ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — Marina Bates didn’t know who else to call, so she reached out to 8 On Your Side.
Bates lives in the Alta Mar at Broadwater apartment complex on 38th Avenue South in St. Petersburg. She says her back patio door has been boarded up for months and claims there is a serious black mold problem in her bathroom that the complex refuses to address.
“It’s just gross, I feel like I live on a horror movie set and I hate that,” Bates said. “Like, I told them about it and I sent in work orders and emails and every time I saw them on property I was like, ‘hey can you guys come and check out the mold in here?'”
Shevon Plummer says he can’t even use the downstairs of his unit because it is overrun with critters.
“And they got roaches, they got rats, they got all type of stuff,” Plummer said. “I can’t live downstairs, I can’t cook. My wife, she gotta work upstairs, we got a lot of problems here.”
No one at the apartment complex office was available to discuss the issues residents are complaining about. According to property records, the complex is owned by Pacifica Emerald Bay LLC, a company based out of San Diego, California. 8 On Your Side left a message, but our phone call has not been returned.
The City of St. Petersburg is well aware of the issues at the complex. In fact, while our crew was on location, a city sanitation department employee came to document the trash piling up besides the dumpsters at the complex.
“It’s very serious,” James Corbett, the city’s neighborhood affairs administrator said.
He says the complex is getting fined daily.
“Right now they’re facing, cumulatively, $850 per day in fines through the code enforcement board process,” Corbett said. “And we’ve already certified over $4,000 in liens against this complex.”
Julius Brown says he is moving out.
“This is not the best place to be as far as apartments,” said Brown. “We are constantly being lied to about – ‘it’s going to be done.’ From the front office, to even the custodians who ride around. A lot of those guys are no longer here.”
According to a city representative, residents who have concerns at the property or within their rental units can call the Codes Compliance Assistant Department at 1-727-893-7373 to file a complaint.