Saint Clair Place Residents Say Building Still in Disrepair Despite Legal Complaint Last Year

St Clair Place, at 1380 East 13th Street in Downtown Cleveland. Credit: Mark Oprea

Leaky roofs. Cracked ceilings. Faulty appliances. Bedbug infestations.

These are just some of the complaints that the residents association at Saint Clair Place told Scene this week that have been lingering since they issued a legal complaint against the property management a year ago.

On December 14, 2023, Saint Clair residents Marlon Floyd and James Barker filed that suit with the help of Legal Aid Cleveland, alleging the building owner and management “willfully violated the [Department of Housing & Urban Development] Model Lease, federal and state law” by allowing their building off East 13th and St. Clair Ave. to go into disrepair.

Along with security issues, broken lighting and unsecured doors, a half dozen residents told Scene last February that they were being erroneously charged late fees despite paying up in full.

Barker, who filed to reclaim at least $242 in that initial suit, filed a report with Cleveland Police in December, claiming that exterminators hired by management to clear out bedbugs (which Barker is on medicine for, records show) entered his apartment and walked away, the report says, with $1,111 in cash.

It’s kind of a culmination for the reason Barker’s been continuing to put his rent money in escrow since. Barker went through a civil suit for non-payment of rent with Owner’s Management in 2022, which was later dismissed.

“I mean, the whole building is infested with bedbugs,” Barker told Scene in a phone call. Although Saint Clair did hire an exterminator late last year, Barker said the job didn’t eliminate the problem. “I don’t know what they’re doing.”

Calls to Legal Aid were not returned as of Wednesday. Barker and Floyd said a motion was recently filed to hopefully compel “a judge to hear the case.” The first request for a hearing was roughly a year ago, on March 22.

A grey slab of a building off 1380 East 13th St. downtown, Saint Clair Place is home to 199 units of housing available to seniors 62 and older; some are on government assistance, others pay $300 to $400 a month for a small one or two bedroom.

Beset by pests, a leaky roof and some 20 complaints to the Department of Public Health since 2020, Saint Clair is both a boon and thorn in the side of residents who live there. Rent is relatively affordable. Many walk to a nearby garden or grocery store. The lobby is quiet and spacious.

On Wednesday morning, Scene took a tour of Barker and Floyd’s apartments to gauge the severity of their complaints. Floyd was quick to show long, hairline cracks above the kitchen sink, along with carbonized debris under his stove cover, which he said triggers his asthma.

“I mean, look at this,” Floyd said, revealing a broken refrigerator seal. “It still cools my food. But come on—that should be replaced, right?”

Marlon Floyd, a tenant at St. Clair Place, demonstrating in front of the complex last February. He and other residents say the building is still in disrepair. Credit: Mark Oprea

On the fourth floor was 69-year-old Margaret Richardson, who told Scene she believed brazen maintenance staff were entering her apartment without good reason, and were stealing belongings—dishes, tablewear, tools.

The tipping point, Richardson said, was the bedbug infestation that, as of this week, still hadn’t been fully resolved. It was also the dealbreaker for her oldest son, who is urging Richardson to relocate.

“I showed him my back, all the bites, and he said, ‘Mom, we got to get you out of here,’” Richardson told Scene from a chair in her living room. “He said, ‘Ma, I can’t take this no more. You have find another place.’”

The owners didn’t respond to a request for comment or an interview.

Despite Floyd’s quiet, modest apartment, with his adopted dog and orderliness, the retired welder said he’s still energized about legal proceedings primarily to warn new or interested residents about what they might get themselves into.

And, he believes, maybe into a larger story: of how buildings downtown are managed.

“I want this to be a chain reaction, a domino effect,” Floyd said. “And get these people to say, look, ‘They keep being on TV or they keep doing this, if you don’t do it, you’ll live this for the rest of your life.’”