ST. LOUIS – Some seniors inside a St. Louis apartment building say they’re stranded after the elevator in their building started operating for an hour but is now broken again.
Residents at Roosevelt Towne Apartments, located on Euclid near Delmar, said the elevators have not worked in nearly three weeks.
Bertha Darty is 69 years old and relies on a walker to get around.
“I cannot walk down the steps; I cannot stand up on my leg,” she said.
Her husband, William Darty, is in his 70s. The right side of his body is paralyzed.
“They don’t know when the elevators are going to be repaired,” he said.
Despite the couple’s invite into their home, security told FOX 2’s team to leave the day before. The husband and wife did a phone interview instead while standing in the stairwell windows.
“I haven’t heard anything, but they said they were going to put us up in a hotel,” William said.
According to records from the Missouri Secretary of State, the ownership of Roosevelt Towne Apartments belongs to River City Affordable Housing, LLC, with a St. Louis address. Interestingly, the LLC’s Board of Directors has members residing in various locations across the United States, including Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, and Norwalk in California, as well as in St. Petersburg, Florida.
In a paragraph-long message to residents, property managers said they’re faced with many challenges in getting the elevators fixed.
Property management said it’s doing what it can to get the elevators working again and “not ignoring this emergency.”
“The companies that we have reached out to have all declined our request due to them not feeling safe on the property,” the letter from property management read. “We have contacted every elevator company in the St. Louis and St. Charles area. With the number of incidents that have happened at Roosevelt, we are constantly being declined.”
The day after last night’s story aired, an elevator repair crew was seen outside the apartment building.
An hour into the repairs, the elevator was fixed but stopped working about an hour later.
“We do have some canned goods that we’ve been eating on and stuff, but our food is running low,” Bertha said.
A representative with the elevator repair company said one of the two elevators started working again, but it had to be shut down because it was overheating.
“The building is working on repairing the air conditioning unit in the control room,” the representative said.
St. Louis Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Nicole Franklin confirmed Thursday that the city has met with the property’s management and is working on resolving the issue.
“The Department of Human Services is working alongside the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis to do a wellness check at this location,” Franklin said.
It’s unclear how long the elevators will be out of service.
“Homebound seniors interested and in need of meals can call (314) 612-5918 to sign up for St. Louis’ Meals on Wheels program through the St. Louis Area Agency on Aging,” Franklin said.
The city said participants must be at least 60 years old or a person with disabilities between 18 and 59 years old residing in the City of St. Louis.