‘It’s not fair’: Elevator problems continue at Lethbridge apartment building

Residents of the Skyline Terrace apartment building at 37 Berkeley Place W. in Lethbridge are sharing their concerns after months of elevator issues in the 15-storey building.

In February, Global News spoke with a resident who was stranded in his apartment when both of the building’s elevators were out of commission.

Now, months later, residents say the elevators are still not working to their full ability.

“When I started living here, there’s usually one down every other month,” Dillon Leneveu said on Tuesday morning. “Ever since the new year started, both of them have been down for most of the time.”

Leneveu, who resides five floors up, said while he doesn’t mind the trek when the elevators aren’t working, he knows it has been affecting many others in the building.

“I know a lot of people, especially on the higher floors, a lot of the older residents have been having a really hard time with it.”

For Cheryl Eagle Child, a longtime resident of the building, the inconsistency is frustrating. Her husband has rheumatoid arthritis and struggles with too much movement.

“He just went for a walk yesterday. When he came back, his hips are starting to fuse together, and then he was stuck,” she explained.

“It’s not fair for all of us.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's not fair for all of us."

Eagle Child told Global News that as of Tuesday morning, one elevator wasn’t operational at all while the other took 15 minutes to arrive.

“It goes all the way to the (top) floor, then stops every floor, every floor, and I can’t wait,” she explained.

1:47 Fire crews called to blaze at West End high-rise

Global News reached out to the building’s management company for comment but Northview Canadian High Yield Residential Fund did not return our request.

In an email sent to Eagle Child on Monday, Northview said: “We apologize for the elevators being down over the weekend. The local elevator technicians were not able to do the repairs needed to get the elevator operational.”

“They have requested a specialized elevator crew to come today from Calgary,” it said.

In a statement from the TK Elevator Corporation on Tuesday, the company explained one elevator is being worked on but did not give a timeline as to when it will be up and running again.

“We returned the one active elevator to service at approximately 1 p.m. MST today while the other elevator remains shut down for a modernization. We remain in close contact with the customer,” the statement said.

Eagle Child believes the building’s management should offer some kind of rent support until the elevators are permanently fixed because safety is a major concern of hers.

“It’s part of the package, you know?” she said. “Elevator access — (they’re) supposed to have that available for everyone.”