Residents of a West End highrise who have been held hostage by a busted elevator can expect more service disruptions unless the unit is replaced entirely, but the owner of the building allegedly refuses to pay for the necessary work, according to one company contacted for repairs.
Its bizarre. To me its just all bizarre, said Holly Ross, branch administrator with FujiTec Canada, one of several companies that have been approached to fix the elevator, which has been on the fritz for years.
Last summer, residents of the Hyperion, a 10-storey apartment building at 1222 Pendrell Street, were without a functioning elevator for two months. When the elevator conked out again three weeks ago, a concerned resident went to the media fearing another summer stranded in his 10th floor apartment with his ailing roommate.
Ross says her company was contacted to fix the elevator, but when they recommended the structure in the elevator be replaced entirely, the landlord allegedly balked at the cost and took his business elsewhere.
The farther we looked into it, it did seem like there needed to be more extensive work that needed to be done. We went back to the owners and indicated that to them and they were just like, oh no, said Ross. We indicated that we would want a full-on mod (modification) not just a repair.
Thats a very different story than the one building manager Hugo Wiebe gave to the Vancouver Sun last week. The paper paraphrased Wiebe as saying FujiTec could not determine what was wrong, so they gave up. Wiebe refused an interview request from WE.
But Ross is adamant FujiTec technicians were clear about the work that needed to be done, reiterating that the elevator in the 52-year-old building should have been replaced decades ago. Ross said the FujiTec representatives spoke several times with both Wiebe and the buildings owner, Joseph Wan, however Ross said she didnt know what the cost estimate for a new elevator would be. Wan could not be reached for comment.
Another company, ThyssenKrupp is now looking into repairing the elevator. Calls to that company were not returned by deadline.
The whole debacle has left Hyperion resident Ervin Jay fearing that he and his roommate, Marc Fiebig, are in for another summer like last year when Fiebig, 64, was virtually marooned in the penthouse flat they rent for more than $1,300 a month. Fiebig has multiple serious health problems, including Parkinsons disease and vertigo and has suffered four heart attacks that make negotiating the stairs nearly impossible. Both men report the elevator has only worked intermittently for years, and frequently stops working for days at a time.
Its just a repeat of last year, Jay said. A city inspector did contact him after his story hit the media last week, but Jay said hes not satisfied the city can do anything to help. He said theres really nothing they can do to force any issues.
Under the City of Vancouvers standards of maintenance bylaw, landlords are required to keep elevators in good working order at all times and failure to do so can result in fines or a court order. Wendy Stewart, head of corporate communications at the City of Vancouver, said staff have been in contact with the owner and are satisfied that they are making the best efforts to get the repairs done.
