Elderly residents booted as complex closes down

Moving vans lined the parking lot at The Retreat at Santa Rita Springs on Friday after residents were given 24 hours notice that they’d have to move out of their homes because the owners were out of money.

Social service agencies and Pima County Sheriff’s deputies converged on the 196-unit luxury retirement village to ensure its 12 residents had places to go and the help to get there.

“I thought I’d spend the rest of my life here,” said David Szidon, 85, who was The Retreat’s first tenant when he moved there in January. “We’re devastated.”

Szidon and several other residents planned to move to Tucson while others made arrangement to stay with friends or family.

Watermark Communities, the management company for The Retreat, terminated its contract with the owners on Nov. 6 after it was not paid. It fired about a dozen workers, including chefs, security workers and administrators who residents said they had come to love like family. Residents were told by the owners two hours later that efforts were being made to keep the complex open, but that there were no guarantees.

Owners then hired MEB Management in Tucson on a one-week contract that ended at 5 p.m. Friday, according to MEB District Manager Wendy Capullo.

It appears MEB was brought in to close down the complex; Capullo said her company was not kept informed about efforts to keep The Retreat in operation.

Eddie Leon and Mike Naifeh, two of 10 investors in the project, would not answer questions Friday and referred calls to their Tucson attorney, Scott Gibson.

“We’ve been requesting that the lender (Red Mortgage) step up and appoint a receiver — a property manager - to keep it operating,” Gibson said Friday, which he said would have allowed residents to stay. “I just don’t think we have enough time left to wait.”

The mortgage company had not contacted Gibson by Friday and residents said MEB offered no concrete information about whether they would be locked out of their homes or have water and electricity after 5 p.m.

Gibson blamed Watermark for the failure of the complex, which had been unable to attract residents in a tough economy.

“I think the manager wasn’t doing their job. That’s just an assumption on my part,” he said, adding he didn’t understand why other retirement communities were doing well in Green Valley while The Retreat flailed.

Residents hurt, confused

It was an emotional scene Friday in The Retreat’s common recreation area and inside apartments with some residents weeping as others looked out their windows for moving vans and family to arrive.

“It’s heart-rending,” said Georgia Ryder, 88, as she sat in her bathroom packing a box.

“I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to friends I’ve had for 25 years,” she added, breaking into tears.

Down the hall, Waunita Swetnam, 88, sat on a couch as her son, Bruce, and granddaughter made calls and tried to get answers.

“They’ve offered no help,” Bruce Swetnam said of MEB. “All we’ve heard is rumors.”

Virginia Klein, whose husband and son died in September, was scheduled to move back to California later this month and had to pay a moving company an extra $500 to change the date.

“I’m by myself and have no help,” said Klein, who is almost 90 and has trouble walking. “But I’m a lot better off than most of them.”

Klein said she stayed up till midnight Thursday packing after getting the 24-hour notice to move, and then got up at 4 a.m. to continue.

“They (MEB) have not called me or asked if they can help me in any way,” she said.

Gibson, the attorney for The Retreat, said it was “my understanding was that they (tenants) were offered their costs to help them pay to move,” but residents said they had received nothing and didn’t know if they would be refunded rent and security deposits.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Office turned up mid-morning “to make sure residents have a place to go,” according to one deputy. He told them electricity would be turned off Tuesday.

However, David Young, who owns a salon at The Retreat with his wife, Annette, said power was gone by Saturday, doors were locked and a security guard was posted on the property off the East Frontage Road about a mile south of Continental Road.

The Youngs signed a three-year contract with the owners and opened in October. The shop was a promise kept to residents, who’d been told all year that they’d be getting a beauty salon.

But for Annette Young, who draws clients from all over Green Valley, the move went sour.

The couple spent Friday night tearing down the shop that they’d just put $10,000 into, and now are looking to buy a building of their own. Earlier Friday, Annette continued to serve clients and vowed to remain, though she’d been told the doors would be locked.

Gibson, the attorney, called the Youngs’ situation, “A consequence of the circumstance.”

As word spread Friday, helping hands from Green Valley Assistance Services and the Pima Council on Aging flocked to The Retreat in force to make sure residents were taken care of.

Chris Kang, GVAS executive director, was relieved to see the need wasn’t as big as it could have been.

“We came thinking we’d have about 20 tenants to place,” she said, adding there was just one as of Friday. “The food bank has me stocked. Loved ones have flown out. Families and the community have mobilized.”

Calls were made to the state Attorney General’s Office, the governor’s Southern Arizona office and the office of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Several Watermark employees laid off a week ago also showed up to be sure residents they had befriended were being taken care of.

“We’re sick about it,” Pat Strong said.