Hobbled Cooling Tower Causes Temperatures to Soar Inside Downtown Dallas’ Mosaic Building
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How hot can a high-rise apartment get when there’s no air conditioning on a 98-degree summer day? That’s not a question that residents of the Mosaic apartment building in downtown Dallas wanted to answer, but just in case you’re wondering, it’s 96 degrees.
The seven-block area of downtown Dallas that includes the Mosaic building lost power on August 10. A water main broke, flooding the underground tunnels and killing the power. But that was just the most recent disaster for residents of this building.
It wasn’t too long ago that the building caught fire and residents were forced to evacuate through the building’s stairwells, only to find blankets and debris — evidence of at least one homeless person camping there. However, the power going out on Aug. 10 was just the beginning of two weeks in which the building’s air conditioning was hobbled amid soaring temperatures.
To address the leaks, city crews had to shut off the water to the building, which affected the chillers that cool the many floors of apartments in the two-building complex. The air conditioning wasn’t fully restored until Aug. 13, only to another power disruption as crews worked on repairs. It was Aug. 16 until the air was back on.
In all that time, residents coped as they could, taking to social media to vent and relate. Some people stayed with family and friends, but several others took off for hotel rooms. But it was less than a week later when it was the second verse of the same song.
Through it all, residents that have reached out to CandysDirt.com have said that the building management, Fort Worth-based Olympus Property, had not communicated with residents about the ongoing issues. It wasn’t until Aug. 23 that residents met with the building management to find out what exactly was going on.
However, in an email to CandysDirt.com, Olympus Property’s Sarah Turner says that management has been in contact with residents:
We want to ensure the residents get communication from us before hearing anything online or on the news. There have been multiple emails, meetings and communication to residents. We have been in constant communication with the City of Dallas Code Enforcement and many techs from the City of Dallas Utilities. The resident notification from the past three days may help you understand the timeline of the events over the past two weeks. Today’s letters provide an update on the current status of the HVAC as well as the additional measures we are taking to the address the needs of our residents.
Sarah Turner, Senior Regional Manager, Olympus Property
Initially, Olympus only planned to give residents a $500 rebate for September rent as a make-good for the building’s air conditioning failure. According to the letter from the company to residents, the discount was intended to “help with those that have had to pay for [a] hotel or those that wish to get a hotel for the next two days as we get the cooling tower back to normal operation.”
Only, that didn’t happen.
Life at the Mosaic with no AC was a living hell for some residents. Nancy Sensat shared photos to social media of the thermostat in her apartment. It was 89 degrees inside. A day later, the temperature topped 91.
It’s been a roller coaster for residents, many of which say that this issue is just another brick in the wall of problems at the Mosaic.
Residents allege that the management company hasn’t adequately maintained the building or provided enough security. Complaints range from out-of-commission elevators, soiled hallway carpets, and dirty stairwells to security issues, faulty fire alarms, and fees for services that aren’t even available at the building. While City of Dallas code compliance officers were on-site Wednesday, residents hoped that the inspectors had plans to look at issues in the building, raising concerns about the poorly lit stairwells and other complaints.
By Wednesday evening, air conditioning service to many of the building’s units was still out. Reports of soaring temperatures in the building were constant. One resident said that she saw a fellow tenant carrying their dog in their arms when in the elevator. The dog had passed away from the heat.
A memo was sent to residents today outlining how they could secure hotel rooms at either the Aloft Hotel or the Fairmont Hotel for the next two nights, free of charge.
However, two residents say that they’re planning to stay on top of the myriad other issues in the building as long as they are tenants.
Which if the past two weeks are any indicator, may not be too much longer.
See the full memos from Aug. 23-25 below:
Mosaic – HVAC Water Pressure – Letter 8-23-21 by Joanna England on Scribd
Mosaic – HVAC Water Pressure – Letter 8-24-21 by Joanna England on Scribd
Mosaic – Hotel Accomodation Letter 8-25-21 v4 (Aloft) by Joanna England on Scribd
Mosaic – Hotel Accomodation Letter 8-25-21 v5 (Aloft Full Fairmont Follow Up)m by Joanna England on Scribd
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Olympus keeps lying saying that this issue was caused by the water main leak on akard st. But the truth is that the city fixed the issue since the 21st. The cooling units were so poorly maintained it has taken them more than a week to fix them (rumor has it that someone from the AC company told a resident these were the dirtiest and nastiest units they had seen in their career – no wonder living at the Mosaic triggered my asthma so much). It’s unbelievable that John Glen (the building’s manager) still has a job with his lack of customer service skills, instead of helping residents they’ve been threatening with lease violations to those that have complained. They only offered the $500 and free hotel nights after the Code Compliance team visited the building… at this point there’s seems to be some thing major getting broken every other month, I wonder what’s next.