- Following a recent story about issues brought up by tenants of the Wildewood Commons apartment complex, the Ralston city administrator gave a different view.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Ralston city administrator Rick Hoppe said the extent of neglect from the previous owners of the Wildewood Commons apartment complex led the city to work closely with the current owners of apartments. He said they’ve done wonders on the complex since they took over late last year.
“The city of Ralston feels like this is an amazing management team over there that is doing a spectacular job in making those apartments much better for our community.” Hoppe said.
Hoppe said the former owners of the apartments had as many as 40 code violations, involving sewage, burst pipes and filth, and that these violations were all cleared under the new ownership.
“They’ve invested almost $1 million in improvements in the property despite having to live through a fire that burned down the clubhouse,” Hoppe said. “We couldn’t be more pleased with their leadership.”
Hoppe took issue with the complaints brought by the tenants we previously spoke with,
“None of these complaints had reached our office,” Hoppe said. “In fact a couple of the complaints or a handful hadn’t even been reported to management at the apartment complex.
One of the tenants, Lizzy Judevine, told me she filled out an online form at the city’s website and was disappointed to hear her concerns weren’t getting through.
The management group which runs the apartments sent a statement saying in part that it’s “committed to providing clean and safe housing” and that “resident service will continue to be a top priority.”
Hoppe said he’s working with the owners to secure more funding for the apartments, by applying for grant funding through the state’s department of economic development.
he understands there may be frustrations with the units in their current state and says tenant can reach out to him if they feel they aren’t getting anywhere with management.
“It’s going to take some time for them to overcome the years and years of neglect, and it will take months here and there to solve some of these problems.” He said.
Hoppe said he also wants to utilize Tax Increment Financing to help fund the renovations at the apartments.
