S***storm: UM Cloisters residents back in hotels after sewage backup

Something stinks at the Cloisters.

That’s because sewage has been backing up into apartments at the student housing complex since Landmark Properties moved residents in last Friday. Aside from the sewage, University of Miami student residents and their families have reported issues with water quality, dysfunctional air conditioning, missing locks and window covers, and leaking roofs, among a litany of other complaints. A Cloisters representative told one parent they have received more than 400 work orders this week alone, according to text messages reviewed by The Real Deal. 

Photos provided to TRD confirm the sewage backup, which was also confirmed by a Miami-Dade County representative.

After county inspectors spent two days on site, some students are being forced to move out of their units and return to the hotel rooms they lived in for a month, awaiting construction to be completed. 

It marks another messy chapter in the Cloisters saga. 

Lorna Mejia-Lopez, a public engagement representative for Miami-Dade County, said a slew of complaints from residents and families caught the building department’s attention on Monday. 

“Following inspections and following a meeting with the project managers for the site, they came up with a list of items that need to be looked at and addressed,” she said. The full list of required fixes has yet to be released. 

University of Miami students were supposed to move into the housing complex at 5830 and 5840 Southwest 57th Avenue on Aug. 18. Landmark alerted its tenants on Aug. 13 of an “unexpected and unfortunate delay” in construction of the project, which includes 36 new-construction townhouses and 81 renovated apartment units, for a total of 296 bedrooms in the complex. 

Since then, students and parents have taken to a Facebook group, the UM Cloister Cluster, to air grievances and share information. 

The townhouses received a temporary certificate of approval in early September, and residents of those units were able to move in the first weekend of the month. Apartment tenants were told they’d be able to move in Sept. 15 — only for inspections to fall through at the 11th hour. Then, on Wednesday, Sept. 19, Landmark informed residents they’d be able to move in starting at 7:00 a.m. that Friday.

On Sunday, Cloisters resident Kayla Collinson shared a photo to the UM Cloister Cluster group. It showed a bathtub full of poop.

“This is my friend’s apartment right now. Called every Cloisters number and emergency maintenance multiple times,” she wrote. “We don’t know what to do.”

On Thursday, residents of the first floor apartments in the complex’s Building 1 received calls to vacate their apartments. Landmark would put them up in hotel rooms again, saying the repairs would be completed and they could return by Oct. 4. 

Those remaining are still concerned about their water quality, however. Allan Friedman, a parent of a Cloisters resident, said his daughter is bringing in her own drinking water to the apartment.

“The water is just unusable,” he said. “As a parent, I spent $2,950 a month in rent there…. Now we’re in this mess.”

Landmark responded to a request for comment with a statement, saying the health and safety of its residents is its “top priority,” and it is addressing work orders as quickly as possible. It confirmed that it is offering “alternative accommodations” if it cannot immediately resolve issues that “impact habitability.” 

Miami-Dade officials confirmed in a statement that the final inspections at the Cloisters prior to move-in were conducted by a private provider, Universal Engineering Sciences. The county is now conducting a full audit of the firm’s inspection of the Cloisters.

The county also confirmed the contractor is required to clear the blockage and video sewage lines, and any additional issues uncovered will require further permitting and inspection.

The original apartment building was built in 1965, records show. Landmark bought the development site in December 2021 for $23.3 million. Records show the developer filed a notice of commencement with the county in February 2022, with BDI Construction as the general contractor. Plans for the property’s landscaping were filed in July, and approved Aug. 15, according to county planning documents. 

For some families, the delays and treatment by Landmark have been too much to bear, and they want out. Dozens of families have enlisted local attorney Jacqueline Salcines to help them break the 56-page leases they signed with Landmark.

Landmark is a Goliath in the student housing market. The firm, led by co-founders J. Wesley Rogers and James B. Whitley, has $11 billion in assets under management, according to its website, and is one of the largest student housing developers in the country. Landmark also has another 400-unit, eight-story student housing tower planned in Coral Gables. 

Following a meeting with Landmark’s attorneys earlier this week, Salcines confirmed the developer plans to hold tenants and their guarantors accountable for the full value of their leases.

“I’ve never honestly seen anything this egregious,” Salcines said. “It’s just really sad all around.”