‘There aren’t a lot of options:’ Taking control of Madison apartment complex ‘still on the table’ for city officials | News

“We’re hearing about doors that don’t lock,” said Public Health Madison and Dane County Violence Intervention Supervisor Carmela Glenn. “We’re hearing about people’s washers not working. We’re hearing stories of people, when they do complain, having [management] say to them horrendous things of, ‘I don’t have to be here, and if you keep making my job hard, I might not be here.’ We’re hearing retaliation. They’re calling police rather than go knock on the door of the management office for like, ‘My neighbor’s not doing this,’ or ‘They keep parking in my spot,’ or ‘Their garbage is in my spot inside of the garage.’ Those are a lot of the calls.”

“Those residents have been feeling for a long time like their needs have been neglected, and that they’ve been kind of suffering in silence,” said District Three Alder Derek Field. “They really want the city to step up, to come in and do a lot of the things that we have been working on. They also want the city to hold their landlords accountable. They want their landlords to follow through on building repairs and maintenance and security measures. So it’s a really frustrating position to be in when, locally, there aren’t a lot of options available to us to compel that kind of action.”

In addition to the list of recommendations, City of Madison officials also started weekly meetings with Royal Capital. Assistant City Attorney Jennifer Zilavy, Alder Field and Glenn are all regular participants.

“They usually seem to know what they should be doing, what their goals are, and they seem to have trouble with the follow-through,” Field said. “There are long periods of time where we get the same update that something’s in progress.”

“They will say that something’s going to be done, and we will follow up with, ‘Well, can you have it done by this date?’ ‘Oh, yes, yes, we’ll have it done then.’ Then come to find out, it’s not done by that date,” Zilavy said.

City officials say they’ve gone above and beyond to help Royal Capital accomplish fixes, but even when they do, things still don’t get done. For example, when the company ran into fire code issues in the process of trying to install parking lot gates, Alder Field pushed the Common Council to reach a compromise.

“The city spent two weeks, which is the shortest amount of time I’ve ever seen on a site plan review, to approve the gate,” Field said. “So since September, we’ve been waiting. They’ve had approval.”

City officials also say city government along with local nonprofits have been the ones to provide on-site programming and support without much help from Royal Capital.

“[The residents] want to see it from management. They don’t want to see it from us,” Glenn said. “They see the things we’re doing, but when we leave and it still feels the same to them, and they still feel like their voice isn’t being heard, yeah, the fun in Public Health and MPD and the libraries, we all go home and they’re still there.”

Zilavy says there are questions about how much property managers are even around to help tenants with their everyday needs. 

“They say they’re on site three days a week, there’s a question as to whether or not that even happens,” Zilavy said. “Imagine being in that situation with some of those conditions, and the office is dark Friday through Monday. I just, I really, I can’t imagine how that feels.”

Royal Capital denied repeated requests for an on camera interview, but did respond to some allegations in a statement. On management’s absence from the property, they wrote:

“Not true. Our staffing includes onsite staff, evening/overnight security and other support. As it relates to violence, the property has seen a steady decline in calls for service, and individuals who violate any of our house rules are referred to MPD and/or are subject to lease termination.”

On living conditions and maintenance issues, they added, “As part of changing management, an aggressive maintenance schedule was deployed starting first with safety issues then escalating to all other outstanding items.”

“There has been a lot of defensiveness on the part of Royal Capital, I would say, even some gas lighting,” Zilavy said. “You know, we can’t keep coming to the table and having the city, and Public Health, and the Alder and us doing all of the work for a property we don’t own and that we don’t have ultimate control over. There’s only so much we can do, and at some point, you know, we do have to seriously look at, is this the time that we go the public nuisance route and tried and get a receiver in the property?”

Like the city attorney’s office warned a year ago, they could still take control of the property from Royal Capital. Zilavy told News 3 Now that option is still on the table.

“I hope they make it better”

Facing the threat of eviction and with some help from advocate Myesha Thompson, Grant and Sharray Curry both moved out of the Harmony Apartments. They, along with Thompson, received trespass notices from the property on the way out.

“I’m like, more chill now, I smile and I laugh,” Grant said. “You know, I still have my pains, but not like I used to have over there every day.”

But although she no longer wakes up next to the bullet holes from her son’s shooting, she still worries about the tenants left at Harmony.

“I hope they make it better for the rest of the tenants and the kids over there, and I hope he makes it safe, because baby, I hate to say it, but somebody else is going to die on their property.”

Royal Capital did not respond to multiple requests for an on-the-record interview. They responded to specific points provided to them by News 3 Now. We have included their full response for transparency:

1. Royal Capital has been largely absent on the property despite multiple acts of severe violence and consistent complaints from residents and city officials about the living conditions there.
   • Not true. Our staffing includes onsite staff, evening/overnight security and other support. As it relates to violence, the property has seen a steady decline in calls for service, and individuals who violate any of our house rules are referred to MPD and/or are subject to lease termination.
2. Residents say there is a long list of maintenance requests, some months old, that are not being addressed.
   • As part of changing management, an aggressive maintenance schedule was deployed starting first with safety issues then escalating to all other outstanding items.
3. The property is in poor condition on the inside with mold, leaks, broken appliances, etc. 
   • As part of changing management, an aggressive maintenance schedule was deployed starting first with safety issues then escalating to address all other outstanding items.
4. Residents feel they’ve been retaliated against by management for speaking out. Two former residents in particular, Illisha Grant and Sharray Curry say they were forced to leave in retaliation for speaking to the media and advocates about issues on the property. Others say they’re scared to speak out about issues out of fear that they’ll be treated the same way. 
   • Please refer to the felony charges for Sharray Curry. This is one of several incidents at the property regarding Curry. Under the terms of her lease she was issued a 30-day notice. She was scheduled to move out on October 20th, but upon request, we extended the courtesy for her to move out on October 31st.
   • Separately, lease holders are responsible for their guest and this is clearly stated in the lease agreement. Multiple guests of Grant committed crimes at the property. Please refer to MPD for more information.
5. One resident also says she was given a months-old “late fee” as she was leaving. She believes that was an attempt by management to interfere with her Section 8 voucher in retaliation for speaking out.
6. Management has been dragging their feet on fixes and has not been consistently cooperative with efforts to improve conditions on the property.
   • As part of changing management, an aggressive maintenance schedule was deployed starting first with safety issues then escalating to address all other outstanding items.

​COPYRIGHT 2024 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.