Charlotte seniors evacuated when their apartments flooded. Now some may lose their lease.
Residents of Magnolia Senior Apartments are confused and angry after being told to vacate the hotels they have stayed at since a water leak last month flooded their homes.
Some 20 residents met with local advocates Tuesday at the Residence Inn by Marriott Charlotte Northlake to discuss what the next steps may be. The Marriott is one of several hotels residents from the Beatties Ford Road senior complex have lived in since the Christmas day leak.
Residents were informed a day earlier by management via email they would need to leave the hotels by Sunday. Many were notified their apartment leases would be terminated as well, but it’s not clear how many living at the 82-unit complex will be affected.
“As seniors we are in the winter of our lives and we deserve better, we have earned better than this,” Constance Westmoreland, a Magnolia Senior Apartment resident, said.
Mosaic Development Group lists the complex as one of its properties on its site and the 82-unit complex is managed by Excel Property Management.
An emailed letter, from The Magnolia Garden Group, LLC, residents shared with the Charlotte Observer said: “We have recently learned from the property’s insurance carrier that the building’s coverage will not pay for hotel stays for tenants who have been displaced.”
Management had been footing the bill since December, but because there are many residents affected by the water damage, the cost to supplement the hotel stay “is significant,” the emailed letter stated.
Without insurance to offset the cost, residents won’t be able to stay.
Meanwhile, repairs to the damaged homes could take over nine months and require them to be empty, the email reads. As a result, residents were notified their current leases will be terminated at 10 a.m. on Jan. 15, the email states.
A meeting between residents and management is planned to take place at the Mariott by Charlotte Northlake at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
Westmoreland said while preparing her third-floor apartment for a Christmas gathering the fire alarm went off. At first she thought it was just a fire drill. But then she heard commotion from outside her apartment.
“When I looked up the hallway, I saw water coming out of the ceiling,” she said.
Soon water was coming out from under some residents’ doors and flowing down the hallway. As water began to flow in her apartment she grabbed as many towels and sheets she could to stop it from entering her unit.
She was only able to grab a couple days of worth of clothes and the Christmas gifts she planned to share.
“I didn’t know we were going to be here this long,” she said, referring to being at the hotel. “Communication from management has been less than desirable.”
Westmoreland and several of her neighbors have been unable to return and gather their belongings and important items such as medication.
“I find it unsettling that we are even only being given five days to figure out what’s next,” Westmoreland said. “I feel like we’re being treated like second class citizens, and there’s little concern for what happens to us.”
All on one page
Residents also gathered at Rockwell AME Zion Church on Tuesday to speak with advocates about what they have been experiencing at Magnolia senior apartments. Some said communication is tough, while others expressed continued maintenance issues over the years.
Janette Kinard, executive director of Champion House of Care, helped organize the residents with local activist Willis Draughn Jr. to get them all on one page. She also threw a dinner Jan. 6 for them after learning some residents were struggling to get food.
“Whatever they need right now, we are just trying to help,” Kinard said, adding local churches have helped in the effort.
Some residents have received notice their leases would be terminated, while others said they were unsure. The confusion has only heightened their concerns, Denise Watson, another resident, said.
“We really don’t know,” she said. “I’ve had to buy socks, clothes... everything you need to live over the past few weeks.”
Patricia Lockhart, another resident, said she was heartbroken to have to vacate her home through the holidays. What hurt her the most is that she felt everyone was being treated like trash.
Her grandchildren, who she has helped take care of since her daughter died, also had to go without their Christmas gifts, which remain in her apartment, she said.
“They told me ‘you’re the closest thing I have to my Momma,’ ” Lockhart said. “Now they can’t even come visit. Where are they going to visit me at? On the street?”
Westmoreland said securing housing in Charlotte on such a short notice is almost impossible. There also may be others like her who do not have immediate family to lean on, she added.
“Material things like a sofa can be replaced, but I want my personal things, things you can’t put a monetary value on,” Westmoreland said.
This story was originally published January 11, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
