ST. LOUIS — When the elevators stopped working at the Ely Walker lofts back in mid-July, it was just the latest inconvenience for residents of the downtown building.
Then the fire department arrived.
City building inspectors on July 12 slapped the Ely Walker Lofts condo board with a “major violation†for nonfunctioning elevators and an “inoperable or illegally shut down†fire alarm system, according to documents obtained under an open records request. The city ordered a “fire watch†in the 174-unit building at 1520 Washington Avenue, requiring employees to monitor the building until the alarm was working again.
“It has been beeping for years, literally years,†said Kristin Denbow, who bought her unit back when the building opened in 2007. “Who knows how long our fire system has had issues that we are not aware of?â€
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Finally, residents thought, the alarm would be fixed. But the dull beep of the fire system began again in August. As recently as Thursday, city officials were still waiting for confirmation that the fire alarm system had been restored to full capacity.
Questions about how long Ely Walker residents had been without a properly working fire system are only the latest to swirl around the building and the landlords who six years ago took over the condo board that controls spending on maintenance and security.
Just 15 years ago, the 1907 Ely Walker building had been a ºüÀêÊÓƵ success story, part of the revitalization of Washington Avenue that transformed the old warehouse district into chic lofts to draw people back downtown. When Ely Walker opened in the mid-2000s, condos there were selling for around $300,000.
But in recent years — according to court filings and interviews with residents and condo owners — maintenance has been deferred, cleaning has been cut and the building has become tied to mayhem downtown.
Several residents and condo owners contend Sid Chakraverty and Victor Alston, the brothers behind controversial apartment companies Asprient Properties and Lux Living, are ultimately responsible for the Ely Walker’s maintenance and safety issues. An Alston company controls at least half of the building’s units, and Chakraverty sits on a condo board made up of the company’s employees, a friend and a family member.
Alston and Chakraverty own apartments across the region and have invested over $150 million into new apartment developments in the city. But they’ve also drawn complaints and lawsuits over their management practices for years.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ officials also have clashed with the brothers and their attorney, particularly after a lawsuit they filed stalled a rival developer. Now, as the city tries to rein in crime downtown, they’re focusing on problems at Ely Walker after high-profile incidents including the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old in March in the building’s lobby.
In early August, the Public Safety Department sent the Ely Walker Lofts Condominium Association a nuisance notice for “disturbances, shootings and other unruly behavior.†A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday that could provide some relief to angry residents of the building — and perhaps to downtown as a whole — by forcing the condo board to spend money on security that residents say is sorely needed.
“It was a very, very nice complex until Asprient took over,†said Ted Saunders, who bought a condo in 2011 as an investment property. “That’s the only property I’ve dropped my rent. ... Ever.â€
Alston, Chakraverty and their attorney, Ira Berkowitz, did not return requests for comment. Board president Anshul Sathyan — Alston and Chakraverty’s cousin — did not return a call, nor did longtime Asprient and Lux employee Kyle Hennessy, who is also on the board. The attorney who represents the condo association, Elia Ellis, also did not respond to a request for comment.
‘Maximize rents, reduce costs’
In 2015, when Alston company Aconcagua One LLC bought half the units in the building from Mills Properties, his family moved quickly to take over the Ely Walker Lofts Condominium Association.
They claimed the right to three board seats, with Chakraverty and two company employees, Hennessy and Connor Murch, taking the other two board seats. In April 2016, they appointed another employee as a fourth board member of the five-member board.
Shortly thereafter, the board called a special meeting for June 7, 2016. On the agenda was a motion to move the condo association’s finances to another bank account and to remove the remaining independent director, David Knolmayer, as president and treasurer.
A struggle to keep Asprient from taking total control ensued. Some owners, including Denbow and Knolmayer, filed a lawsuit that is still pending. Denbow says they can’t get meeting notices or finances from the board, which they are entitled to as owners.
“They violate state statute and condo law with impunity,†she said.
Saunders, a condo owner unrelated to the lawsuit, had been unaware of the struggle for board control until a young man named George Chisolm sent him a text in the summer of 2017.
Chisolm said he was interested in buying Saunders’ unit. The two met, but the deal went sideways after Chisolm said his “dad†wanted to review the contract and then pulled out, according to emails from Saunders.
Saunders soon concluded Chisolm was a straw buyer. Chisolm, other tenants said, had contacted numerous owners in the building seeking to buy their units. The company Chisolm said would buy Saunders’ unit, EWC Condo LLC, was tied to Alston.
A few months before, in March 2017, there had been a disputed election. An independent director may have won.
