ST. LOUIS 鈥 When the elevators stopped working at the Ely Walker lofts back in mid-July, it was just the latest inconvenience for residents of the downtown building.
Then the fire department arrived.
City building inspectors on July 12 slapped the Ely Walker Lofts condo board with a 鈥渕ajor violation鈥 for nonfunctioning elevators and an 鈥渋noperable or illegally shut down鈥 fire alarm system, according to documents obtained under an open records request. The city ordered a 鈥渇ire watch鈥 in the 174-unit building at 1520 Washington Avenue, requiring employees to monitor the building until the alarm was working again.
鈥淚t has been beeping for years, literally years,鈥 said Kristin Denbow, who bought her unit back when the building opened in 2007. 鈥淲ho knows how long our fire system has had issues that we are not aware of?鈥
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Finally, residents thought, the alarm would be fixed. But the dull beep of the fire system began again in August. As recently as Thursday, city officials were still waiting for confirmation that the fire alarm system had been restored to full capacity.
Questions about how long Ely Walker residents had been without a properly working fire system are only the latest to swirl around the building and the landlords who six years ago took over the condo board that controls spending on maintenance and security.
Just 15 years ago, the 1907 Ely Walker building had been a 果酱视频 success story, part of the revitalization of Washington Avenue that transformed the old warehouse district into chic lofts to draw people back downtown. When Ely Walker opened in the mid-2000s, condos there were selling for around $300,000.
But in recent years 鈥 according to court filings and interviews with residents and condo owners 鈥 maintenance has been deferred, cleaning has been cut and the building has become tied to mayhem downtown.
Several residents and condo owners contend Sid Chakraverty and Victor Alston, the brothers behind controversial apartment companies Asprient Properties and Lux Living, are ultimately responsible for the Ely Walker鈥檚 maintenance and safety issues. An Alston company controls at least half of the building鈥檚 units, and Chakraverty sits on a condo board made up of the company鈥檚 employees, a friend and a family member.
Alston and Chakraverty own apartments across the region and have invested over $150 million into new apartment developments in the city. But they鈥檝e also drawn complaints and lawsuits over their management practices for years.
果酱视频 officials also have clashed with the brothers and their attorney, particularly after a lawsuit they filed stalled a rival developer. Now, as the city tries to rein in crime downtown, they鈥檙e focusing on problems at Ely Walker after high-profile incidents including the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old in March in the building鈥檚 lobby.
In early August, the Public Safety Department sent the Ely Walker Lofts Condominium Association a nuisance notice for 鈥渄isturbances, shootings and other unruly behavior.鈥 A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday that could provide some relief to angry residents of the building 鈥 and perhaps to downtown as a whole 鈥 by forcing the condo board to spend money on security that residents say is sorely needed.
鈥淚t was a very, very nice complex until Asprient took over,鈥 said Ted Saunders, who bought a condo in 2011 as an investment property. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the only property I鈥檝e dropped my rent. ... Ever.鈥
Alston, Chakraverty and their attorney, Ira Berkowitz, did not return requests for comment. Board president Anshul Sathyan 鈥 Alston and Chakraverty鈥檚 cousin 鈥 did not return a call, nor did longtime Asprient and Lux employee Kyle Hennessy, who is also on the board. The attorney who represents the condo association, Elia Ellis, also did not respond to a request for comment.
鈥楳aximize rents, reduce costs鈥
In 2015, when Alston company Aconcagua One LLC bought half the units in the building from Mills Properties, his family moved quickly to take over the Ely Walker Lofts Condominium Association.
They claimed the right to three board seats, with Chakraverty and two company employees, Hennessy and Connor Murch, taking the other two board seats. In April 2016, they appointed another employee as a fourth board member of the five-member board.
Shortly thereafter, the board called a special meeting for June 7, 2016. On the agenda was a motion to move the condo association鈥檚 finances to another bank account and to remove the remaining independent director, David Knolmayer, as president and treasurer.
A struggle to keep Asprient from taking total control ensued. Some owners, including Denbow and Knolmayer, filed a lawsuit that is still pending. Denbow says they can鈥檛 get meeting notices or finances from the board, which they are entitled to as owners.
鈥淭hey violate state statute and condo law with impunity,鈥 she said.
Saunders, a condo owner unrelated to the lawsuit, had been unaware of the struggle for board control until a young man named George Chisolm sent him a text in the summer of 2017.
Chisolm said he was interested in buying Saunders鈥 unit. The two met, but the deal went sideways after Chisolm said his 鈥渄ad鈥 wanted to review the contract and then pulled out, according to emails from Saunders.
Saunders soon concluded Chisolm was a straw buyer. Chisolm, other tenants said, had contacted numerous owners in the building seeking to buy their units. The company Chisolm said would buy Saunders鈥 unit, EWC Condo LLC, was tied to Alston.
A few months before, in March 2017, there had been a disputed election. An independent director may have won.
The Asprient-controlled board then hired a new lawyer, Ellis, who in August 2017 called for a new election. By then, companies tied to Alston and Chakraverty or their associates had acquired several more units, ensuring they had over 50% of the votes.
