Tenants ordered to vacate after Revere apartment building condemned

More than 40 families were forced to vacate their homes at the Water’s Edge apartment building in Revere after the city condemned it at a Board of Health hearing Thursday night.

City officials say problems have plagued the 13-story apartment building at 364 Ocean Ave. for years, threatening the health and safety of its residents.

Water’s Edge conspired and refused to address the deterioration of its life and safety systems, said Paul Tellier, the city’s attorney.

As a result, his tenants live in a “moldy, rat-infested high-rise building with no fire alarms and sprinklers that don’t work,” he said.

In response, Water’s Edge’s attorneys say the city is violating proper procedures and dispute the mold and rat allegations.

The conviction “would deprive all these people of a place to live,” David Frye, an attorney representing the Water Edge Limited Partnership owners, said at the hearing. “You can’t do this in the middle of the night and ask for people to be relocated somewhere else. To me, that’s insane.”

Regardless, the health board unanimously condemned the building after a tense meeting.

“You deserve safe, livable living conditions,” Health Board member Viviana Catano said before the vote. “I’m sorry you’re not getting them right now.”

Cantanop added that the city gave the owners plenty of time to fix the problems.

“I’m sorry that you’re all in this situation because you’re victims of this neglect,” she said, addressing the residents in the audience.

The urgency of the building’s problems came to a head about 20 months ago when a flood in November 2022 damaged a fire panel. Even before the damage occurred, the fire panel was so old that the parts needed to repair it were unavailable and no longer met standards.

Further investigation of the building revealed issues including:

• The fire panel is old, unusable and needs to be replaced
• The fire pump was not working properly, so there may not have been enough pressure to raise the water above the sixth floor.
• Sprinkler heads are corroded and not functioning properly
• Fire doors are not maintained
• Holes in the plasterboard
• Lack of fire protection in the garage
• Mold found in hallway walls and ceilings
• Rodent infestation
• Overflow in the garbage room
• A homeless encampment located in one of the garages

City officials said some, if not most, of the violations date back to 2017.

“This is a real threat to the health and safety of the building department and first responders,” Deputy Fire Chief Paul Cheever said at the hearing.

Cheever said the fire department, which has been on fire watch since the sign was discovered to be inoperable in the building, has responded to the building 85 times in the past 20 months. During that time, four fires have been reported: one in an overflowing trash chute, one in the trash room and two in the garage.

Most of the calls were for maintenance issues, such as elevators being out of service, fire alarm systems going off and water issues such as plumbing leaks or rainwater entering the building.

Cheever said the number of calls is unusual for a building of this type.

He said the owners had not paid the firefighters since February.

The city’s director of municipal inspections said the same problems persist at the neighboring property, 370 Ocean Ave., which has the same owners and remains vacant after a June 2022 fire that displaced more than 80 residents.

Tenants at the meeting acknowledged there were problems in the building but were concerned about where they would go if they were forced to leave.

“Rents in the city of Revere are completely out of control,” tenant Lunecee Eligene said at the hearing. “For a lot of people who live at 364, this is the only place we can afford.”

Sylvia Smith, a resident of the property, pleaded with the city for more time.

“We want our home,” she said. “Make it right for us, not for the landlord, because we are the tenants and we have to live here.”

State law requires building owners to find comparable housing for residents during the remaining term of their lease.

City officials did not specify how long tenants must leave, but said they would work with them to develop a plan.

“I can’t even speak for the people who live there, because no one should ever have to feel like that, ever in their life,” Drew Bunker, the health board’s chairman, said at the hearing. “It makes me sick to think about it.”

But he acknowledged that the Health Council has a duty to protect people’s health.

“This decision was never going to be an easy one to make,” he said.