The Homer G. Phillips Senior Apartments, formerly the historic African American hospital the bares the same namesake, faces a crisis. The living condition of those who live their has deteriorated over time, with residents saying the operator is putting lives at risk by not maintaining the building.
The property lies in The Ville neighborhood, which came into Tyus's ward for the first time after the city redistricted in 2021.
President of the Homer G Phillips Resident's Association Sharon Williams was introduced to KMOX by Alderwoman Tyus, who sat across from us during KMOX's interview with her and her mother.
"No cleaning of the property or the building... not paying people to cut grass, [the operator] weren't fixing the air conditioning units that were breaking down, they weren't fixing people's apartments when they had things going on."
Between Williams and other elderly residents, KMOX was told of issues like residents being robbed in the parking lot and even cars having their wheels stolen because the security gate is stolen.
"They rolling up with these things to put cars on cinders and take all the wheel's office. The cinders all coming from the same place because they're the same type of cinders."
KMOX reached out to Eagle Point management multiple times seeking an interview after we were escorted off the property by management for speaking with Williams. They would only answer questions over email.
An Eagle Point spokesperson claims they attend to issues as they come up and implement short term solutions when long terms solutions cannot be made due to circumstances out of their control.
When asked about Central Heating and Cooling issues, they claim the system is fully functional, despite later in the same email admitting some units are still in need of repair. They say 25 HVAC units were repaired this summer.
Eagle Point claiming the HVAC system is fully functional while also admitting some units are still in need of repairEmail to KMOX from Eagle Point
Tyus believes Eagle Point owes over $100 million to the facility pointing to a change in the deal they have with the city.
Why are we letting $113 million go out the door and try to sell [the Senior Apartment] to somebody else?"
The City owns the property and leases its operations to Eagle Point. In 2019, a bill was passed dropping Eagle Point's rent from $450,000 annually to $50,000, on the promise they would make greater investments in upkeep. However, the bill was "poorly written," according to a high ranking city official with intimate knowledge of the agreement, with no minimum spending threshold keeping Eagle Point accountable.
The solution is simple: Eagle Point needs to go, and wants to go, and a new operator with the cash and willingness to invest needs to come in. That solution is before the City, with a deal already in place for Eagle Point to sell to a new operator who is promising investment. It's simply awaiting the city's approval.
In May, Alderwoman Sharon Tyus introduced legislation to approve the sale... It got no further than that.
Tyus claims she has held the bill because she's demanding an audit of Eagle Point first, something she initially asked for years ago in a resolution that also went no further than being introduced. Tyus has given conflicting reasons behind her delay, arguing the work she was doing behind the scenes was producing results shown by the building's improvements, and her resolution to audit the company could've slowed that."
"It requests you to just put everything else down, and depending on what's going on you can or cannot. And [Eagle Point] was making some small progress and some things."
While also trying to claim that Eagle Point was NOT making improvements fast enough...
"'I got plenty of letters going back and forth to them saying 'Hey what about this?' 'Oh we're gonna fix this!'" Tyus says recalling her exchanges with Eagle Point since 2023. "The people didn't have air conditioning, 'we're gonna fix that,' three years later, none of that is fixed."
Page 1 of a letter from Eagle Point warning the deal to sell is in jeopardySunshine request
Page 2 of a letter from Eagle Point warning the deal to sell is in jeopardySunshine request
KMOX reviewed a September 1st letter from Eagle Point sent to each the Mayor, Comptroller and Aldermanic President. It states they have not heard any concerns from Tyus or the city related to the transfer, and the delay is causing them and the new company CIG to modify the legal timeline to close on the deal five times. They claim this could potentially increase costs to both sides of the sale if engineering and due diligence work becomes dated and needs to be done again, inferring it could jeopardize sale.
The Eagle Point spokesperson confirms the sale is held up by the bill not moving.
While Tyus is once again pushing for an audit of Eagle Point, City Hall sources tell KMOX it would be time consuming and unlikely to end with Eagle Point paying anything extra due to how "poorly written" the legislation was.
So KMOX posed this question to Williams: Setting aside money that should have been invested into maintenance long ago, do you want to see the operator change? A simple question, but one Tyus did not want KMOX asking, interrupting and trying to shift the question from management to finances three times.
Finally after Tyus attempted to interrupt my question a fourth time before the resident answered over Tyus's protests. Ultimately, she echoed points made by Tyus while she pushed while attempting to quell KMOX's question.
"Donna Baringer and Ryan [saying] we want to bring in some other people to help out, to take over the lease, buy the lease out so the new company could come in... but all along I kept saying where is all the money at?" says Williams, adding "Why aren't you all holding [Eagle Point] accountable."
While Williams wants to see Tyus carry the bill to transfer ownership, other residents speaking to KMOX anonymously to avoid getting caught up in the drama have a different take than Williams, saying a transition away from Eagle Point "needs to happen now," and "needs to be expedited."
One resident told KMOX Tyus needs to "stop holding the residents hostage," saying residents are suffering due to her power play over being stripped of her seniority.
Enter Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, who weeks ago was tasked by President Green with carrying a new bill with the same goal as Tyus's in order to get around her road block. Thus, drawing Tyus's ire
According to Aldridge, CIG the company seeking to take over the operating lease has promised to solve a lot of those issues haunting residents, such as parking...
"[CIG] is talking about fixing the gate, he's talking about upgrading units, he's talking about putting new lighting in, putting in security."
Aldridge says they'll even address the lack of central heat and air...
"The HVAC issues is on the list."Williams wants to be sure those repairs will be made before they fall victim to another negligent operator like they've experienced with Eagle Point
"When [Eagle Point] came in we all sat over in that room, we talked about everything that they were gonna do," Williams recalls saying they promised to address the security at the building and more, "They came in, they started off okay. Six months down the road, everything started going downhill."
The bill to transfer ownership is set to come up in a committee meeting Tuesday.
