DETROIT – Temperatures were in the mid-90s once again on Tuesday, and as the entire area has been baking in this brutal heatwave, imagine living in an apartment building without air conditioning.
Unfortunately, that has been the reality for the last five days for residents at The Jefferson apartments on Detroit’s east side.
“I’ve heard some people say that their apartment is as high as 95 to 100 degrees,” a three-year resident of the building told Local 4 on Tuesday (June 24).
We are concealing her identity because she fears retaliation from Jefferson’s management company.
“Like the other issues going on in the building are annoying or inconvenient, but this is dangerous,” she said. “I mean, there are elderly and disabled people in the building. “As I was walking over, I saw a woman walking in with her 6-month-old child.”
The 60-year-old 30-story Riverfront apartment building, known for years as the Jeffersonian, has been sweltering hot without air conditioning for days, and the residents, such as this one, are livid.
The building is operated by Friedman, a Farmington Hills-based real estate and property management company that owns over 40 apartment buildings in the Metro Detroit area.
Friedman also owns the Alden Tower, located on Jefferson Avenue.
A number of residents are angry but fear going to the media because of what they say is retaliation – including terminating or refusing to renew leases – by Friedman.
The issue with the air conditioning is seemingly the last straw for residents, who have dealt with various problems over the years, including water issues and broken elevators in the building, which are currently also out of order.
The air conditioning issue has quickly gone viral as people demand help from the city.
Arthur Rushin, the chief of buildings and safety as part of the public works department, says the city has heard the complaints about the problem.
“We have been out and verified that the air conditioning unit or the chillers are not working,” Rushin, the chief enforcement officer of the Building, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department, said.
“They do have a contractor on site currently making repairs, and the management company has set up two cooling stations, one on the first floor and another one on the 29th floor, to make sure that they can provide some type of relief to some of the occupants within the building.”
Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield, who represents downtown, the Riverfront, and the lower east side, said that more needs to be done to fix the situation.
“I am deeply concerned by the ongoing situation at The Jefferson apartment building,” Sheffield said in a statement. “More must be done to ensure the immediate safety and comfort of tenants. The health and well-being of Detroiters must always come first.”
The residents at Jefferson want more to be done and want more pressure put on Friedman.
“I guess they’re helpful, but it doesn’t help us sleep comfortably at night. It doesn’t provide us with a place where we can cook food without cooking ourselves out of our apartment. It helps a little, but it’s not treating the problem, which is mismanagement of the building,” she said.
Local 4 reached out to Friedman for a response, and they have yet to respond
