Ely Walker Lofts were opened in 2007. When the units were first opened up for sale, there were stories about a line down the street waiting to purchase because the building was considered one of the premier developments downtown. The entire building is a condominium. While you might be renting a unit, you are actually renting a condominium.

As such, all residents fall under the rules and regulations laid out in the Ely Walker Lofts Condominium Bylaws and Declarations. Residents in the building fall into one of three categories:
● Owners of units who live or exclusively use their unit
● Individual owners of units who are renting their unit
● Tenants of the units that were purchased by Citywide.

Citywide is also known by Lux Living, Asprient, PM Management, and Aconcagua, as well as other names. Having this setup can cause some confusion on who is responsible for what.

Owners of units are responsible for the individual units from the studs inward of a unit. If you are an owner, or renting from an owner, and have a problem with your air conditioner within your unit, it is the responsibility of the owner of that unit. However there is some gray area when it comes to systems within the building that affect multiple units such as the water/waste plumbing stacks or dryer vents. If something impacts multiple units, it then becomes the responsibility of the Homeowners Association.

The HOA is responsible for maintaining all common areas within the building - the lobby, garage, elevators, hallways, fire system, mail room, front/back doors, deck, community room, workout room, building security, as well as ongoing maintenance of the building as a whole - roof, tuckpointing, windows, HVAC of common areas, painting and maintenance of common areas, etc. The HOA board is made up a five people, the president, secretary, treasurer, and two directors. The HOA board oversees the running of the building, approves the paying of the bills associated with the building out of the HOA Condo fees that are assessed every month such as electric, gas, trash, cleaning, etc., and determines short and long term goals for the maintenance of the building. Smith Management Company works for the HOA, and takes their direction on decisions for the building from the HOA. They do not provide services for repairs, etc. for individual units unless it is something that is being caused by a common building element (waste stacks, roof, etc. They are limited on what they can do since they report to the HOA board.

The crux of the issue is that after Citywide purchased their share of units, they quickly took over all 5 seats of the HOA board. No individual owners have representation on the board. All five seats are held by the owners or associates of Citywide. They have full control of the board, budget and all decision making of the building. Since the Citywide takeover, there has been little opportunity for individuals to have concerns addressed. The bylaws have not been followed, and there has not been transparency regarding meetings, budget, expenditures, etc. for the building. As soon as the units were purchased, Citywide removed any onsite management of their units (there was full time on-site management before) and renegotiated the management company contract (since Nov. 2015, we have had Sentry, Rafco, Sentry and now Smith Management) to eliminate onsite management hours (there was onsite weekly office hours prior to the purchase as well). Because of all of these issues, the building has deteriorated in the past 6 ½ years, and there has been no accountability for the board.

This is the first time we have an energized and committed community in this building working to make things better.