Frustrated tenants of two apartment buildings on Parkside Avenue in Austin have organized a tenants’ union with demands for better maintenance, safety and service from their landlord, Infinity Partners, an investment firm based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Residents of 143 S. Parkside Ave. and 130 S. Parkside Ave. gathered in their parking lot on Saturday, May 10 to protest a raft of issues including a gate to the parking lot tenants said does not work, no ongoing maintenance or routine janitorial services and difficulty contacting the building management firm to register complaints, discuss leases or pay rent.
The dozen residents of the buildings were joined by about the same number of representatives of the All-Chicago Tenant Alliance, a group which is working to organize the recently formed Parkside Terrace Alliance.
Hattie Winston has lived in the 32-unit Parkside Terrace building for 14 years. She said that, because of conditions in the building, she has lived the “last two years in pain. The worst I’ve experienced in my life. But I won’t be afraid.” After describing a long period of time when the building’s front door was unsecured, Winston said the building turned into a “drug house” with people loitering in the first-floor hallway. “We need our building back.”
Others said the lack of security led to two fires in the common areas of the first floor.
Antoinette Williams, a building resident for six years, said Parkside Terrace used to be safe. Now though, she said the building has no pest control, no heat and no maintenance. “This is where my child lives,” she said.
Cassandra, who asked not to have her last name used, has lived in Parkside Terrace for more than 30 years. She opened the press conference on May 10 with an earnest prayer and later led representatives from Austin Weekly News and The Triibe on a tour of her building.
She pointed out the broken lock on the laundry room door, holes in some walls and the deterioration of carpeting on dirty stairwells. She seemingly knew every apartment neighbor by name as the worn elevator moved from floor to floor.
While there is talk about a potential rent strike if conditions do not improve, there is also news confirmed by the building’s recently hired new management firm that Infinity Capital has put the two buildings up for sale.
The two buildings on Parkside are among four Austin apartments buildings purchased by Infinity Partners in August 2024. Others are reportedly on Washington Boulevard, Adams and Congress. All those buildings were previously owned and operated by Mercy Housing Lakefront, a large nonprofit agency specializing in affordable housing. Many of the tenants who spoke said conditions in the buildings have deteriorated rapidly since Mercy’s sale of the buildings.
While residents blamed Infinity, they were also critical of the management firm hired by the Atlanta company. However, Eileen Rhodes, president of East Lake Management, said her firm was only hired in March and has been working diligently to make a long list of repairs and to attempt to reestablish trust with tenants.
“I won’t speak to the level of dissatisfaction” tenants had with the earlier management company, Rhodes said. She said, though, that when representatives of her Chicago-based company went door-to-door in the Parkside buildings after they took over, “we felt the frustration in the buildings. There were deficiencies. We’re completing repairs as fast as possible.”
That said, Rhodes said East Lake’s inspection of many of the units and common areas in the buildings during an April 28 tour “did not find the level of distress we heard from the tenants’ union. There are definitely some issues, though.”
Rhodes said East Lake has sent tenants multiple notices on how best to reach its staff, where its West Side office is located in Austin and how to reach the 24-hour answering service with immediate issues.
Rhode said security and “very good communication” is important.
Rhodes, who has been in affordable property management for decades, described her experience in watching buildings decline. “What happens is that, over time, faith in management diminishes. Small grievances become big grievances. So, we listen as much as we can. We can make inroads. We’re fixing things. You can turn properties around. This is in our wheelhouse. We’re excited.”
Rhodes also confirmed that both buildings on Parkside, which are seemingly jointly packaged, are currently on the market for sale by Infinity. She said she had no details about the possible sale or any sense of a timeline.
Representatives of Infinity and Mercy Housing could not be reached before deadline.