鈥淲hat this means is that Asprient will have the majority of votes in every election or board matter that requires a vote,鈥 said an August 2017 email from the opposition, which seemed to fizzle out after that.
Murch, the former board member and Asprient employee, was 鈥渦ncomfortable鈥 with the situation. He quit his job at the company in 2017 and resigned as a board member of the condo association.
鈥淚 was instructed by Sid and Vic on what to do at the board, but when I had the opportunity, I did try to do what was best for the board,鈥 he said during a 2018 deposition in the lawsuit from owners.
The tenants鈥 attorney, Elkin Kistner, asked Murch what his concerns were. Alston and Chakraverty, Murch replied, directed him and other board members to make decisions 鈥渇or their better interest.鈥
鈥淢aximize rents, reduce costs,鈥 Murch said.
鈥榃hy are bills going unpaid?鈥
Since Chakraverty and Alston took over, rents have been increased, those who lease say, but condo dues, which Alston would have to pay as an owner, have not.
鈥淥ur (condo) fees have not been raised since 2015,鈥 when Alston and Chakraverty took over, Denbow said. 鈥淲ithout an increase in fees, logic dictates that services are cut.鈥
The Ely Walker Condominium Association collects about $500,000 annually in condo fees, according to financials.
Yet as city inspectors spent the summer pressing Sathyan, the board president, and Chakraverty to do something about the fire alarm system, they discovered that part of the issue was an unpaid fire system vendor.
鈥淚 spoke with a representative of Siemens and was informed that they are not able to respond to your request for the fire alarm service until your organization first resolves its unpaid balance from previous services,鈥 city fire safety supervisor Joe Kovac wrote to Sathyan July 15, copying Chakraverty and other members of the board on the correspondence. 鈥淚t seems that the all-too-frequent switch of management companies hired by your group鈥檚 controlling interest over these past few years has effectively been playing a shell game with honoring its debts; and all at the risk of the residents鈥 life safety. This is not the first time we have heard this reason for resolving alarm issues in your properties.鈥
The fire alarm monitoring company told Kovac that 鈥渢hey have been reporting monitoring problems to your organization since February.鈥
Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson put the issue on inspectors鈥 radar June 1. After Sathyan sent a January fire monitoring report to inspectors in mid June, Kovac called it 鈥減ractically useless鈥 and said there was no proof deficiencies noted with the fire system had been remedied.
One inspector said then it was time to institute a fire watch.
鈥淪id Chakraverty says he is not responsible even though he owns 50% of the condominiums in the building and is a controlling member of the condo association,鈥 building inspector Michael Cardwell wrote June 16. 鈥淗e tells me Smith Management is the management company.鈥
Almost on cue, Sathyan emailed inspectors a half-hour later.
鈥淭he building is a condo building managed by a property management company, Smith Management,鈥 he wrote. 鈥淭he gentleman who was the property manager at the time did not convey this report to us nor did he follow through with the repairs to the system.鈥
As inspectors grew increasingly frustrated with promised repairs, residents said Sathyan told them nothing was wrong with the fire alarm at all.
Smith Management ended its contract with the building at the end of July. 果酱视频 office president Angela Johnson, in response to an email asking for an interview, said the Ely Walker condo board was a former client and wished them well. But condo owner Grace Malnar recorded a July 15 phone conversation she had with Johnson about the issues at the building.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been on this fire panel thing for a while,鈥 Johnson told Malnar in the recording. 鈥淲e鈥檝e given them bids and done all the things we鈥檙e supposed to do, but they wouldn鈥檛 approve it.鈥
Sathyan 鈥済ot mad,鈥 Johnson said, and asked Smith Management to stop saying something was wrong with the fire panel.
鈥淗e probably doesn鈥檛 want it in writing,鈥 Johnson said. 鈥淏ut there is something wrong with the fire panel.鈥
The final straw for Smith Management was after media reports about the parties and violence in the building, Johnson said. The company had proposed full-time security and cameras, providing the condo board with bids for security.
鈥淲e were being blamed on the news for a lot of this stuff,鈥 Johnson told Malnar. 鈥淲e actually heard they were using us as a scapegoat. And my company is a very large company, and that鈥檚 their liability. So either they have an on-site manager and full-time security to protect our manager or we can鈥檛 manage them because it鈥檚 not safe.鈥
As of June, the condo board had about $238,000 in reserves, according to financials provided by Malnar, who was able to get a copy from Johnson.
鈥淚f we have the money, why are bills going unpaid?鈥 Denbow asked. 鈥淎nd two, if they鈥檙e going unpaid, then do we really have the money?鈥
Wherever it comes from, Alston and Chakraverty may have to spend some money on the property if the city gets its way after Wednesday鈥檚 nuisance hearing. Public Safety Director Dan Isom said last week the city isn鈥檛 looking to condemn any units with law-abiding tenants. But it does want increased security and to get the owners who control the condo board 鈥渢o take some personal responsibility and accountability.鈥
鈥淥ur end game,鈥 Isom said, 鈥渋s basically to have a peaceful location.鈥
