As accusations mount against Millennia, the company says it will sell Serenity Towers

After years of what residents have described as hazardous living conditions, the company that manages Serenity at Highland, formerly known as Serenity Towers, plans to sell the property.

The company, Millennia Housing Companies, also manages 4 other federally subsidized housing complexes in Memphis. Of those five properties, two are a consistent presence in Memphis headlines — Serenity at Highland and Memphis Towers.

A third apartment complex managed by Millennia, Hope Heights Tower, also recently made headlines with residents frustrated with a lack of hot water and broken laundry facilities.

The problems described by residents of Millennia-managed properties range from a complete lack of hot water both at Memphis Towers and Hope Height to months without air conditioning during the summer or functioning elevators at Serenity.

At a tenants meeting in late September, The Commercial Appeal observed raw sewage bubbling up from the ground outside of the entrance for Memphis Towers. Residents there also say the company issues retaliatory evictions for residents who raise awareness about living conditions.

As residents seek accountability through organizing work with the Memphis Tenants Union and bureaucratic processes, Millennia representatives have filed in and out of environmental court.

The most significant admonishment the company has faced was when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development withheld $23 million in bonds meant for renovations because of the current conditions at Serenity Towers.

Arthur Krauer, the company's executive vice-president of compliance and community affairs, confirmed Wednesday during the Health, Education, and Housing Facility board meeting, that the company still plans to manage their four other Memphis properties.

Alex Uhlmann, an organizer with the tenants union said that while company representatives deny they will sell other Memphis properties, he's skeptical.

"What they say should be taken with a grain of salt," said Uhlmann. "They're only interested in making as much money as possible, nothing else."

Millennia disclosed to a Cleveland-based business publication in September that it plans to shed 33 properties from its portfolio in total, all located across the Southeast and in the states of Arkansas and Texas.

According to its website, the company manages 79 properties across the Southeast U.S. and in Arkansas and Texas.

In addition to Memphis, other similar organizing efforts against Millennia management have popped up in Atlanta. Nationally, the Millennia Resistance Campaign supports tenants who want to organize for accountability.

Millennia did not return multiple requests for comments.

Micaela Watts is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal covering healthcare, hospitals, resource access, and anything else that pops up. She can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Serenity Towers in Memphis to be sold and no longer part of Millennia