Elevator Nightmare At 4550 Cherry Creek

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Residents And Disability Activists Demand Change

by Megan Carthel

(http://glendalecherrycreek.com/4550-peck-11-16/) Twenty-four �oors high in the sky, the 4550 Cherry Creek luxury

apartments in Glendale, have stood tall, but for some residents, the building is falling short. The skyscraper apartment

complex was built in 2002, as the �rst truly luxurious rental property in Glendale. Its massive outline dominates the sky-

line along Cherry Creek Drive and its height so chagrined Glendale residents that the city revised its Zoning Code to im-

pose height limits.

Tall Prison

(http://glendalecherrycreek.com/4550-building-11-16/)But now the 24-story building has at times become a virtual

prison for some residents as its elevator system has become a nightmare. For those inside the elevators when they

break down, it means waiting seemingly endless hours until the City of Glendale can come rescue them. For residents

who are disabled with mobility challenges they are trapped in their apartments or simply cannot return to their apart-

ment homes for hours on end.

Longtime residents say they can point to the day when all the problems began — January 12, 2011. On that day sprin-

kler lines on the 18th and 2nd �oors broke, causing water to run down the elevator shafts, resulting in extensive

damage.

The elevators have never been the same. Since that date there have been 13 calls to the Glendale Police and the Fire Department regarding people trapped in the elevators. From November

2014 to July of this year alone the City of Glendale has had to make seven rescues from the elevators at 4550.

Threatened Lawsuit

But it is not simply the residents trapped in the elevators themselves that are a�ected. Resident Jessica Peck has progressive vascular malformations and re�exive sympathetic dystrophy. In

2015, treatment led to extreme and sudden bone loss culminating in an amputation below the knee on her left leg. Peck said all four elevators were down when she came home one evening.

Her two daughters, ages eight and 11, were in their unit, 11 �ights up. Peck had to hop on one leg up 11 �ights of stairs to reach her kids.

“I thought if I fall I’m dead,” Peck said. Only days later, Peck was in the hospital with in�ammation of cartilage in the breast plate. In April of this year she was diagnosed with pulmonary

embolisms.

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“To me, as an attorney, as a disability activist, to be in a position where I am scared of retaliation and I am honestly hurt to my

core. I have a thick skin, but living in this environment every day is being told that I don’t matter, that my children don’t matter,

and they don’t care if I get injured,” Peck said.

Peck has retained one of Colorado’s most famous and feared litigators David Lane of Killmer, Lane & Newman, LLP who is in-

vestigating bringing suit under Federal statutes if the problems are not �xed.

“Under ADA they have to reasonably accommodate people with disabilities, meaning they have to provide access to people

with disabilities — curb cuts are required by law, working elevators are required by law, handicapped access doors which can

be opened by pushing a button have to be working by law, they have to have parking spots for disabled people by law, they do

none of the above on a regular basis,” Lane said.

Lane and Peck would be �ling suit under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act and Warranty of Habitability.

 Elevator Background

Mike Pattison, Denver branch manager for Kone, the company that installed and maintains the elevators, said his crew mem-

bers are contracted to perform preventative maintenance weekly on the elevators.

“Our guys are out there all the time,” Pattison said.

Pattison said the elevators in 4550 are four-geared traction passenger cars with a mipromST control system. He said hundreds

were installed in 2002 and 2003, but are no longer being currently installed. Pattison said to upgrade the elevator system, it

would cost between $175,000 to $250,000 per elevator.

Chuck Line, Glendale Deputy City Manager, said usually elevators shut down because a safety feature responded to an error.

“From a safety point of view, every time we go, all the safety mechanisms are functioning perfectly and everything, but there’s a

big di�erence between safety of an elevator and operationally if it’s reliable or not. Because if it’s unreliable, it means its safety

mechanism has kicked in, but it means maybe they’re not maintaining it to the degree that they should,” Line said.

 Upset Residents

Tina Roussin has had to walk up 17 �ights of stairs with groceries when all four elevators were down, a frequent event according to her. She was once stuck in an elevator early in the morn-

ing after taking her dog outside. The elevator she was in does not have a call phone or button, and she did not have her phone on her. Roussin said she began kicking and yelling in hopes

someone would hear she was trapped. Eventually the elevator returned to the �rst �oor. When Roussin brought her incident to management, she said she received a less than satisfactory

answer.

“I was told you need to make sure you have your phone on you when you go on the elevator,” Roussin said.

Elevators are inspected twice a year. Randy Pabst, elevator inspector with Colorado Consulting Code, said a two-way communication system is required that can dial a 24-hour service such as

the elevator maintenance contractor, 9-1-1 or an answering service for security company.

This is not Roussin’s only run-in with the elevators. Her dog’s leash got caught in the elevator doors and was suspended from the top of the elevator, hanging there until the leash broke while

Roussin tried to free her dog, Chloe. Another resident who is afraid of retaliation from the complex in the form of rent price raises who wanted to keep her identity private, said the elevators

are a major issue.

“This is supposed to be a luxury building, it’s not inexpensive to live here and we should have a reasonable expectation that we can go up and down 24 �oors on at least one elevator all the

time,” the resident said. “I lived in Manhattan for a long time and these are the kinds of issues that come up with slumlords in New York.”

The residents said in general they like living at 4550 and praise concierge and front o�ce workers in general but many have a problem with the management company Monogram Apartment

Collection. The owner of the building, according to the real estate records of Arapahoe County, is Behringer Harvard Cherry Creek out of Dallas, Texas, who acquired the building in 2010 for

$52 million. The seller Sentinel lost $26 million on the sale from its purchase price of $78 million in 2005.

Resident Kandie Landers told the Chronicle, “When a building has 24 �oors, having the elevators down as frequently as they do is inexcusable . . . . Other than th (http://glendalecherrycreek.-

com/4550-sign-11-16/)e elevator issue, I have been extremely pleased with the community.” She notes, however, that “the

management really needs to invest in getting the elevators �xed and/or replaced.”

 Management Response

According to Peck and her attorney David Lane, the time for 4550 to voluntarily perform the needed work may be running out.

In an email statement sent to the Chronicle, the management company Monogram Apartment Collection stated, “At [4550]

Cherry Creek, we’re committed to providing the highest quality service for our residents. When a resident has a concern, we

maintain a culture of transparency by communicating how we are remedying the situation. Our residents shared feedback

around the need to update our elevators, so we are in the process of replacing the mechanical systems in all four elevators.

We anticipate starting work very soon and are doing everything we can to ensure that this long and complex process is as pain-

less as possible.”

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