CLEVELAND — It's a tale of "negligence" News 5 has been following since 2022, and now, residents of the Vista at Shaker Square are forced to relocate due to uninhabitable living conditions.
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Since the beginning, we've been sharing stories of resident frustration that ultimately led to the City of Cleveland filing a nuisance lawsuit in 2023 against the then-owner of the property, Shaker Heights Apartments Owner LLC.
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"The last owners, they just let it go. They were slumlords," longtime Vista at Shaker Square tenant William Butler Jr. said on Sunday.
He, along with 39 other residents, is now having to relocate as apartments have recently flooded, causing soaked hallway carpet and iced-over floors.
Cleveland Fire has posted a notice to vacate on the front of the complex.
Both buildings, located at 12500 and 12600 Shaker Blvd., are deemed unsafe for living.
Jay Westbrook of the Morelands Group, an advocacy organization looking out for the residential apartment corridor of the Shaker Square community, told us the chaos happening now is an "unfortunate demonstration of what happens when ownership is allowed to degrade properties for so long."
Not only are floors submerged in water, but Butler Jr. said the elevators have been inoperable for the last two weeks, causing a very long hike to his unit on the eighth floor.
"It's just been a rough three, four years, but really two years ago, it really got rough and everything started breaking down," Butler Jr. said.
Ownership of the property changed hands late last year, with approval from the city and the Cleveland Housing Court.
Shaker Heights Apartments Owner LLC is no longer the owner. The Lenox at Shaker Square LLC is.
The new ownership group is offering a temporary place to stay for tenants who have to move.
The relocation building is across the street from Vista at Shaker Square.
Cleveland Director of Building and Housing Sally Martin O'Toole said the new property owners have been forthcoming in wanting to solve the problem and help residents.
But she said there is well over $5 million dollars in needed repairs for Vista at Shaker Square.
"They've started the work, however, they have run into some issues at 12500 (Shaker) and 12600 (Shaker) with massive water leaks related to a leaking boiler," O'Toole said. "Also, the fire suppression system is no longer working, which has created a major, major issue."
O'Toole said new hot water tanks have been ordered, as well as new boilers.
"They've been trying to do that for weeks before all of this came to a head this weekend," she said.
Under a settlement agreement signed in December 2025, Lenox at Shaker Square LLC must make necessary repairs to the building in order for residents to continue living there, O'Toole said.
If not, the city can take the situation back to court, she said.
With the fire suppression system malfunctioning, property owners are doing a 24-hour fire watch, O'Toole said.
There are nine to 10 tenants who have yet to relocate.
The goal is to have those remaining residents moved out by next week.
Butler Jr. said he was given until Friday to fully vacate.
"I bought an inflatable bed. I took a few personal items over there, so I could take a bath. I'm not going to sleep over here anymore," Butler Jr. said.
If the remaining residents are not out of the building in time, the city said it will forcibly remove them. But it's not a route the city wants to take, O'Toole said.
The first quarterly report to the city from the Lenox at Shaker Square, LLC is due on Feb. 18, O'Toole said.
That report will detail the maintenance completed and a timeline for getting the remainder of the work done.
"There's a number of things this quarter that were supposed to have been done. Many of them are exterior-related, and many of those have been done, but obviously these large systems, that was part of the second quarter, and we've had this ridiculously cold weather that's led to pipes bursting and all kinds of mayhem occurring at the building, which is not a stable situation," O'Toole said.
Based on the conversations the city has had with the new property owners, there is a real effort and desire to make sure the building is up to code and safe for residents, she said.
"Building and housing has been out all week at the buildings, visiting and looking at conditions and monitoring what was going on," she said. "I have been in close contact with the ownership, so I just spoke with him a short time ago. I do believe they're quite earnest at wanting to make these repairs, and they have the money to do so."
Westbrook said he also believes the property owners will come through this time, saying these unfortunate circumstances are hopefully the final bump in the road.
"There will be a day when we could stand here and say these buildings were saved," he said.
News 5 reached out to the new landlord, an affiliate of New York-based Alba Construction. Attorneys for the company responded with an emailed statement, saying the problems that tenants are experiencing are the result of "nearly a decade of deferred and neglected maintenance by the previous owners."
The landlord is working closely with the city, the fire department and the Morelands Group to turn the property around, according to the statement. But that's going to take time.
"These are not simple repairs that can be made quickly," the company wrote. "They require significant equipment and repairs, which do take time. We have already made a number of improvements to the property, repaired major systems and have orders and contracts in place with local vendors for many other major repairs."
News 5 reporter Michelle Jarboe contributed to this story.
