After six months of no elevator to carry mostly senior tenants up to their second and third floor apartments and down to the parking garage in the basement – the ongoing burden at Waneta Manor should soon be lifted.
Parts required to install a new elevator are finally on site at the Laburnum Drive apartment building and workers have begun the job, according to the head of property management.
Scott Ullrich, president of Gateway Property Management, provided this update to the Trail Times on Tuesday.
He didn’t yet have a completion date, but confirmed the work is now proceeding.
After a six-month wait, more tenants have moved out of the manor as they were unable to withstand the struggle of navigating the stairs through the heat wave and smoke that smothered the city in July.
“Even relatively new-to-the-building tenants have moved out citing the ‘worsening conditions,'” longtime tenant Ken Hill told the Times.
Many long-term renters like John Blizard have no other options, and toughing it out has been challenging as well as frustrating.
“I have been in hospital several times since we last spoke,” Blizard, a second floor tenant, told the Times. “And it wasn’t easy climbing those stairs.”
Wednesday morning, however, John emailed the Times with his own update.
“Things are looking up around here, all the material for the elevator is here and I saw it yesterday along with ladders, tools, machinery etc.,” he said.
“Forward we go.”
Read more: West Kootenay tenants stranded by broken elevator going on 3 months
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Read more: New elevator coming to Trail manor says head manager
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