Charleston students at SkyGardens apartments face days of water, power outages

CHARLESTON , S.C. (WCIV) — After days of uncertainty over whether they would have running water or electricity, residents at SkyGardens Apartments in downtown Charleston say they are fed up and some are preparing to move out.

SkyGardens is a popular residence for students at the College of Charleston. Residents said they have dealt with ongoing problems for months, but a pipe burst and flooding last week escalated the situation, followed by extended outages and what they described as limited communication from management.

Emails from the apartment messaging system said water pressure was reduced on Wednesday, March 11th, to conduct repairs. Residents said that turned into all water being turned off for more than 24 hours starting Thursday morning.

Thursday night, students woke up to fire alarms as a pipe burst began flooding parts of the building, and one of the building’s two elevators was shut down.

Addie Johnson, a resident, said her unit flooded as the result of the pipe burst on Thursday night, “We had about two inches of sitting water just throughout the building and on our carpets.” Johnson said residents struggled to get help. “We couldn’t get a hold of anybody in management or anybody in maintenance to help clean up the issue,” she said.

Eleanor O’Leary, another resident, said the conditions in her unit have become unlivable. “And now our room is just full of moisture, and all of our carpets are soaked. We can’t live there. We can’t live in it anymore,” O’Leary said. She added, “We’re paying $2,000 a month, and we can’t even live in our apartment.”

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The building then lost power on Friday, and it did not come back on until late Saturday night, residents said. They said they hoped the situation had stabilized, but water and power were temporarily shut off again Tuesday.

With conditions in the building uncertain, residents said many have spent the past couple of days in hotel rooms at their own expense.

“We’ve had to stay somewhere else,” Johnson said, adding that while she has family nearby, others do not. She said the apartment’s proposed hotel option created additional challenges. “They offered a hotel for $109 per night, but it’s 20 minutes away, and a lot of people don’t have cars here, so it’s been kind of affecting our personal lives,” Johnson said. “Like, not being able to focus in class, ’cause we’re worried about coming back to no power, where we’re gonna sleep next.”

Mia Konstantinakos said residents were frustrated by what they viewed as limited support. “They’re not even providing the hotel, no vouchers, no ride vouchers.”

Grace Porcaro said residents have also struggled to contact management, “If we call them, no one answers, just like an AI agent,” Porcaro said. “And if we go to the leasing office, no one talks to us because no one’s there.”

Residents said the problems did not start with last week’s flooding. Sophia Fiuza said, “Since the first day we got here, we were already facing problems with plumbing.”

Johnson said, “We haven’t had hot water for about four months now.”

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Porcaro said, “We had plastic bags over our vents for about three months in the middle of the school year,” and added, “Our dishwasher’s been broken for the past two months.”

The apartment sent a message to students Tuesday afternoon saying water and electricity had been restored, and that units will be assessed starting Wednesday to determine whether residents will receive compensation and how much.

Some residents said they are skeptical. “I mean, they say things a lot and it just doesn’t happen,” said Brantlee Saxon. “They don’t actually follow through.” Saxon said, “I’m definitely moving out, but the option I have is not any cheaper at all. It’s way more expensive than this.”

Porcaro added, “I thought this was a very good deal, but I’m not getting my money’s worth, that’s for sure.”

SkyGardens management was contacted for comment, but no response was received.