More than 600 residents at SF luxury apartment displaced by flood; some left without hotel
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Since Friday night, more than 600 residents of 33 Tehama in San Francisco have been in limbo.
"We don't know what to do. Some people don't know where to stay," said resident Andrew Lynch.
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Lynch is one of them. He was evacuated from the building, along with hundreds of residents, after a water main broke in the top floor.
Hines, the real estate development and management firm, placed tenants in nearby hotels -- but last night, multiple residents like Lynch were asked to leave the hotel.
"The hotel told us that Hines refuses to pay for the week and they're only paying day-by-day," said Lynch and added, "We had nowhere to stay. So we were in the middle of, as you can imagine 8, 8:30 p.m. in the Tenderloin, just walking into hotels and trying to find somewhere."
Tyler Patterson said he has a hotel room for the week, but many like him are growing frustrated over what they say is poor communication by the company. Hundreds are keeping each other updated via a social media app.
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"I think there is about 200 residents in the group," said Patterson and added, "As of right now, I know of three people who don't know where they are staying tonight."
We spoke to Paul Paridis, Hines Senior Managing Director. He said the building remains uninhabitable and hotel rooms are in short supply.
"You are correct. Because of the pressure on hotel rooms due to conventions in San Francisco, we are finding limited situations where hotel rooms are available numerous days in a row. So we are taking this day by day," said Paradis.
Paradis said they are working on deploying multiple company ambassadors that will work directly with tenants as the building is getting fixed.
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"We have dozens of engineers and construction experts scouring the building right now. At this point, the electricity system is off. The elevators are off. The building is shut down because of the flooding," said Paradis.
Shanti Signh with Tenants Together said these tenants have the right to pursue legal action.
"For a landlord to not be able to house all of tenants in hotels and not house them until they remedy the issue is unacceptable and also potentially violating the law," said Signh.
Hines' senior managing director did not give specifics as to when the building will be fixed and said, for now, tenants are not allowed to move back in.
The 33 Tehama hotline at 833-275-8398 is available from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. PST.
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