Residents at a luxury Bayshore apartment building forced to pack up and leavejust months after moving in. Tenants in half a dozen units had to be evacuated and relocated, after finding elevated levels of a cancer-causing chemical.
- BACKGROUND: Property management firm overseeing The Lydell terminates agreement after carcinogen found in apartments
Chris Maguire, president of the general partner of Cypress Bayshore Residential, released a statement Sunday afternoon on the situation, saying they "recognized the issue is causing an inconvenience and worry to residents, and their top priority is to fix the concerns, keep tenants safe, and happy in their new home. It's with them in mind, they are working tirelessly to fix the situation."
Cypress Bayshore Residential says it's now willing to offer anyone within the evacuated units in building 3 the ability to relocate to another Lydell apartment, if available.
If they decline, Cypress is offering tenants a $500 reimbursement to terminate their lease.
Matthew moris moved into the apartment building in May: "I was one of the first people to move in and then a month and a half later they were like, 'hey we've got a TCE concern," Morris told TMJ4.
He says the building put fans in the hallways and elevators in hopes of lowering the chemical concerns but just a few weeks later Morris got a call that he needed to pack up and go.
"They came and did a measurement in my room specifically," said Morris. "Getting the call to move out wasn't cool but we can't stay there, it's not safe to be there."
Glendale mayor, Bryan Kennedy, says the fault falls on the developers for not insuring compliance with the DNR's testing requirements
"Just because the city says yes it's structurally sound, your plumbing's good, your HVAC is good, your electrical is good — they also have to wait for the DNR to say your air quality passed the inspection, your mitigation system is working," Kennedy said.
The property management firm at the building, Lincoln Residential, terminated its contract with developers last week saying it was unaware of the presence of the toxic chemical or testing requirements until a visit last month from the health department.
Read their full statement below:
CYPRESS BAYSHORE RESIDENTIAL, LP’S STATEMENT ON THE LYDELL APARTMENT SITUATION
The following is a statement from Chris Maguire, President of the general partner of Cypress
Bayshore Residential, LP, regarding the detection of trichloroethene (TCE), above actionable
levels within one building (Building 3) of the Lydell Apartments and ongoing vapor mitigation
efforts as well as ongoing communication with residents. As a reminder, the source of the TCE
stems from the site’s historical land use that dates back over 70 years.
We recognize and regret that this issue is causing inconvenience and worry for our residents and
our utmost priority is to alleviate those concerns, keep our residents safe and ensure they are
happy in their new home. It’s with them in mind that our team is working tirelessly to resolve
this situation.
Today, we want to provide a clear outline of this situation, how we are working to resolve it and
how we are working to ensure the safety and satisfaction of our residents.
It’s important to note that from the beginning of this issue, we have been working with and
meeting daily with the North Shore Health Department and the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources (WDNR) regarding testing and mitigation to ensure the safety of residents. We will
continue to do so until we resolve this issue.
Decision to Relocate Residents
We would never knowingly move residents into a residential unit with high levels of TCE. We
have been following the requirements and recommendations of the WDNR and North Shore
Health Department throughout the testing process.
Once Building 3 was completed to a level to allow for representative testing of the vapor levels,
we began testing Building 3 and tenants were allowed to move in as authorized by the TCO
(Temporary Certificate of Occupancy) issued by the City of Glendale. At the time residents began
moving into Building 3, we had received testing results from other portions of the Lydell
Apartments project that showed no actionable levels of TCE, giving us no reason to believe there
would be actionable levels at Building 3. These actionable levels have been set by the Wisconsin
Department of Health Services in cooperation with the North Shore Health Department and the
WDNR.
In coordination with the North Shore Health Department, on June 14, we informed Lydell
Apartment residents in Building 3 of the presence of actionable levels of TCE within Building 3
and the potential health risks associated with exposure to actionable levels of TCE, as well as the
mitigation steps we are taking. We have been keeping all residents updated on at least a weekly
basis.
After follow-up testing showed a level of TCE in six apartments (out of fifty-nine) located in
Building 3 that exceeded the maximum levels for occupancy set by the North Shore Health
Department, we relocated the affected residents in less than 24 hours at the expense of
ownership.
Testing Process
Environmental testing has been conducted on each building by GZA GeoEnvironmental, a
national engineering and environmental consultant with expertise in TCE mitigation and over 10
years of direct experience within this area of the city of Glendale, following previously established
plans under the oversight of the North Shore Health Department and the WDNR. Buildings 2 and
4 have both previously returned testing results with no actionable levels of any volatile organic
compounds including TCE and initial under-slab testing results for Building 1 that were received
on July 21st also returned no actionable levels.
GZA has multiple lines of evidence to indicate that the migration of TCE vapors from under the
slab in Building 3 has ceased by employing a comprehensive sub-slab depressurization system
that was part of the building’s original design.
GZA has been proactively employing the use of an onsite mobile gas chromatograph to provide
the field team real-time results, allowing them to quickly react to those findings and continue to
frequently test units without waiting days or weeks for laboratory facilities to process results.
The data generated by this equipment is aiding decisions being made by the WDNR and the North
Shore Health Department. It is integral in the considerable progress GZA has made in arriving at
a solution to mitigate the elevated levels of TCE that remain in certain units within Building 3.
Every occupied unit in Building 3 has been offered an air purification unit and is undergoing
diagnostic testing at least once a week with those results shared directly with the resident.
Reports of the daily testing results are sent each day to the North Shore Health Department and
WDNR followed by a daily conference call to discuss the most recent testing, forecast the next
day’s activities and communicate progress toward a final resolution. GZA’s team will employ the
use of a second onsite mobile gas chromatograph beginning July 22nd that will allow for expanded
real-time testing on site.
The entire team at Lydell Apartments is working tirelessly on mitigation efforts and a final
resolution to bring TCE levels within all Building 3 units below actionable levels.
Residents Are Our Priority
For residents in Building 3 who do not wish to remain in that building, relocation to another Lydell
Apartment unit has been offered, if available. If a Building 3 resident chooses not to stay with
Lydell Apartments, the resident will be allowed to terminate their lease at no cost and will be
reimbursed up to $500 for relocation expenses.
We commit to continuing to provide all our residents with weekly updates on vapor mitigation
efforts at Building 3 and to continue to follow the guidelines provided by North Shore Health
Department and WDNR. If any unit is found to exceed the actionable TCE levels set by the North
Shore Health Department and WDNR, we will immediately undertake the appropriate response.
We will also provide media with regular updates on the process of our remediation efforts. For
the safety of our residents, we ask the media to respect the privacy of our residents.
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