For about a week in early February, Rocky Hill resident Daniel Bishop was forced to live out of a hotel after his apartment was evacuated.
Nearly 550 units at Concierge Apartments were cleared after burst pipes unveiled unsafe living conditions.
Bishop, and his girlfriend, were among the 2,000 residents who were displaced and had to live out of a hotel. Bishop’s two senior cats struggled to adapt to their new temporary surroundings.
“It wasn't a good experience for the cats,” Bishop said. “If you can picture running an IV line on a shower line in a Sheridan Hotel into my cat's back to try to give her her IV, which we do at home every day. It was awful for them. They weren't eating.”
State and local officials, including Attorney General William Tong, helped broker a deal with the landlord and property management to compensate residents for the displacement and associated out-of-pocket expenses.
But, Bishop’s apartment building doesn’t qualify for all of the relief measures, including the option to break the lease without repercussion.
“I'm grateful for the effort that's been done, but I can still be disappointed in the end result and still going to explore different options, because it's not about the money. It's about health. It's about being free of this,” Bishop said.
A lack of building maintenance has led to burst pipes, unreliable heat and water supply and mold, among other health and safety concerns, according to Tong.
After about a month-long ordeal, more than half of the residents have returned to their apartments. However, two of the buildings are still vacant and undergoing work, Tong said.
The company’s payouts will total more than $5 million, according to Tong.
Tong credited the property management company, JKR Holdings, with coming from California to Connecticut for negotiations.
“This includes direct cash payments to residents' rent relief rights to terminate their leases, and this is to address the extreme health and safety violations and the disruption to the lives of the tenants and their families and their property,” Tong said.
As a result, residents of the three most-impacted buildings are given the option to terminate their leases early. Residents are also being offered three months of free rent and a cash payment of between $1,100 and $1,700, depending on the number of residents.
For residents of the two less-damaged buildings there is one month of free rent and a cash payment of $500.
All buildings are being offered a waiver for February utility costs and the option for a lease renewal at the same rent rate.
Tong is also working on future plans to better strengthen health and safety protocols at Concierge Apartments.
“We will announce a second agreement, that we are in the process of finalizing, about the health and safety measures that concierge will undertake to make sure this doesn't happen again,” Tong said.
