When some 70 residents of the troubled Lowry Apartments on Wabasha Street were given just hours to relocate from their residences on Dec. 9, they were assured that a court-appointed receiver would cover their emergency stay at a hotel for a month.

On Friday, the tenants received surprise written notice they had to be out of their hotel rooms by Monday morning, at least 10 to 15 days earlier than previously announced.

“This letter is to inform you that your stay at enVision Hotel, Emerald Inn and Capitol Ridge will end Monday, Dec. 30 at checkout time,” reads the notice, which is signed by a community manager for the Halverson and Blaiser Group. The property management firm is working with Frauenshuh Real Estate, which was appointed last August to manage the Lowry at the city’s request.

Reached by phone on Monday, the community manager declined comment. “I can’t answer any questions,” she said. “I don’t have any answers for you.”

A call to the Halverson and Blaiser Group’s general number was not immediately returned Monday.

“The hotels were secured until the 15th of January,” said Jaelynn Hoggard, a former Lowry tenant. “You can’t just throw everyone out over the weekend. Not only is it not fair that they did this, but it’s also the holidays.”

Hoggard, who had been looking for housing for weeks, moved into her own small apartment Friday within a Roseville development dedicated to seniors and the disabled. “I’m not going to lie,” she said. “I don’t know what would have happened to me if I didn’t get this apartment.”

A troubled history

The sudden end to their hotel stay marks the latest twist for the 70 former residents of the Lowry Apartments, a 1920s-era former hotel building situated across from St. Paul City Hall at Fourth and Wabasha streets. Before being acquired by a lender at a foreclosure auction in September, the building had been owned by Madison Equities, which used emergency social service funding to move homeless tenants into the property during the pandemic.

Residents have said support services for a complicated population were lacking and property management and building maintenance soon dwindled. In August, walk-throughs by city inspectors and the mayor’s office documented broken elevators, key fobs and handrails, piled trash in common areas, roach infestations and dog feces on hallway carpets.

Tenants also complained of squatters who were not on leases taking over empty apartments, as well as drug peddlers entering the building at night because a front door lock no longer worked and security was not always on site.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s office relocated from the building last January, and the popular Gray Duck Tavern — a destination for City Hall workers — closed abruptly in July.

A burst water pipe in early December led the city to clear the building after finding electrical systems exposed as the result of copper wire theft, amid other utility issues impacting the building’s failing fire suppression system.

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