Emerald Towers evictions leave Colorado Springs seniors scattered (affordable apartments, renter)

[Vision67]

https://gazette.com/premium/emerald-...3cf98445a.html

"When Phyllis Murphy thinks about those chaotic, awful days and weeks after she and her neighbors were evicted from their apartments in Emerald Towers, she sees the entryway steps of the old seven-story complex in southwest Colorado Springs choked with furniture and heirlooms bound for thrift stores or the curb.

“We were getting rid of as much as we could. Those steps out front were loaded, so much Goodwill couldn’t pick it all up,” said Murphy, 89.

She also remembers the fear."


The mass eviction was unlike anything in recent memory for Colorado Springs. In one fell swoop, dozens of seniors — some of them in their 80s and 90s — were forced to scramble for new, affordable apartments amid the city’s white-hot rental market. Many feared homelessness, and had mere weeks to avoid it.

A New York developer had purchased the property for $9 million and wanted to make renovations. No one could stay, but they were free to reapply for an apartment once construction was done.

Their odds of getting in would be more difficult, though. No longer would the apartments cater to seniors, and prices would most assuredly rise.

The developer kicked the seniors out, updated the building and now offers the units at a competitive price point:

"The newly renamed Luxe Tower, which no longer caters exclusively to seniors, is a high-rise for “high-class living… at the price you want,” its website proclaims.

A studio there costs about $1,050 a month — more than the building’s biggest apartments did just a year ago.

A one-bedroom apartment costs from $1,300 to $1507 a month — more than twice as much as in 2017.

And a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment now costs $1,665 to $1,757 — again, more than twice its previous cost.

Emerald Towers’ new management company, Apartment Management Consultants, did not respond to messages left by The Gazette seeking comment.

According to the website, though, it’s a place anyone would want to call home."

[Vision67]

This is one example of how renters get trapped and cannot build equity:

"Jane Trogdon moved into Emerald Towers in 1971 and remained for 46 years. Her rent had been the same since about 2010, around $800 a month for a two-bedroom, two bathroom apartment with utilities and a carport included."

If you just add up how much Jane paid in rent in current dollars prior to her eviction, you get $442K

In 1971, she could have purchased a new 3/2 house for about $20K.

[mtngigi]

I was a renter for years. When the last house I was renting for 10 years sold, and the owners where going to raise the rent by 30% ("oh but we'd like to you stay"), I said to myself, that's it, the next time I move it's going to be into my own home. And after 6 years, I did just that.

Now I'm so grateful I did it. My mortgage is a mere fraction of what people are paying now for crap little units. If I had to rent in Pikes Peak region now ... I'd be living under a bridge.

Seems like what happened shouldn't have happened the way it did. No respect or concern, just too bad, so sad, get out. That was a bad day for those folks, and I hope they've all managed to find something that leaves them money to buy food.

ETA: Some folks are not equipped to buy in their younger years, for many reasons - financial, not being sure where you want to land for the long or semi-long term, just being young. I could not become a home-buyer until I started a second and better-paying career in my early middle-age. Looking back, yes, there may have been ways to buy, but I think those kinds of decisions don't come easily when you're young, not ready to commit, and renting is easy.

[DrDog]

Originally Posted by Vision67

This is one example of how renters get trapped and cannot build equity:

"Jane Trogdon moved into Emerald Towers in 1971 and remained for 46 years. Her rent had been the same since about 2010, around $800 a month for a two-bedroom, two bathroom apartment with utilities and a carport included."

If you just add up how much Jane paid in rent in current dollars prior to her eviction, you get $442K

In 1971, she could have purchased a new 3/2 house for about $20K.

And should have I guess. Of course you have to add in all the expenses of owning a house. As they say, a house is never paid off.