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• April 11, 2022 – the City received numerous complaints from tenants that both elevators were
broken which meant some ambulatory residents could not travel the stairways and the height
of the building made emergency rescue operations exceedingly difficult. Due to the severity
of the situation, a fire watch was ordered to safeguard against the risk of fire.
• April 18, 2022 – the City petitioned the Circuit Court for an emergency mandatory injunction
requiring that Seaview Lofts LLC complete the cited repairs by April 24, 2022.
• Following the April 18th court hearing, Fire Marshal’s Office (FMO) and Codes Compliance
returned to Seaview Loft Apartments to evaluate the Seaview Management relocation efforts
of the residents and review repair progress. Both FMO and Codes Compliance found the HVAC
boiler in dire disrepair, electrical hazards in equipment rooms, a boiler issue that caused a
major leak, and problems with the building’s fire alarm system. FMO locked out the boiler to
prevent carbon monoxide poisoning and explosion. Citations were issued for the additional
hazards.
• April 19, 2022 - City officials appeared in Circuit Court for a second hearing to obtain a second
emergency mandatory injunction for the aforementioned hazards.
• Over the next two months, City staff learned that Seaview Loft Apartments on-site
management did not have the capacity to address the problems they faced. Examples
included: (a) the on-site manager did not have significant purchase authority, (b) no
appropriately licensed repair staff were employed, and (c) several area contractors were
unwilling to work at Seaview. As a result, conditions continued to devolve to an unacceptable
level.
• Over the next two months (May and June) no significant progress was made to address the
hazardous conditions cited and conditions actually worsened. On June 28, 2022, the Court
ordered the building condemned within 48 hours due to the following:
o Boiler hazards
o Fire alarm system, emergency egress and lighting
o Elevators out of service
o HVAC chiller
Chief Fire Marshal (CFM) Senter shared that in April 2022, the Fire Department became aware of the
complaints and immediately moved within the first week to draft and file through the Office of the
City Attorney an application for an emergency mandatory injunction which was heard on April 18 th by
a Circuit Court Judge. There were dire life-saving circumstances. CFM Senter shared that in the early
1970’s in New York City a similar apartment building caught fire (the building had no sprinkler system,
other challenges such as access, and aerial apparatus) and 17 residents died. The conditions at
Seaview Loft Apartments were deemed dangerous. He reminded that over 100 people lived in the
building, when a fire occurred in high rise buildings smoke travelled upward and people generally died
from smoke inhalation. CFM Senter indicated that the elevators served as a highly critical function as
a part of services that the Fire Department and other emergency agencies used during rescue efforts
in high rise buildings and maneuvering the stairwell became extremely difficult with all of the heavy
equipment while attempting to get people out safely. He expressed deep concern as he learned that
a disabled veteran (who was wheelchair-bound) lived in the building and had to drag himself up and
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