The Asprient-controlled board then hired a new lawyer, Ellis, who in August 2017 called for a new election. By then, companies tied to Alston and Chakraverty or their associates had acquired several more units, ensuring they had over 50% of the votes.
“What this means is that Asprient will have the majority of votes in every election or board matter that requires a vote,†said an August 2017 email from the opposition, which seemed to fizzle out after that.
Murch, the former board member and Asprient employee, was “uncomfortable†with the situation. He quit his job at the company in 2017 and resigned as a board member of the condo association.
“I was instructed by Sid and Vic on what to do at the board, but when I had the opportunity, I did try to do what was best for the board,†he said during a 2018 deposition in the lawsuit from owners.
The tenants’ attorney, Elkin Kistner, asked Murch what his concerns were. Alston and Chakraverty, Murch replied, directed him and other board members to make decisions “for their better interest.â€
“Maximize rents, reduce costs,†Murch said.
‘Why are bills going unpaid?’
Since Chakraverty and Alston took over, rents have been increased, those who lease say, but condo dues, which Alston would have to pay as an owner, have not.
“Our (condo) fees have not been raised since 2015,†when Alston and Chakraverty took over, Denbow said. “Without an increase in fees, logic dictates that services are cut.â€
The Ely Walker Condominium Association collects about $500,000 annually in condo fees, according to financials.
Yet as city inspectors spent the summer pressing Sathyan, the board president, and Chakraverty to do something about the fire alarm system, they discovered that part of the issue was an unpaid fire system vendor.
“I spoke with a representative of Siemens and was informed that they are not able to respond to your request for the fire alarm service until your organization first resolves its unpaid balance from previous services,†city fire safety supervisor Joe Kovac wrote to Sathyan July 15, copying Chakraverty and other members of the board on the correspondence. “It seems that the all-too-frequent switch of management companies hired by your group’s controlling interest over these past few years has effectively been playing a shell game with honoring its debts; and all at the risk of the residents’ life safety. This is not the first time we have heard this reason for resolving alarm issues in your properties.â€
The fire alarm monitoring company told Kovac that “they have been reporting monitoring problems to your organization since February.â€
Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson put the issue on inspectors’ radar June 1. After Sathyan sent a January fire monitoring report to inspectors in mid June, Kovac called it “practically useless†and said there was no proof deficiencies noted with the fire system had been remedied.
One inspector said then it was time to institute a fire watch.
“Sid Chakraverty says he is not responsible even though he owns 50% of the condominiums in the building and is a controlling member of the condo association,†building inspector Michael Cardwell wrote June 16. “He tells me Smith Management is the management company.â€
Almost on cue, Sathyan emailed inspectors a half-hour later.
“The building is a condo building managed by a property management company, Smith Management,†he wrote. “The gentleman who was the property manager at the time did not convey this report to us nor did he follow through with the repairs to the system.â€
As inspectors grew increasingly frustrated with promised repairs, residents said Sathyan told them nothing was wrong with the fire alarm at all.
Smith Management ended its contract with the building at the end of July. ºüÀêÊÓƵ office president Angela Johnson, in response to an email asking for an interview, said the Ely Walker condo board was a former client and wished them well. But condo owner Grace Malnar recorded a July 15 phone conversation she had with Johnson about the issues at the building.
“We’ve been on this fire panel thing for a while,†Johnson told Malnar in the recording. “We’ve given them bids and done all the things we’re supposed to do, but they wouldn’t approve it.â€
Sathyan “got mad,†Johnson said, and asked Smith Management to stop saying something was wrong with the fire panel.
“He probably doesn’t want it in writing,†Johnson said. “But there is something wrong with the fire panel.â€
The final straw for Smith Management was after media reports about the parties and violence in the building, Johnson said. The company had proposed full-time security and cameras, providing the condo board with bids for security.
“We were being blamed on the news for a lot of this stuff,†Johnson told Malnar. “We actually heard they were using us as a scapegoat. And my company is a very large company, and that’s their liability. So either they have an on-site manager and full-time security to protect our manager or we can’t manage them because it’s not safe.â€
As of June, the condo board had about $238,000 in reserves, according to financials provided by Malnar, who was able to get a copy from Johnson.
“If we have the money, why are bills going unpaid?†Denbow asked. “And two, if they’re going unpaid, then do we really have the money?â€
Wherever it comes from, Alston and Chakraverty may have to spend some money on the property if the city gets its way after Wednesday’s nuisance hearing. Public Safety Director Dan Isom said last week the city isn’t looking to condemn any units with law-abiding tenants. But it does want increased security and to get the owners who control the condo board “to take some personal responsibility and accountability.â€
“Our end game,†Isom said, “is basically to have a peaceful location.â€