Tenants who endured mold, vermin and break-ins in a downtown St. Paul apartment building have been ousted from the hotel where their landlord placed them after the building’s condemnation just three weeks ago.
Now those who had lived in the former Lowry Hotel have been suddenly displaced a second time in a month.
Emergency assistance keeping the 71 tenants of the Lowry building in a hotel ended Monday, according to the city.
The property’s managers, Halverson and Blaiser Group, agreed to provide alternative housing for tenants for up to 30 days, Deputy Mayor Jaime Tincher said in December, but that assistance instead lasted only 18 days.
Ramsey County used emergency funds to keep the tenants in the hotel over the weekend, and tenants were offered transportation to the St. Paul Opportunity Center on Dorothy Day Place downtown.
The Ramsey County Housing Stability Department is working with the tenants to find places to stay, and the building’s receiver is working with tenants to retrieve belongings from the Lowry.
The building’s problems had been piling up, with residents saying perennially broken doors let trespassers roam the halls of the 11-story building. Stolen copper wire, broken pipes and cockroaches became commonplace, residents said.
On Dec. 9, city staff responded to a plumbing leak in the building at 345 Wabasha St. N. Officials reported significant damage and signs of vandalism, including copper wire theft that left electrical systems exposed. The leak also raised concerns about mold, which tenants complained of in numerous lawsuits against the property.