Lowry Apartments placed into emergency receivership

Lowry Apartments was put into an emergency receivership on Tuesday after being left in a state of abject disrepair amid its looming foreclosure.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter announced on Monday that he would ask the Ramsey District Court to put the building into receivership, and the motion was approved on Tuesday.

Court documents show that Frauenshuh Inc. has been appointed as the receiver and would be effective immediately. Bring Me The News contacted its office for comment.

The receivership will remain in effect until the result of a sheriff's sale for the building on September 10.

Building owner Madison Equities confirmed the building's impending foreclosure on August 9, with many tenants learning of the move from the press.

This comes after multiple tenant complaints of unsafe and unsanitary living conditions over the past few months, including broken doors that have allowed strangers into the building and resulted in a series of police calls.

According to court documents , the Lowry apartments had mice and cockroach infestations, holes in the walls, and non-working elevators. Despite being promised these issues would be fixed, a tenant claims they never were. A court hearing for a rent escrow case concerning the building will be held on Thursday.

During Tuesday's press conference, a Lowry resident named Celia spoke about living in the building after having a Caesarean section in July and being forced to walk up and down the stairs due to a broken elevator.

"Since I've been living here since October of 2023, I've experienced a whole lot of heartbreaking, just stressful moments here," Celia said. "My kids have to pick up needles, pipes, and everything off the ground, and I'm just stressed out."

"They just turned their backs on 100 plus residents who lived here for money. To be clear: for money," said Mayor Melvin Carter on Tuesday. "They've accepted rent from and on behalf of over 100 tenants for months and refused to put those dollars back into this building.

Bring Me The News has contacted Madison Equities for comment but has not received a response.

Related: St. Paul mayor blasts Lowry Apartments owner for 'disgusting' living conditions