KHOU 11 News has learned the management company for the Gala at Four Corners is also in charge of a property in Missouri City with extensive elevator issues.
SUGAR LAND, Texas — More residents are speaking out about broken elevators at a senior apartment complex in Sugar Land, and the management company at the center of it all is the same one already under scrutiny at a different property.
This time, the complaints are coming from the Gala at Four Corners senior apartments, where both elevators have been out of service for nearly a week.
Pamela Howard, a third-floor resident who uses a wheelchair, said she has been unable to attend important medical appointments because of the elevator outage.
“I’m a dialysis patient, and I go three times a week, so I missed two sessions this week because, or course, I couldn’t get downstairs,” Howard said.
Howard told KHOU 11 News that on Saturday, with no other option, she had to call emergency services just to leave her apartment.
“I called 911 and the ambulance came and the firemen, and they carried me downstairs,” she said.
The only other building at Gala also has a broken elevator, leaving other residents feeling trapped.
“You feel like you’re just in prison,” third-floor resident Kathy Mooney said. “I have heart disease and crippling arthritis… If I don’t have to go out, I’m not going out, because I can barely get up the stairs, so I just stay home. I’m stuck here.”
Gala is managed by Asset Living, the same company that oversees the Jubilee at Texas Parkway senior apartments in Missouri City. KHOU 11 has reported extensively on elevator issues at that property, where residents went nearly two months without a functioning elevator.
In a statement to KHOU 11, the public relations team for Asset Living said a storm last Sunday knocked out the fire panel at Gala, which in turn disabled the elevators.
The company said repairs are in progress, but added that the elevator repair company is currently waiting for the fire monitoring company to take the first steps. This is part of the statement they sent to KHOU 11:
“We have already contacted the firing monitoring company, and they are going to be out to fix the fire panel within the next couple of days. Once the panel is fixed, the elevator company will come out and completely fix the elevators. We’ve already signed contracts with both companies.”
They also said that apartment staff has gone door-to-door to let residents know about the issue, and they are offering to help get groceries and take out the trash.
As of Saturday night, the elevators at both Gala buildings remained inoperable.