Pushed off The Ridge

The plan to convert a Browne’s Addition apartment complex into condominiums has been traumatic and confusing for many elderly residents who have rented there for years and now have to buy their units if they want to stay.

In April, a group of investors that purchased The Ridge apartments, just west of downtown Spokane, announced plans to turn the 136 units into condominiums and offer them for sale, with current residents receiving the first option to buy.

“It’s just a bombshell to us all,” said Barbara Huff, who has lived at The Ridge for 18 years. She plans to buy her unit, with help from her son, because she doesn’t feel up to moving. However, she thinks the $189,000 price tag is too expensive by Spokane standards.

“The only choice was either buy it or get out, and that doesn’t leave you much of an option,” Huff said. “If I were 55, I’d say, ‘OK, I’ll go,’ But at 84, that doesn’t thrill me one iota.”

Since the sale was announced, 50 of the 136 units have been vacated, said Richard Wilson, a principal in the company that purchased the complex. He acknowledged that it’s a difficult situation, but said his company has done everything it can to make it easier on people. That included divulging the conversion plans earlier than necessary, to give people more time to make arrangements.

“I now have 50 vacancies in 136 units,” Wilson said. “A developer really doesn’t have to do that.”

But some residents disagreed that the new owners had been helpful or forthcoming about their plans. They said a promised letter outlining the offer has yet to come, a number that was posted to call for information was disconnected and they couldn’t figure out who could answer their questions.

They disputed the owners’ earlier statement that a real estate relocation service would be available to help them find new homes.

“They promised us they would come and help us find a place as renters. This was back in May. No one has ever seen anything like that,” said Jewell Jennings, who is 79. Jennings moved out of her two-bedroom apartment on Friday because she said she couldn’t afford to pay the $189,000 to purchase it. “We have tried to communicate and we have had no communication or help back, period.”

Wilson said that comes as a great surprise to him because his company has worked hard to meet the residents’ needs.

He said he talks to residents in the parking lot at The Ridge in the morning and afternoon, answering questions and allaying concerns. He said people have not received the letter outlining the offer because it is still being prepared.

“I am on site almost every day and I see everyone coming and going and they know where to find me, most certainly,” Wilson said. “We’re trying to set a new standard because we are that concerned about their welfare. I look at it as if it were my own mother.”

Pat Peterson lived at The Ridge for 15 years before moving recently to the Waterford retirement community. She stays in touch with friends at The Ridge and worries about the ones who don’t have the means, like she did, to buy a new place.

“What’s sad is the people that are physically disabled that just don’t have the financial means or physical capability,” Peterson said before she moved. “Most of them don’t drive. It’s just a very, very sad situation. Everybody is up in the air, what are they going to do?”