KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Advocates in Knoxville voiced concerns about the elevators at a Knoxville apartment building. It's where seniors and people with special needs live, and the elevators failed again after failing several previous times this year.
Summit Towers is 12 floors high. At around 10 a.m. on Sunday, 10News received a call from Vivian Shipe, a community advocate, saying that the elevators stopped working and people living in the building couldn't use them.
It was not the first time.
People at Summit Towers have dealt with several problems in the last eight months.
"Both elevators are down again. That word, ‘again,’ is frustrating because it tells me that you have not fixed the problem”, said Shipe.
In January, the Knoxville Fire Department responded to a small fire and flooding from the sprinkler system caused people to evacuate the building.
Since then, the elevators have almost routinely gone out of service, leaving people who are disabled stranded in their homes. Shipe said the elevators have stopped working around six times so far this year.
“This is nothing new,” said Martha Baker, another community advocate for people in need.
Baker and other advocates spent Sunday bringing the people of Summit Towers food after the elevators stopped working. They went to a sandwich shop and Baker said it was the first time she learned how many people were stranded on the upper floors.
One elevator was repaired by Sunday evening.
Summit Towers is run by Millennia, a property management company in Ohio. They released a statement about the elevators. It is available below.
"The property management team has identified a vendor and approved a quote for not only the repair of the electrical board but also additional work to address recurring issues in both elevator cars. They are now scheduling this work”.
Around 300 people live in Summit Towers in total. Baker said she believes repairing the elevators would not solve all of the problems seen at the apartment building.
"If I could fix it, it would need two more elevators," she said. "They have to wait in long lines just to get on the elevator."
The building owners say they did find a vendor to repair the elevators, but property managers tell us they aren't sure how quickly that will happen.