After Electrical Fire at East Cleveland Apartment Displaces Hundreds, Tenants Put Blame on Building's Owner

Ivan Lewis, 53, was one of the hundreds of tenants displaced Monday after an electrical fire at Terrace Towers in East Cleveland. Credit: Mark Oprea

Hundreds of East Clevelanders were displaced Monday afternoon after an electrical fire ravaged the Terrace Towers Apartments. East Cleveland Fire Department officials confirmed Monday that the fire was sparked during electric maintenance.

Around 3 p.m., a day before fireworks covered the Cleveland skyline, nearly 300 Terrace Tower tenants were evacuated over a four-hour period, most with the clothes on their back and holding a smattering of personal items.

As of Wednesday, some 100 of them were housed at an emergency shelter organized by the Salvation Army, where displaced tenants had access to clean clothes, a cot, clean bathrooms and a few meals.

“They came out with no undergarments, soaps or anything,” Chaka Watch, the captain of the 15 American Red Cross officers assigned to the Salvation Army, told Scene as he gave orders. “So we were able to provide some of those things, clothing, temporary clothing and all that stuff. We were able to do that.”

Many of tenants of Terrace, which housed low-income tenants on Section 8 and others with health complications, suggest that the cause of Monday’s fire could be traced back to mismanagement by the building’s owners and property managers.

According to tenants, RHM Real Estate, the current owners of the building, orchestrated a remodeling of Terrace that was finished in 2021, which included repainting and mass refurnishing of the building. Part of the cost of the remodeling was paid for, they said, by a housing grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“They did not do what was supposed to be done with the money,” Breyana Porter, a former tenant and community activist, told Scene in a text message. Porter said that, from November 2019 to February 2020, a section of Terrace was left without hot water. “The conditions the tenants were left living in during the remodel were deplorable.”

Ivan Lewis, 53, a caretaker who lived at Terrace for six years until Monday, sat on a cot surrounded by various items—his portable DVD player, his phone, a bag of last-minute clothing—while assisting a few of his neighbors, some of whom have mental health issues.

Like for most of his neighbors, Terrace was a place of refuge for Lewis, who sought shelter there after living homeless for years after his father died from lung cancer. Though he knows he’s lucky to have some shirts and jackets to show, Lewis said he’s trying to stay even despite being without a home again.

An American Red Cross officer orchestrates care duties Wednesday at the Salvation Army in East Cleveland. Credit: Mark Oprea

“I don’t feel like getting upset about something I have no control over,” Lewis said, sitting on his cot at the Salvation Army. “Being mad ain’t finna’ do nothing but give you health problems.”

As for RHM, Lewis took a similar stance as his neighbors: the electrical failure could have been prevented with the appropriate renovations.

“Everything’s unorganized there,” Lewis said. “It was all unorganized. Period.”

John Joyce and his son, John Joyce, Jr., owners at RHM Real Estate, have owned Terrace Towers since around 2012. A property manager, when contacted by Scene on Wednesday, refused to comment on fire or its causation. “You’ve reached the wrong department,” they said. “There’s nothing I can help you with.”

A call to the East Cleveland Fire Department was also unreturned. East Cleveland Police Chief Brian Gerhard refused to comment.

On Wednesday afternoon, as the Red Cross and Salvation Army prepared to usher the 100 tenants to a bigger space—with plentiful bathrooms—on Case Western’s campus, Ruth Lillard, Felicia Clark and Tamara Nelson sat on their cots sending texts, making calls, as Red Cross employees attempted to calm the chaos.

Ruth Lillard, who had just called relative Breyana Porter for updates and advice, told Scene that she’s not surprised that Monday’s fire happened. In the past four years she had lived at Terrace, Lillard said she’d experienced a wide range of unpleasantries: elevators breaking down “every other week,” managers cycling in and out like servers at a restaurant.

Felicia Clark (left) and Tamara Nelson (right) were neighbors at Terrace Towers, and lived in the building for a combined 22 years. Credit: Mark Oprea

As for the recent renovation: “Oh, they fixed it up,” Lillard said, with an air of sarcasm. “They put a piece of bubblegum on it.”

“They put a Band Aid on it,” Nelson added.

“They half did it, and still [some of] it was never painted. They never hooked up some of the wires,” Lillard said.

For Nelson, 41, who lived on Terrace’s 11th floor for six years, her main questioning relates to the duration of Monday’s evacuation, especially, she said, minding that many tenants aren’t “able-bodied like me.” She recalled knocking on neighbors’ doors as smoke poured into the hallway.

Fire officials said Terrace will remain shut down until necessary repairs are finished, which will take, they estimated, about two weeks. Despite the notion of returning home, Nelson said the trauma of Monday’s evacuation has left her with emotional scars.

“It’s really depressing, it’s really sad,” Nelson said, her voice cracking. “We didn’t have a holiday. Most of us lost everything.”

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