Editors note: This story has been updated to include a statement provided by a former board member after the story aired.
NBC6 was there in December when residents at the Summit Towers Condominiums in Hollywood questioned a multi-million dollar proposed special assessment they were facing, even though they said their building had recently completed and passed their 40-year recertification.
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WATCH HERE“$56 million?” Lester Berrios, a condo owner, asked NBC6. “What is that supposed to mean? What are you supposed to get done? Is that structurally needed?”
Those are questions two state lawmakers heard directly from the condo owners that day. State Sen. Jason Pizzo (D-Hollywood) told NBC6 he had seen cases where boards were pushing to approve a variety of costly projects that go beyond structural integrity.
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“The central theme we’re seeing is a lack of uniformity and actually staying within that list of enumerated structural components,” Sen. Pizzo said.
In December, several condo association board members told NBC6 in a statement that they were following professional guidance and advice and that the repairs were needed.
But a few weeks later, Berrios said things changed. He shared with NBC6 a video showing several condo owners celebrating, after enough owners came together to vote in several new board members and a new board president. He said the story NBC6 did in December helped raise awareness of the issues they were facing.
“Due to the fact that Channel 6 came in, we had an attorney involved and senators came in, that stopped the special assessment for $56 million,” Berrios said.
Bill Knickerbocker, the newly elected board president of the Summit Towers Condominium, said the original assessment would have worked out to be, on average, between $1,000 and $1,500 a month more per unit.
“For the average person, it doubled their cost of living here,” Knickerbocker said. “We have a lot of people that have been here since the Towers opened 40 years ago … They’re not young and they’re living on a fixed budget.”
“Essentially, this loan placed a mortgage on their homes and if they couldn’t pay it, they could eventually be foreclosed on,” he said.
He explained what the condo owners did to challenge repairs they believed were not essential.
“We got a lawyer, we threatened to sue,” Knickerbocker said.
Since the loan the association was getting to cover the special assessment depended on there being no litigation, the bank decided to withdraw the offer of the loan, he said.
“That killed the assessment,” Knickerbocker said.
Berrios said he hopes their story will inspire other condo owners facing special assessments to take the time to scrutinize the details before it’s too late.
“You got to get involved within your community,” he said. “Had these people not knocked at my door … I would not have known that we had such a massive assessment coming our way.”
NBC6 reached out to the number we had for the previous board president, but did not hear back. After the latest story aired, a person who was part of the previous board contacted NBC6 and asked not to be identified, saying they fear retaliation. The former board member reiterated that the projects covered by the initial proposed special assessment “…was not a ‘wish list.’” They said there are serious concerns that could impact the health and safety of residents including mold issues in the building hallways, the condition of sanitary pipes and pool deck waterproofing.
The new association board president told NBC6 the building will end up with some sort of assessment because there are things that need to be repaired to ensure the building passes its 50-year recertification when the time comes.
He said they were looking for ways to reduce costs. He also said they want to plan out repairs over time, so owners don’t have to pay such a large special assessment all at once.
