A reduction in rats and cleaner common areas — it’s some of the progress the staff at one embattled apartment complex tells News 5 it's making, as the management faces legal trouble for letting safety violations get out of hand.
"When you're dealing with, maybe a backlog of work orders, sometimes it takes a lot more effort to get it back to current," said Vinny Stefanini of RHM Property Management.
On Thursday, we finally got the chance to take residents' concerns straight to those with the answers.
The staff at North Pointe sat down with News 5 after months of requests to set the record straight on how they're tackling a laundry list of health and safety concerns.
"It's in our best interest to do all of this not because someone is holding a gun to our head and telling us we have to do it," said Ken Lapine, attorney for North Pointe.
As a maintenance crew of seven tackles a long list of complaints coming from some of the 953 apartment units, our camera captured some of the improvements.
Trash chute rooms once littered with trash appeared clean. Clogged chutes were clear.
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New locking security doors were installed to keep tenants safe.
Outside new dumpsters, along with a proposed dumpster container garage, are expected to cut off the food source for an infestation of rats.
However, there is still a lot of work left to do.
The city is currently waiting on a report from a structural engineer to address the crumbling balconies and to determine the integrity of the underground parking garage, which leaks, washing away fireproofing required by law.
An attorney representing the property owner, North Point LLC, tells News 5 they had no idea about these issues until the City of Euclid threatened to press criminal charges.
That court battle has been playing out for months now.
"They're not pressing the cases as long as they see progress is being made," said Lapine.
The staff at North Pointe tells News 5 it is all hands on deck until all these issues are resolved.
Extra outside help has been hired to deal with issues inside resident's units and an exterminator is on site daily trying to get rid of those rats.
