Fishtown Flats apartment building residents in Philadelphia raise concerns after management company abruptly exits

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Residents at the Fishtown Flats Apartments say they are concerned about safety and maintenance issues after their former property management company abruptly stopped managing the building.

People who live at the apartment complex on Germantown Avenue said they woke up to a letter from Bridge One Management stating the company would no longer manage the property, effective immediately.

“I just felt like we were abandoned,” resident Lyn Cohen said. “We don’t have any management. I’ve exhausted all of my resources.”

Residents said concerns at the building began before the management company officially left.

“There are people who are in and out of the building, which we don’t know if they’re residents, we don’t know if there are squatters here, the security in the building is nonexistent,” resident Natasha Taylor said.

Philadelphia police said officers responded to the apartments for a large crowd on May 20. Residents said a similar disturbance also happened a week earlier.

“There’s been random parties happening on the rooftop. We heard about Airbnb being put into the building,” Taylor said.

Cohen said residents have struggled to get answers since receiving the letter.

“We call the number that was on the letter and get a voicemail. There’s no one to call; that’s why I called the news,” Cohen said.

In a statement, a Bridge One representative wrote: “Bridge One was surprised by the lack of accountability and by the landlords refusal to work with the tenants. We did not cancel any contracts for security or electronic locks for the property.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to address tenant and building needs when the landlord refuses to pay bills and expenses, even as vendors begin cutting off services. We placed the phone number on the notice that was given to us by the landlord only to hear he wasn’t responding. We gave weeks notice and we ensured prior to terminating our contract that all access to the building was in place, both for unit access and access to the property and that the landlord was put in direct contact with those providers. We take pride in our efforts and could no longer be associated with a building or landlord who would not release the resources to properly run the property.
It is a shame the landlord has put its tenants, vendors and even us in this position.”

A spokesperson for 1413 Germantown LLC, the company that owns the property, tells Action News that despite repeated requests for an orderly transition, the management company canceled third-party vendor accounts related to security and electronic locks.

In a letter to the management company, the property owner called it “an intentional act” that put the property and residents in significant danger.

Residents said they are also worried about day-to-day operations at the building and are now looking to the owners to step up.

“We were literally abandoned, and the thing I worry about is that the building managed the trash, cleaning the common areas, and they managed maintenance requests,” Cohen said.

A spokesperson for the property owner says they hired private security beginning Friday night.

They also told Action News they are securing cleaners due to vandalism done at the two parties. They say tenants can expect new property managers to take over next week.