St. Paul apartment residents forced out without notice

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Residents of the Lowry Apartments in St. Paul were forced to leave their homes with little notice on Wednesday night. The abrupt evacuation left tenants with no clear answers about their future.

The tenants say they were caught off guard and now are forced to stay in hotels.

The building was placed into receivership a few months ago, with tenants being told they might need to move out by April if conditions didn’t improve. That timeline changed suddenly to Wednesday night.

At around 8 p.m., a condemned notice was posted on the door. Firefighters knocked on doors, telling residents they had to leave immediately.

"I had fifteen minutes to get my cats out of here," explained one resident. "We could only get what was already in bags to grab what we really needed."

Most tenants left with little more than the clothes they were wearing. "I got me a little snacks I had, and a soda," added Gayle Hammond, a former tenant. "And these clothes. I couldn’t even get me no real clean clothes to wear to work."

A statement from Mayor Melvin Carter’s press secretary said the building was deemed unsafe due to issues with heating, electrical, and fire suppression systems. "Most importantly, the lack of an operational fire suppression system has necessitated 24-hour fire watch until all occupants have moved out," the statement read.

Residents say they’ve dealt with ongoing problems for years, including a lack of heat. One tenant noted, "I haven’t had heat in two weeks, but the heat from the hallway and everything being on the ninth floor kept me warm," former resident Sandra Knodle added.

Squatters have also been an issue, according to residents. One tenant described their frustrations: "I ain't no better than nobody. But I don’t want to come home to vagrants—ten or fifteen people," said Hammond. "They fix the door; they broke that down. Broke it again."

Most tenants left their food behind and don’t know how long they’ll be out of their homes. "I ain’t been told nothin’, baby," Hammond concluded. "It’s ridiculous. It’s completely and utterly ridiculous."

Attempts to contact the company responsible for maintaining the building went unanswered.