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Unfinished apartment renovations leave a family feeling unsafe and the apartment management responds

Posted at 5:13 PM, Apr 18, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-18 18:13:23-04

 

Unfinished apartment renovations have a couple worried about their safety, and the safety of their toddler.

“At first I couldn’t even exit my door at all,” said Bonnie Gonzales.

Construction and renovations bring a lot of yellow tape, and for the Gonzales family it’s that yellow tape keeping them indoors as management at Coral Cay Apartments say they’re undergoing renovations.

“I asked her when is it going to be done and she was like oh its suppose to be a week long,” said Gonzales. “I understand that but do y’all not understand that I have a kid it’s not safe for her and she didn’t’ really, I think they don’t care.”

Gonzales lives on the second floor where she says since April 8th, once you step outside her apartment there are wooden boards in place where the walkway used to be.

“When you look out my door they have 2x4s or 2×10’s and when you’re looking down all you see is a big old hole,” said Gonzales.

She says her fear is that her 2 year old daughter will fall through the gaps

“The first time they had did it when she ran out I had to grab her real fast because my reaction was like oh my goodness what if she falls,” said Gonzales.

And she’s also concerned for her husband’s safety.

“He gets up at 5 o’ clock in the morning he goes to work and it’s scary for him,” said Gonzales. “They put down boards that are so thin and he has heavy gear on if he falls what’s going to happen?”

Coral Cay’s property supervisor Jeannie Stone says the residents were notified about the construction in advance and tenants have been asked not to leave their apartments while work is being done.

Brenda Matute: What about the people that have jobs?

“Anytime anybody would call the office we would make accommodations for them and we haven’t had any issues because we are doing an 8 PM to 5 PM and most of the residents work 8 PM to 5 PM,” said Stone.

Stone added that the gaps in the floor are covered up after 5pm when the contractors leave for the day, but for the Gonzales family it’s still an inconvenience

“They should have at least told us hey this is going to go on and you can move into a hotel so it will be safe for us,” said Gonzales.

As of this afternoon (Thursday), the management at Coral Cay has moved the family to a hotel at no cost to them.