Crime, code violations still a blight on Windsor Cove
Five years ago, Orlando city leaders declared a new day for the renamed Windsor Cove complex.
Formerly called the Palms Apartments, city leaders said in 2010 the name change offered hope for less crime and better living conditions.
Five years later, and under new management, the apartment complex is struggling as it had before.
Earlier this month the city started fining the complex on Mercy Drive more than $15,000 a day for more than 30 code violations, records show.
Residents in the 256-unit complex have had mold growing in bathrooms, electric outlets with no covers and broken
air conditioners, among other issues.
Forget about getting anything fixed, said resident Kimberly Wallace, 26, who has lived in the complex for seven years.
“My [floor] tiles, my counter tops, they didn’t do nothing,” she said. “I did it.”
She said lizards get in the second-story apartment through a hole in the floorboard and she doesn’t use the cupboard under the kitchen sink because of water stains and possible mold.
“I don’t even open it,” she said. “It’s nasty.”
Some of the complex’s issues have been addressed, and fines were down to about $7,500 a day as of last week, according to Code Enforcement Division Manager Mike Rhodes.
‘10 acres of hell’
Once dubbed the “10 acres of hell,” the Palms became the focus of intensive police intervention after a triple-homicide in 2008.
That effort gave rise to the city’s Crime Free MultiHousing Program, which extended some of the efforts at the Palms to several dozen participating apartment complexes.
At the Palms, the city planted trees and enrolled kids who lived in the complex in after-school programs to improve the way of life. That led to the name change in 2010, with city leaders declaring a new day had arrived.
Police calls for service at the complex suggest the city’s efforts initially bore fruit.
In 2009, there were nearly 700 calls for service to the complex, according to records. By 2012, that number had fallen to 425. But by 2014, the calls for police to the complex grew to nearly 600, and so far this year the number has topped 500.
According to a city spokeswoman, the complex is no longer involved in the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program.
A police spokeswoman said after the initial program was implemented in 2010, the complex failed to follow through on improvements the complex needed to continue participating, which may have included such things as better lighting and door locks.
“We have been out there several times and provided assessments and direction, but they have not followed through,” spokeswoman Michelle Guido wrote in an email. “Why is a question for the owners/management.”
One of the key facets of the program was law enforcement keeping apartment complexes abreast of tenants who get arrested. If the lease agreement required residents to stay out of trouble with the law, the complex could then move to evict an offender. Orlando police would also assign an officer to the complex to build relationships with residents.
Continued trouble
“You always hear gunshots,” said resident La’Quinta Star, a 28-year-old mother of two young children.
About 150 of the calls this year were to check the well-being of a person or property. More than 80 calls were for “unknown trouble,” police said.
Other calls reported violence at the complex.
In early March, two men were shot during the filming of a music video. Both survived, but no one was arrested.
Seven guns that were stolen this summer from the Orange County Fairgrounds were recovered at the complex, resulting in the arrest of two juveniles, according to Orlando police.
A 19-year-old man was gunned down at the complex in August 2014, while a 27-year-old man was killed in January. Residents are on edge. One mother of four takes special precautions.
“I don’t let my kids outside,” said the resident, who declined to give her name because she feared retribution. “There could be kids playing on the playground and they’ll still shoot. They don’t care.”
Orlando police said they have deployed task forces to the complex, but those efforts usually last about 90 days because of law enforcement needs in other parts of the city.
Owners under scrutiny
The complex is owned by Memphis-based Global Ministries Foundation.
It owns other apartment complexes — all of which are low-income housing — in eight states, including Tennessee, Alabama and Florida, according to its website. The religious organization focuses on “planting” churches around the world and training ministers, according to the site.
It also has a separate 501-3(c) that owns apartments and receives millions from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
A report last month in the Memphis CommercialAppeal said Global Ministries is under investigation by the Office of Inspector General of HUD.
HUD declined to confirm or deny an investigation when contacted by The Orlando Sentinel.
According to the agency, Global Ministries received about $1.6 million last year in rent subsidies through Windsor Cove and $1.1 million this year.
The CEO, Rev. Richard Hamlet, did not respond to calls and emails for comment. The company Global Ministries hired to manage Windsor Cove, LEDIC Realty Company, also based in Memphis, also could not be reached for comment.
A team from HUD visited the complex in July and came up with a list of improvements that had to be made, said spokeswoman Gloria Shanahan. The complex is still working on those improvements, which include wood replacement, replacing stairwells and filling it potholes.
“Our primary concern is that people have a safe, healthy place to reside,” Shanahan said. “We continue to monitor the situation and we are in contact with the property owners and their on-site management.”
Rhodes said the owners have apologized and promised to fix the problems.
“They’re working earnestly now that they are running fines,” he said.