Through the Static

By Hannah Saunders

Tenants of Seattle’s historic John Winthrop Apartments are actively combating and working to overcome harassment, construction, and eventual forced relocation after an investment firm and real estate company bought the building this spring. Nordic Partners Investments is seismically retrofitting and renovating the structure, and one Winthrop resident, speaking on behalf of the majority of renters, told TtS that the construction is an excuse to drastically hike rents in First Hill, and it will displace about 100 tenants during a housing and affordability crisis.

“This non-mandated retrofitting is just an excuse to bypass the rent raise limit on current tenants, evict the whole building, and skyrocket rents for the new tenants— leading to skyrocketing rents in the entire neighborhood,” the resident said.

Nordic has ordered mass renovations on empty units, the tenant said, and has turned the leasing office into a new unit. Without a permit, construction companies can conduct minimal upgrades and cosmetic procedures, but must have a permit for larger scale work, like structural changes. The construction permit for work on new units was submitted and approved by the City earlier this year, before Nordic purchased the property in April. While another construction permit was more recently submitted to the City for seismic retrofitting, it has yet to be approved by the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) and the first construction intake appointment is scheduled for June 18, according to the Seattle Services Portal.

John Winthrop Apartments is a designated unreinforced masonry building (URM), which is an old brick establishment, and retrofitting is inevitably required to ensure structural safety during mayor disasters, like earthquakes. URMs, with Winthrop being built in 1925, are at risk of collapse under such circumstances.

“Our purpose in acquiring and retrofitting this building is, first and foremost, life safety: a URM building like this one poses a real risk to the people living in it during a significant quake. We are performing the retrofit now, using the City’s published URM retrofit methodology and in coordination with the SDCI. The City currently encourages these retrofits on a voluntary basis and has stated its intent to make them mandatory in the coming years,” Nordic told TtS.

Seattle will not require mandatory retrofits until financial and supportive resources have been clearly pinpointed, and the City has classified Winthrop’s vulnerability as high and should have retrofits within the next decade. But Nordic’s approach has Winthrop tenants weary about this becoming a larger-scale issue across Seattle, especially considering Nordic purchased an old Snoqualmie building in April and issued evictions, according to King5.

“Our mission is to foster genuine relationships with our community, holding their success at the heart of our business. We create long term wealth for our clients through a strategy that delicately balances risk and return in the Seattle multifamily space,” Nordic’s website states.

Harassment, surveillance, calling the cops

The Winthrop resident told TtS that construction crew members can be seen walking through the building with materials like large amounts of wood, and frequently hear things crash on the ground. Hanging picture frames have been falling off of tenants’ walls and there has been incessant drilling, making it challenging for some to work or study from home. Residents have taken pictures of debris and construction from units that had open doors, and on one incident, Nordic contractors slammed the door shut.

A June 5 email from David Singleton, asset manager for Nordic, to Winthrop residents stated:

“It has come to our attention that contractor materials around the building have been being tampered with and destroyed and residents have been going into vacant units. Please note if you are caught doing either of those you will be billed for any damages incurred and reported to the authorities. We have cameras around the building to investigate this father. You may also not permitted inside vacant units.”

Nordic contractors have also reportedly been harassing women entering John Winthrop Apartments and have accused others of smoking in the stairways, noting in another email that Nordic would install cameras in the stairwells to “catch whoever is doing this.” Another tenant moved their table partially outside of their front-door to make a small fix to it, and a contractor took a picture of him; Seattle Police showed up about ten minutes later.

“There’s been [accusations] of all things, so when you’re constantly being under stress, who knows what could happen,” the source said.

Nordic reiterated its commitment to safety:

“We take the safety of both residents and workers seriously, addressing safety concerns through appropriate and lawful channels. We treat every resident with respect, and out of respect for our residents’ privacy we do not discuss individual situations publicly. We remain committed to completing this work in a way that keeps people safe and meets every obligation we have to our residents and to the community.”

Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance

For several weeks, Nordic has been pushing voluntary relocation and the City of Seattle’s Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance (TRAO), which property owners and developers must get approved for major renovations, among several other things.

“Only low-income renters receive relocation assistance of $5,552. Property owners pay half of that amount ($2,776) and the City of Seattle pays the other half ($2,776),” according to the City.

People have lived in John Winthrop Apartments for upwards of 30 years, and relocation assistance with older tenants is a high concern, especially with the competitive market and high cost of living in Seattle. Nordic claimed that it is coordinating closely with tenants on a household basis, yet Winthrop residents stated they are met with unclear communication at best.

“The structural work makes a unit uninhabitable while it is underway, and it must be done unit by unit,” Nordic said.

Nordic noted how residents have been provided a clear point of contact, yet the email address Nordic provided is a disabled email that cannot receive messages, according to Winthrop tenants.

“It’s not miscommunication. It’s directly lying, not answering, and making a fake email address for us to talk to,” the tenant said.

In one correspondence, Nordic said that if interested, tenants are welcome to move back into a retrofitted unit when available, and “we can discuss that option should you qualify and wish to stay in the building.”

Fighting back

Tenants from several buildings banded together and met at the Cal Anderson Shelter House on June 10 with the Puget Sound Tenants Union— a group that organizes and pushes back against displacement, evictions, and rising rental costs— to discuss courses of action.

“We are going to get together and make a demand letter. We’re against this process,” the Winthrop tenant said.

Winthrop residents have also been in communication with Seattle City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth’s office.

“We want to let folks know that we are taking this very seriously and will continue to monitor the situation with help from SDCI, who have been sending out emergency inspectors to review tenant complaints. We are working to find creative solutions for impacted tenants,” Councilmember Hollingsworth’s office told TtS.

The Councilmember’s office has reached out to tenants about concerns they have reported relating to timeline and procedures of the TRAO, and acknowledged the strain and stress relocation has. The residents are encouraging other concerned community members seeking to become involved to email Councilmember Hollingsworth.

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