SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Samantha Moore said she’s noticed her stairs wiggling for a while.
She pointed at a bracket that was rusted and out of place. Her concrete second floor landing was cracked. Under the stairs, metal holding up the concrete was rusted all the way through.
“My roommate said that he saw the notice on the bottom of our steps saying that our stairs were unsafe,” Moore recalled. “Nine o’clock at night, they knocked on our doors, told us that we had to leave our apartment.”
Moore is one of 85 units that were declared unsafe Tuesday. Most of the problems were like hers: staircases that had rusted or become detached from their buildings.
There was one building that caught fire, and workers were caught trying to patch over the damage instead of getting a permit and fixing the structural issues the fire caused, Seminole County spokesman Chris Patton said.
A second building was evacuated after it was discovered the walls were compressing, which Patton described as the interior collapsing in on itself.
Engineers were busy compiling a report Wednesday night that would explain the extent of the damage and the needed repairs, which would be available to the complex’s managers Thursday morning, county officials said.
That would allow the management to begin filing permits and reconstructing the staircases and the two buildings.
Permits in the county’s system showed the complex typically does a structural project every four to 18 months, except recently. The last permit filed for a non-door or window project was two and a half years ago, per the county’s website.
The property’s managers did not respond to emailed requests for comment Wednesday, including questions about how long they’ve known about the issues.
The New York-based owner, The Sabet Group, which owns buildings in multiple states, also did not respond to emailed questions.
“I have to renew a lease, and I have chosen to go shopping today, and I’ve… applied at another place,” Jennifer Falter said. “I’m not going to put my faith and my life in this community.”
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