Kade Gajdusek, Contributing Photographer

Tenants at a New Haven apartment complex will bargain with the head of a national real estate company Wednesday nearly three weeks after forming a union in response to repeatedly unresolved maintenance issues. 

Residents of the Park Ridge Apartments, an affordable housing complex for seniors in West Rock, announced their formation of a tenants union — the ninth in New Haven — on Aug. 6. About two weeks later, tenants from a Detroit apartment complex with the same property manager mirrored the move. 

Moshe Eichler, president of Capital Realty Group, the corporate landlord that owns both apartment complexes and thousands of other properties across the United States, has agreed to meet with both tenants unions over Zoom Wednesday morning, Connecticut Tenants Union, a coalition of tenants unions, announced in a press release. 

“We called it a negotiation meeting. We were very clear about that in the letter, in the in-person conversation,” Connecticut Tenants Union Vice President Luke Melonakos DIV ’23 said in a phone interview. “We’ll see what kind of attitude Eichler brings to this meeting tomorrow, whether he’s prepared to engage in a serious way and treat it as a negotiation.” 

Eichler agreed to talks following pressure to bargain from both unions, Melonakos said. He added that representatives for the tenants unions plan to use the meeting to raise longstanding complaints about maintenance and management. An in-person follow-up meeting between Park Ridge tenants and Eichler is scheduled for Sept. 8. 

When the Park Ridge tenants announced their union in early August, they complained of mold, leaks and  broken elevators. Residents said that despite repeated requests, Capital Realty Group did not address their complaints or performed inadequate maintenance.

The Park Ridge Tenant Union, which represents nearly 60 percent of the 72-unit building’s residents, quickly drew political support. Connecticut’s Sen. Richard Blumenthal visited Park Ridge on Aug. 14 to endorse the union and press Capital Realty Group to meet directly with tenants. Blumenthal alleged that Capital Realty Group has chronically neglected its subsidized housing properties, leaving residents unsafe and unhealthy. 

Blumenthal, Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Chris Murphy also signed a letter that day urging Eichler to negotiate with the tenants union. 

When approached at Capital Realty Group’s headquarters in Spring Valley, N.Y., a person inside the building told a News reporter through the glass door that he could not enter the building without an appointment and declined to answer any questions. 

According to Melonakos, after the tenants in Detroit formed their union, an attorney for Capital Realty Group contacted union leaders at both properties, including Park Ridge Tenant Union Vice President Gerene Freeman. Freeman declined to discuss her concerns about the Park Ridge building with Capital Realty Group’s attorney, instead reiterating that residents wanted to speak about their concerns in a meeting with Eichler.

At Park Ridge Apartments, tenants chose a four-member negotiating committee to represent the union in talks with Capital Realty Group. Because the apartment complex is home to a multilingual community, the committee includes Russian, Spanish and English speakers. Other union members will attend the Zoom meeting with Eichler but will not have a formal speaking role, Melonakos said. 

Members of both tenants unions met Tuesday afternoon to finalize their bargaining strategy heading into negotiations, Melonakos said. 

Park Ridge Apartments is located at 10 Hard St. 

Kade Gajdusek contributed reporting. 

Correction, Aug. 27: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article said Park Ridge Tenant Union Vice President Gerene Freeman declined to talk to the News about her complaints. She actually declined to talk to Capital Realty Group’s attorney about her concerns and instead pushed for a direct meeting between tenants and the president of Capital Realty Group.