ALLAPATTAH, Fla. – After one week without power, residents of a 17-floor apartment in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood are still looking for answers as to when it will be restored.
The latest power outage began on Nov. 8 and continued on Monday night. at the 17-story apartment building located at 1250 NW 21 St. in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood.
Local 10 News’ Cody Weddle visited the building where residents said that some of the hallways had a noticeable rancid stench, food is going bad and there’s still no clear answer on when power will be restored.
One resident told Local 10 News that they’ve lost hundreds of dollars in food after nearly a week of no power.
Every morning I have to buy food, then at 12, food, said one resident.
The resident said she has a daughter with a medical condition and struggles to breathe in the heat.
After visiting the building’s office, management refused to give any information about when they may restore electricity.
Some residents fear it may be many more weeks.
Many are now looking for make-shift solutions that include running extension cords from the hallways which still have power to their apartments.
Only some of the building’s units have lost power.
Another resident told Local 10 News, “We continue to have a fire watch, fire inspectors are here, walking all of the floors that have been affected every hour.”
According to Miami Fire-Rescue, they’re monitoring the building day and night.
Residents say they’re struggling with sleepless nights and mounting expenses.
It’s hard for me, we’re just making like $600 dollars a week and then spend like $300 on food, one resident said. “It’s like every day we just work for money now, for food now.”
Fire Rescue Capt. Ignacio Carroll said, “So people who live here believe this is a problem with a broken breaker and there are conflicting accounts of when repair parts could be obtained for that,”
The building has offered to pay for hotel stays or offer a $500-dollar gift card to those who live here but many residents are saying that’s still not enough to cover what they’ve lost.
According to residents, building management has also been providing food in the evenings.
In 2019, Jorge M. Pérez’s Related Group sold the building to Lincoln Avenue Capital, a five-year-old real estate investment firm, for $18 million, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
Records also show the building, which has an exemption value of about $7.2 million this year, is owned by Lincoln Santa Clara II LLC, a corporation registered to Jeremy Bronfman, of Santa Monica, the grandson of the late billionaire Edgar Bronfman.
According to the Santa Clara II Apartments’ site, the affordable-housing property is now managed by The Franklin Johnson Group, based in Virginia Beach.