NORWOOD COURT — Residents of a large north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County apartment complex spent last weekend’s bitter cold snap without heat, a problem management fixed just in time for another plunge into the single digits and subzero wind chills.
“It was like the arctic in here,†said Sherri Robertson, 60, who lives in the 360-unit Norwood Court Apartments at Interstate 70 and Lucas and Hunt Road with her bedridden uncle. “We were so cold.â€
Management was able to get the heat working by Wednesday, when temperatures finally climbed above freezing. But then the hot water went out, something that’s been happening more frequently in recent months, residents say.
“I’m trying like hell to get in touch with somebody to go get a shower,†said resident Willie Robinson, 54, who was getting off work from one job Thursday afternoon and trying to get ready for his next one at a Wendy’s.
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The heating problems at Norwood Court are the latest example of the frigid weather getting to residents of some of the region’s larger apartment complexes. On Tuesday, 213 residents of the Mark Twain Hotel downtown were evacuated after freezing temperatures burst pipes. In Midtown, roughly 160 tenants at the Heritage House Apartments were displaced by damage from broken pipes and lack of heat and were relocated during repairs.
At Norwood Court, residents say the heat was just the most extreme example of maintenance problems since a New York real estate investment firm — David Stern Management, led by Pinchos D. Shemano — in April 2022. Shemano bought another 330 units at three other complexes in ºüÀêÊÓƵ as part of that transaction, including Delrado Apartments in Florissant, Senate Square and Caroline Place Apartments in ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
The hot water issues have been going on for months, at least since the summer, tenants say, with no clear communication about how long it will take to be permanently fixed. They say there are also roaches that seem to be getting worse. Chelsea Hampton, another resident, said she calls maintenance and the management company, , with repair requests and can never get anyone to call her back.
“We pay too much money to be living like this,†said Hampton, who pays $978 a month in rent. “They just don’t care.â€
A phone message left with a number for David Stern Management wasn’t returned Thursday and someone who answered another number said Shemano was out of the office for the day. A phone number for Multi-South Management didn’t have an operator to answer a call, and questions sent to email addresses for the company and its partner David Shores weren’t immediately answered Thursday.
While some residents were able to stay with friends and family after the heat went out just as the cold snap was beginning last Friday evening, Robertson’s uncle was unable to leave because of his condition. Robertson just used all the blankets she could to keep him warm until management got her a temporary space heater Sunday after the two shivered through Friday and Saturday night. She made sure the heater was by her uncle’s bed. She suffered through the rest of the freeze without one.
“That’s why I have a cold,†she said.
Robertson has lived in the complex for seven years and said she never had maintenance problems before the new ownership took over. Now, there aren’t even enough cleaning staff to keep the complex tidy.
“These people have let this place go to shreds,†Robertson said. “I’m tired, I don’t want to keep moving around.â€
Calls to Legal Services of Eastern Missouri from tenants complaining of broken heat and water increase during cold weather events, said Rob Swearingen, an attorney with the nonprofit law firm who works on landlord tenant cases.
While landlords must maintain heat for tenants, if the services are out for a few days, Legal Services won’t necessarily look at legal action, he said. Pipes and heaters do break, particularly in old housing stock like that in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, Swearingen said. But if there’s a pattern and repair times of weeks or months, the nonprofit may take a closer look. If an apartment is without heat, tenants technically have the right to withhold rent, but they should consult an attorney first, Swearingen said.
“You have a right to withhold rent if your place is uninhabitable, but it’s dangerous because you might get a rent and possession action filed, and that’s gonna haunt you,†he said.
Hampton had no friends and family to stay with during last weekend’s cold snap, so she and her two teenage children suffered through the cold. She is skeptical the heat will stay fixed for long.
Hopefully, it will stay on through this weekend, when temperatures are again expected to dip to near 0 degrees with a wind chill of -15 degrees Friday night and Saturday morning.
“That’s much colder than anything we experienced last calendar year,†said Jayson Gosselin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Weldon Spring. In 2023, the temperature never went below 10 degrees, Gosselin said.
Robinson, the other Norwood Court tenant, will have to see if the heat holds out in the complex for the rest of the winter.
“My lease is up in November,†he said. “And I got to get up on out of there.â€