Extended-stay hotel residents told to relocate and then allowed to stay

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – People living at an extended-stay hotel on Pine Street in downtown Atlanta encountered some chaos and confusion after they received notice to relocate within three weeks because their building was being sold.

“It’s just heartless, it’s heartless,” resident Cedric Fuller said.

Fuller is one of many who said he was told by a group of security guards wearing tactical gear at the old Budgetel Inn that it was time to go.

“They scared them so bad. They had their guns, and they were telling them you’ve got to go. You have to leave and so they went by what they were saying from fear,” Fuller said.

Residents received a letter on their doors June 1 saying that the building that they were living in was being sold and they had 21 days to relocate.

“Every day they’re knocking on our door asking us when we’re going to get out telling us we need to be out by the next day by noon. They already turned off the TVs and took out the vending machines and everything,” Resident Debbie Benford said.

Atlanta News First learned that a company called 1st Place Hospitality issued the letters and brought in a team to help with relocating families. 1st Place said the prior owner, JDH, asked them to help with the transition.

“We have no keycard; we have nothing to enter our room. We have no access to our room anyway whatsoever,” Deasia Dailey said.

Several people living at the hotel complained about the transition and said that their keycards were deactivated, and they had to have security let them in their units.

It turns out, the new owners of the property said the residents were misled and that they are allowed to stay.

“We have no affiliation with that organization, we have no affiliation with the previous ownership,” Healthy Housing Foundation/AIDS Housing Foundation spokesperson Imara Canady said.

It prompted a meeting at the hotel on Tuesday with representatives from Atlanta Legal Aid, the Mayor’s Office and the new owners, the Healthy Housing Foundation which is affiliated with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

“We’re not in the business of displacing individuals, we are in the business of assuring there is truly affordable housing for every person,” Canady said.

Atlanta Legal Aid said they will be representing some of the residents who were told to leave. Plus, the owner of 1st Place Hospitality said he is willing to use every resource to move the residents that left back in within 24 hours.

JDH reached out to 1st Place and informed them that they were in the final stages of closing their property. They provided documentation which showed that their management team, through their on site property manager, had conveyed the closing to the guests over the last several months, in part of a pending sale.

First Place was allowed to be on property in an attempt to rehouse the guests who would have ordinarily been displaced.

June 21st was the timeline First Place was given by JDH and team members of First Place raced against the clock to get people rehoused. We utilized our properties to rehouse some Budgetel guests. We coordinated transportation, moving and hauling services, and helped guests develop a plan of action.

First place made clear, that we were not the owners and we were not involved in the purchase and sale of the property.

On June 9th, we surprisingly became aware that the property had been sold before the June 21st date and that ended our involvement because we had no knowledge of who the new owners are.

First Place has continued to work in the background with several guests we made contact with in an effort to ensure they are becoming stable again and have aided them with resources in that process.

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Furthermore, First Place and all of its properties are solely owned by Edward Fernandez. 1st Place is not affiliated with JDH, its partners, owners or shareholders in any way. First Place has purchased a property from JDH but it is not the property in question and JDH has no ownership interest whatsoever in that property.

Over 200 families were going to be displaced and made homeless as a result of the commercial real estate transaction that happened on 140 Pine Street. Both the purchaser and seller was aware of what they were causing. When I was contacted, I took the avenue provided as a means to alleviate that as much as possible. 200 families, mothers with children, elderly and disabled alike. I was not going to stand on the sidelines and allow it to happen. I did not and do not now own the property to evict anyone. I have never been involved until this situation arose where I saw that families were going to be discarded. My team never forced anyone to leave which is why there are still guests who remain. We simply blew the whistle extremely loud with the information that had been conveyed to us that the property was closing and we didn’t want anyone displaced as a result of it. We offered help in every way we could and this is documented. Our focus has always and will continue to be the people. And we are working around the clock to continue to improve things for those people.

I have no further comment- Edward Fernandez C.E.O. Of 1st Place

The Mayor’s Office said, “The Mayor’s Office recently became aware of a change of ownership at the location. The new owner held a meeting with residents and Atlanta Legal Aid today, which the Mayor’s Office also attended. We will continue to monitor the situation, and we appreciate ALA and other stakeholder’s commitment to ensuring an equitable outcome for residents.”

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