Gardner Capital, which owns the property, is facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines related to its elevators.
MISSOURI CITY, Texas — The owner of the Jubilee Apartment Complex in Missouri City, which has been plagued by non-working elevators for months, is giving a public apology.
One elevator is working at the Jubilee senior apartment complex and the second one has been promised to be up and running this week.
“We also demand a public apology to these seniors who have endured this as well,” said Missouri City council member Jeffrey Boney, who met with the property owner Wednesday.
Gardner Capital, which owns the property, is facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines related to its elevators.
Michael Gardner, head of Gardner Capital, admitted he had never visited the property.
“Let me just ask you the basic question. When will the elevators be fixed?” KHOU 11 reporter Matt Dougherty asked.
“That is a great question and unfortunately, I can’t tell you with an answer, a direct answer on the second one,” Gardner said. “I can tell you we’ve got one working now, it should not be more than two to three business days at any given time, but we have been surprised by this, so I can tell you the expectation is that it would not be more than a week.”
Gardner said there was a communication breakdown at some level, where the message that the elevators were not working for months or years never made it to the top.
“Why do you think it’s taken so long?” Dougherty asked.
“It’s really hard to say,” Gardner said. “I think a lot of people would give a lot of reasons, but ultimately it’s my responsibility, I need to make sure there are relevant groups in place to make this happen and we should have gotten it done.”
Gardner said he plans to make it up to the residents and is considering rent forbearance and credits as a way to achieve that.
“Everyone should have an elevator,” Gardner said. “It should not be a problem. Period. End of story.”