LANSING, Mich. — After failing to make repairs for years, the owner and managers of Rivershell Apartments are under fire from the city.
City officials said, if the repairs aren't made this week, they’re not afraid to take things to court.
All seven buildings in the southwest Lansing complex now have pink tags plastered on them because the city said management has failed to fix things like loose toilets, missing smoke detectors, potholes and even garbage disposals.
Residents we talked to said the problems have lingered for years.
“There ain't no help,” said resident Darwin Coby. “We complain, they don’t do nothing. The lady upstairs moved out and there is still trash upstairs, so every time it rains, we get maggots down on our deck.”
Resident Donna Loveall said, "The smell be so bad when the heat is out, when it’s 80 or 90 degrees, we had to have the front and back door open because you couldn’t even stand to walk in the hallway."
The city placed the pink tags, which prohibits leasing, last month and city officials are giving Rivershell’s management until Friday to fix the problems. If not, there may be legal consequences.
“We would probably move down the direction of getting courts involved. Often times we can seek fines, penalty and some times just violation of compliance,” said Brian McGrain, the city's director of planning and economic development.
Rivershell has around 120 units and the city said they will not be vacating residents if the issues aren’t fixed. But, some residents said they hope things change soon, or they will make the decision to move themselves.
“These living conditions are just bad,” Coby said.
Rivershell Apartments is owned by a California company called AndMark Rivershell Apartments LLC. The company's resident agent Dave Pinson, CEO of an Arkansas company called Trinity Multifamily, did not respond to requests for comment.
