Senior home residents given time to move

Friday, Jan. 30, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

The troubled Bel Aire West senior apartments will close -- but not right away.

A representative of the property's owner said Thursday the two dozen seniors currently living in the facility at 8630 W. Nevso Drive, off South Durango Drive, will have time to find a new place to live.

In response, a number of the elderly residents say the place that opened as a luxury retirement resort nearly four years ago has gone so far downhill they can hardly wait to move out. And some say way too much was made of the kitchen staff walking out on them Tuesday night over a pay issue.

"We've been through the Depression and World War II -- what do you think we are, a bunch of sissies?" said 85-year-old Maryanne Daniels, a Las Vegas resident of 30 years who sold her house 14 months ago to move to Bel Aire West. "It was no big deal. I'll be leaving within a week."

The residents of the two-story, 162-room complex had been paying rent on a month-to-month basis, with rents ranging from $1,695 to $2,100 for one- and two-bedroom units.

Daniels said she is moving to the independent living section of the Carefree retirement home in Las Vegas, which, in the wake of the staff walkout, offered Bel Aire West seniors a month's free rent.

Of the 34 senior residents at the facility Tuesday night, three were sent to assisted living centers after evaluation by officials of the Nevada Bureau of Licensure Certification. Another eight had moved out or were in the process of moving out Thursday, Herman said.

A woman, who identified herself only as a friend of a 91-year-old resident at Bel Aire West, said a number of issues remain unresolved, including the procedure for returning security deposits, of which her friend is owed $2,095.

"This place has been going downhill for six months," the woman said.

Gloria Rubin, 79, a charter resident of Bel Aire West, echoed that sentiment.

"It was wonderful when I moved in, then the food really deteriorated over a period of time," she said. "First they stopped serving us a glass of wine with dinner. Then they stopped serving us ice cream. And then they took away our Cream of Wheat -- Cream of Wheat is very important to us seniors.

"As long as they help me pack, I'll be glad to leave."

Bel Aire West residents and their families said one of their biggest complaints about the facility was that it was renting rooms to tourists, a move, they say compromised security for the elderly tenants.

Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa said if the management company or the owner of the property were operating it as a hotel that would be a violation of the business license that limited the use to apartment housing. He said it is something the county is looking into.

In the meantime, the 23 jobs that had existed at the complex are now history.

Among the Bel Aire West staff members laid off as of today were front desk receptionist Helene Tapp and her husband Ed, whose job was to drive senior residents to doctors and to other appointments. While other employees had walked out over lack of pay Tuesday night, the Tapps had remained at their posts to help the seniors.

"The writing has long been on the wall that this place was going to close," Helene Tapp said, noting she will return to her previous stay-at-home job of account executive for Alva Advertising Specialities.

Ed Tapp, who was hired in October, said, "I sensed something was wrong in the middle of December" -- weeks before J & S Development took over as management team. He was among the numerous employees and residents who said they had been told J & S was buying Bel Aire West.

But Sean Spiegelman, representative for Senior Congregate Facility, the building's owner, said Thursday J & S Development had only been managing the complex. He said J & S has now been fired. and replaced by Don Herman, operator of the Willow Creek assisted living centers in Las Vegas.

Herman was among the several representatives of other assisted living centers who rushed over to Bel Aire West after learning that most of Bel Aire's staff had walked out Tuesday night because they were fed up with not being paid.

Spiegelman said J & S was to blame for the problems at the facility. But at a news conference Thursday, he had no answer to reporters' questions about why Bel Aire West's county business license was not renewed last May by the company that had managed the complex prior to J & S and why units allegedly were being marketed as hotel rooms to tourists before December.

County officials confirmed Thursday that Bel Aire West's business license expired May 31 and that the company owed the county $800 in unpaid fees.

Spiegelman said J & S was hired in December to replace ZCS Management, which he said was the only prior management company to run the place.

ZCS Management, according to the Secretary of State's office, is a Nevada corporation whose sole officer is Clifton Daniel Singleton of West Melbourne, Fla.

Attempts to reach Singleton for comment were unsuccessful. Singleton had an unlisted phone number at the address he put on his corporation papers and there was no phone listing for his company in that city, a phone company information operator said.

Attempts to reach a local J & S Development representative were unsuccessful.

According to Nevada Secretary of State corporation records online, Ken Richardson of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is the sole officer of Senior Congregate Facility, which owns the property.

Spiegelman said whatever happened under the old management teams will be rectified by Richardson. He said he was unaware that the county business license had not been renewed, that rooms were being rented out to tourists and that employees were not being paid.

He said Richardson's company owns a large number of properties and that they rely on local management teams to tend to such day-to-day matters.

"We had no idea what was going on," Spiegelman said.

Spiegelman said that while Senior Congregate Facility had received some letters of complaints, they were typical landlord-tenant matters that did not rise to the level that warranted a personal inspection from his office, until Tuesday's incident.

"That's why we're here now," Spiegelman said, noting "it was horrible" that the needs of the residents were not being met.

"We did not want the residents to be put under any duress," he said.

Spiegelman said paychecks for the 23 employees of the ousted management team were to be available at Bel Aire West today at 1 p.m.

He indicated the firm intends to pay the county for renewal of the business license and unpaid fees.

He also said Richardson will keep the phone, lights and other utilities in operation until the building closes.

"He will meet all obligations," Spiegelman said.

Spiegelman said his company will wait until after the building closes to assess the property's future. He declined to guess how long that may take.

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