BENTONVILLE — A July 15 meeting between Garland Square apartment management and its tenants left some people confused and angry.
The confusion comes from not knowing whether they’ll have to move out of their apartments by mid-August; the anger comes, they say, from being told they could be evicted from the complex at 1301 E. Central Ave.
“We’re being treated like cattle,” resident Anthony Beyer said Tuesday.
Duane Freeman, Beyer’s neighbor, also attended the July 15 meeting.
The men share almost identical accounts of what happened at the meeting.
Residents were told the apartments would be renovated and residents would have several options during the renovation.
Those options included being paid $200 and refunded 100 percent of their deposits if they moved out by Aug. 1 — 16 days after the July 15 meeting. Residents also were offered two options that would allow them to stay at the complex. They could move into another unit while theirs was renovated or they could stay in their apartments, but utilities would be cut off during the day while work was performed.
AT A GLANCE
Garland Square Apartments
ERC Properties in Fort Smith owns Garland Square apartments. Henry Management in Little Rock manages the apartments.
The complex was built in 1997 and is worth $1,733,850 according to the Benton County Assessor’s most recent property assessment.
Source: Staff Report
“They said this is going to be great for you guys,” Freeman said.
Confusion started when residents began asking questions. Someone representing the complex told residents renovation couldn’t happen with them living there and they could be evicted with as little as 24 hours notice, Beyer said.
“After the meeting people were very, very upset so I went to the manager (Shika Hicks) to get her to clarify some of the stuff they said,” Freeman said.
Freeman said he asked Hicks if people could stay. She told him staying wasn’t an option and residents could be forcibly evicted. Hicks would not comment on the situation.
ERC Properties in Fort Smith owns Garland Square apartments. An ERC Properties assistant referred questions to Alan Lewis, a Rogrs attorney.
Lewis wrote in an e-mail Wednesday the residents are not being threatened with eviction.
“No one is being evicted or threatened with eviction, but some residents may be asked to relocate for a few weeks while their dwelling unit is renovated. Then, they are free to return to their former dwelling unit,” Lewis wrote.
“The proposed renovations represent an upgrade but will cause some temporary inconvenience — most construction projects do. ERC is trying to keep any disruption of daily lives to an absolute minimum.”
“No one will be forcibly evicted and all leases will be honored. If the manager said otherwise, she was mistaken,” Lewis wrote. “However, if a tenant elected not to sign a lease and refuses to cooperate, then we have no choice but to ask them to leave.”
What Now?
Freeman and Beyer stood in the hot sun outside of Freeman’s apartment Tuesday and discussed what, if anything, they could do. Freeman’s lease expires Aug. 31. Beyer’s lease will expire in October.
“If they had told us in May they were doing this, I could have had money available to do this. I don’t have the money to move now,” Freeman said.
Beyer was in the same predicament.
“The best I can do is try to find a storage unit for all my stuff and call my parents and explain my situation,” Beyer said. “I really don’t want to have to move in with my parents.”
Beyer said he wouldn’t have enough money to move even if he did take the deal offered by the apartment complex.
Beyer’s deposit was $400 and together with the $200 payment, he would only have $600. He said it cost him $1,200 to move into Garland Square last year.
Isabel Garcia, another resident of Garland Square, loaded her belongings into a truck Tuesday.
“It has been very hectic. It’s very, very hard finding a place,” Garcia said.
Garcia said she is placing her furniture in storage and moving her family into a hotel until the renovation is complete.
Garcia didn’t have the same experience as Freeman and Beyer.
“They (representatives for Garland Square) have actually been nice,” Garcia said, noting she was notified about the renovation in June. “Everybody has a different situation, but I’m positive about the change.”
Garcia said she is excited about moving back later this year.
“This isn’t a good time to move out, but in the long run it’s good for the residents,” Garcia said.
Freeman and Beyer said they will stay at the apartments until it is no longer an option.