, and she's seen other homeless people on the riverbank across the street.

There are security cameras on the apartment property, and security guards at night. But some residents believe crimes, including drug dealing, are still being committed outside the apartments.

Tenants say there have been other problems not related to the construction. When the trash chute for the Maley building broke several months ago, some residents started throwing their garbage bags off of their balconies and down toward open trash bins. Many of the bags miss their targets, and the refuse winds up scattered around the ground.

Glass beer bottles have shattered on the pavement, and when trash bags break apart or are torn by animals, exposed food rots under the searing sun.

Maggots, flies and gnats

When the trash problem was at its height, gnats swarmed the area. Annie Hamilton lives in a house just south of the Maley, and she said the bugs were getting in her yard and her house.

Hamilton said the trash stench also wafted into her yard. She said apartment residents are afraid if they complain they'll get kicked out, so she's been calling the city's code enforcement division.

She said there have been maggots, flies and gnats around the five open trash receptacles, and she had to put up a privacy fence to blunt some of the effects of being right next door. She's still had a hard time enjoying her backyard, which has a table for outdoor dining and a jacuzzi.

When City Commissioner Quanita May heard about the trash piling up a few months ago, she jumped in to help. The problem has improved now that Waste Pro has agreed to increase trash collection there from two days per week to five days.

"These are constituents of mine," May said as she stood outside the apartments recently. "It's important my constituents are taken care of. I can't have them suffering."

Things should get even better soon. A new trash chute was ordered two weeks ago, and it's "on the way," Brunini said.

The apartments' onsite management company, Allied Orion, is working to address problems, said Sandra Simms, a regional supervisor with the firm.

'Going as fast as they can'

Jackie Wilkinson has lived in the Maley apartment building for close to four years, and she said she insisted on a ground floor unit so she wouldn't have to worry about elevator breakdowns.

The 64-year-old doesn't know when renovation work will start in her building and she'll have to temporarily relocate to the Windsor, but she's looking forward to the improvements that will eventually come.

She said sometimes foul-smelling water rises up in her kitchen sink drain, and it has happened while she's washing her dishes.

Sally Jass, who has lived on the 11th floor of the Windsor apartments for 14 years, doesn't blame all the problems on the renovation. The current lack of functioning washers and driers has nothing to do with construction, she said.

"The buildings are 50 years old, and things are falling apart," said Jass, who sits on the Housing Authority board. "Hiring maintenance people has been a nightmare. People aren't applying for jobs."

She said the construction workers are "going as fast as they can" and they're "doing a wonderful job." She said the manager is also trying to keep people comfortable.

Jass conceded that there's some disarray, but she said residents just need to be patient.

"All people see now is construction, but the new units will be beautiful," she said, noting about $22,000 is being spent on each unit.

For now she said she's just happy to have a roof over her head she can afford.

As the construction continues, there will be people watching out for the residents.

"I feel the elders in the complex are vulnerable and I care about our seniors," May said. "I have known many of them for years, and many are distressed and anxious as a result of the living conditions."

Brunini said her company is working hard to give residents a nice place to live.

"We take the concerns of our residents seriously," Brunini said. "We do our best to minimize the discomfort of an in-place renovation and respond promptly to the need for ongoing maintenance as issues, such as a broken trash chute, through property management. This renovation will address the needs of a rapidly aging building and result in a higher quality of life for its current and future residents."

You can reach Eileen at Eileen.Zaffiro@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Low-income Daytona Beach apartments in midst of $59 million overhaul