MIAMI – Senior citizens who lost their homes in a massive fire earlier this year are finally getting a new place to live.
On Monday, they moved into brand-new, furnished apartments.
New appliances, new fixtures, new furniture and new windows to new views — a new beginning for many who desperately needed it.
Felicia Fernandez is among the more than 50 seniors at the Temple Court Apartments, located at 431 NW Third St. near downtown Miami, who watched their lives go up in smoke and flames in June.
“I lost everything,” she said.
According to police, one of their neighbors, 73-year-old Juan Figueroa, shot a worker and then set fire to the building, creating one of the largest fires city crews had ever fought.
It was so damaging, the building had to be torn down.
Michael Nguyen, the president and CRO of Atlantic Housing Foundation, along with his team, immediately started looking for a place their tenants could go to.
“The residents of Temple Court wanted to stay together, wanted to stay close to the neighborhood that they’ve known for forever,” he said.
Michael Liu, who is the executive vice president and chief strategy officer for the Swerdlow Group, said The Residences at Sawyer’s Walk is one of the largest new senior affordable housing developments in the country.
“From this day forward, they’ll be able to enjoy a life without the stress, without the memory of that awful fire, three months ago,” said Liu.
The folks who were in studio apartments at Temple Court received new studios at Sawyer’s Walk and the folks in one bedroom units got new one bedroom apartments as well, but their rents won’t be going up.
“We made a commitment to the federal government, to the state, that we won’t be doing that,” said Liu. “We made a commitment to the people that we won’t be doing that, so legally, as well as morally, we are committed.”
Added city of Miami Director of Human Services David Gilbert: “To get them here to this point, to see the amenities that they have, the things they were able to obtain, in the midst of this tragedy, was just overwhelming, and it was an amazing thing.”
They may be new hallways, but they are filled with old neighbors and friends, as well as hosting some new ones.
“I voted on this project as a CRA board member when I was a councilman many, many years ago, and to see the fruition of it, and the residents whose lives are impacted by it, that’s why we do our job,” said Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
Added Nguyen: “I think they’re going to be so happy here -- it’s just such a beautiful facility.”