The Ithaca Arthaus Apartments held a 2 year anniversary party on Wednesday, January 10th, 2024. Arthaus initially opened its doors to tenants in November of 2021. The anniversary party was likely delayed by a pair of arson fires that occurred on November 17th & 18th of 2023.
The identity of tenants is being withheld due to concerns about retaliation.
Multiple individuals have described Arthaus tenant’s intent to file a lawsuit regarding conditions in the building.
Legal Assistance of Western New York (LAWNY), a non-profit law firm that provides free legal assistance, had a table set up at the event with tote bags and pamphlets. Their representative appeared to be actively networking with tenants about concerns with their apartments.
A representative for LAWNY declined to answer any specifics on the potential lawsuit. “We’re looking into something, that’s all I can say,” the representative said. “We’ve taken on a lot of clients.”
Tenants described concerns ranging from constant alarms going off, theft, cockroaches, drug use, trash accumulation, deaths, human waste in the stairwells and dissatisfaction with management.
“We had people dead in here for days,” one tenant recounted. “Nine days that man was dead in here. And they didn’t do nothin’. And they knew about it because the tenants were complaining of the smell.”
Multiple people have had unattended deaths in the building, likely due to overdoses.
“Nine days was the longest we had. One was here five days. One here four days. It’s crazy,” the tenant continued.
Several tenants also complained that external doors to the building are insecure. One door off the parking area is damaged to the point that the latch is missing. A door on the rear of the property did not latch and could be opened with a stiff pull.
A tenant said that homeless people from the Jungle sleep in the stairwells, and come to the Arthaus to buy drugs from dealers who reside in the building.
“This is worse than the shelter,” one tenant said. “You can’t even do this at the shelter. They warn you, or you can buzz in.”
When asked about the insecure doors, Arthaus Property Manager Courtney Finney said “That’s an issue I’ve been having that I’ve brought up to management.” When asked if the doors keep getting broken, Finney said, “Yes.” Finney attended Wednesday’s anniversary celebration.
The door shown above was still broken as of the evening following the party.
Finney confirmed claims by tenants that paperwork allowing for the payment of Section 8 rental subsidy to building owner The Vecino Group had not been filed properly.
Finney claimed she filed the necessary paperwork recently, following management of the building reverting to The Vecino Group from Cornerstone Property Managers. Cornerstone is still listed on the Arthaus website.
When asked if there were tenants dealing drugs in the building, Finney said, “It has to be brought to my attention. I can’t accuse anybody of selling drugs unless I see it or have a witness to it.”
When asked about the grimy hallways and trash, Finney asserted “My cleaners are here five days a week. It may have been after hours. Sometimes it’s an issue.”
A tenant calls this assertion into question. “The place is dirty. The cleaning people that they did have, they weren’t cleaning. Or they would just clean the elevators, and not the floors.”
A tenant described large volumes of trash that accumulated in the parking garage.
“They just started picking up the trash. They weren’t picking up the trash at all,” a tenant said. “The maintenance guy said there was something wrong with their payment. It was something.”
“You had people coming over from the Jungle to pick out stuff. It’s just bad, ” a tenant said. “It’s just not a safe place to be.”
“It’s filthy,” a tenant said while describing animal feces lingering for more than a week after complaints to building management.
This reporter was shown a foul smelling stairwell where feces, possibly that of a dog, was visible.
The primary source of the odor at the base of the stairwell appeared to be a puddle of human waste.
Used syringes were visible beneath the stairs.
Graffiti is visible in all the stairwells.
The words ‘CRACK HOUSE’ were still discernible through paint used in previous attempts at obscuring the vandalism.
Evidence of drug use was apparent in the stairwells, with orange needle caps and charred aluminum foil amongst a discarded plastic bag, candy wrapper and a cigarette butt.
Trash and ashes from smoking were visible on many of the stairwell landings.
The remains of a piece of furniture was visible in the stairwell that serves as a fire escape.
The hallways of the building were littered with abandoned shopping carts, trash, broken glass and commercially available cockroach poison bait traps.
An abandoned piece of furniture sits in the hallway by the elevator.
Trash and stains of an indeterminate origin on a wall next to an elevator control panel.
The children’s playground of the Arthaus was strewn with garbage and in disarray.
Frequent smoke alarm low battery warning chirps are audible both within the building and from outside.
A letter from building management regarding arson fires had been taped to apartment doors on November 20th. Many were still undisturbed two months later.
Missing ceiling tiles were visible in nearly every hallway.
Apartments on four floors in the building have signs posted by the Building Division of the City of Ithaca indicating they are unsafe to occupy due to damage from the arson fires.
An attempt to contact Arthaus management for further comment was unsuccessful. A message left for Vecino Group CEO Kody Redwing did not elicit a response as of this article’s publication.