Seniors swelter without AC

BACK BAY ? Like many buildings along the coast of Southern California, Newport Beach’s highly touted Bayview Landing Senior Apartments was built without central air.

That likely wasn’t a problem when the affordable housing complex opened in January, but the recent heat wave has left senior residents complaining about 90-degree temperatures on the upper floors of the three-story buildings.

Now Bayview Landing’s management company is looking into upgrading air circulation in the building’s hallways, but some wonder why the issue wasn’t addressed before the facility at Back Bay Drive near Jamboree was built.

Several Bayview tenants have raised concerns about the heat, first to Newport Beach city officials and then to the Daily Pilot. Those who spoke with the Pilot declined to give their names, saying they feared repercussions from the building management.

Some tenants noticed a lack of ventilation and oxygen on the upper floors immediately after moving in, one 68-year-old female tenant said, but management hadn’t responded to concerns. On Sunday night her apartment was 91 degrees, she said.

“I think it’s dangerous when it’s a senior project,” she said. “There’s somebody on my floor that’s 91 years old, and we have to go check on him.”

Newport Beach community and economic development program manager Dan Trimble said the city received several calls about the heat at Bayview Landing and has discussed it with the developer, Related Management Co.

“It was designed and built with air conditioning only in the [recreation] center and the common areas,” said Tim Gamache, senior vice president of Related Management Co. “There’s air blowing in the hallways but it’s not air conditioned.”

Southern California’s hot spell is an anomaly, Gamache said, adding: “Typically in Newport Beach there’s zero need for air conditioning.”

Trimble said developers received a $1.5-million subsidy from the city to build the complex. The development includes 96 one-bedroom and 25 two-bedroom units. The rents, which are not subsidized, are calculated as a percentage of the area’s median income and range from $740 to $1,070.

There were several reasons the developer didn’t put in central air conditioning, Trimble said, but the key reason was that it would have driven up the cost of the apartments, making them less affordable.

Also, site constraints such as California Coastal Commission requirements and height restrictions made it difficult to fit building air conditioning units into the plans, he said.

A contractor has checked out the ventilation issues and is expected to recommend some options by the end of the week, Gamache said.

It hasn’t been a problem for Felicia Wiseman, 73, who has lived in one of the first-floor apartments since January.

“It’s been really hot, but I don’t know any place that isn’t really hot,” she said. “Lots of my friends got fans.”

Some apartments have ceiling fans in the dining rooms, but some residents said they’ve been told they can’t put air conditioning units in their rooms. Gamache said he’s not aware of any such requests.

Temperatures are expected to drop by the end of the week, so residents will have to sweat it out until then.

For some tenants at Bayview Landing, the solution has been to leave. At least two residents have apparently been staying with relatives at night to escape the heat at home.

“You would pay money not to sleep here in this heat,” one woman said.