FORT MYERS, Fla. — A constantly broken elevator is one several issues that one person living at a Fort Myers apartment complex said is causing him to move out.
“This is what I thought was the most amazing view in Fort Myers, Florida and it is,” said David Charron, gesturing to the view on his apartment balcony. “But everything else about this nightmare community, Harbor Grand, has forced me to leave.”
One year after Fox 4 first reported on it residents at a Fort Myers apartment complex tell community corespondent Stephen Pimpo they are still having problems:
Charron said he expected a luxury apartment when he moved into the Harbor Grand in Fort Myers in 2023. Instead, he said it’s been one problem after the other, especially when it comes to elevators constantly breaking down.
“We had elevator malfunctions probably 15-plus times where one car was down, the next car was down,” Charron said. “But then there were two instances (in 2024) where both down in the south tower and I was forced to climb these stairs to the 25th floor, which is 400 stairs.”
Charron said he eventually had to stay in a hotel because of how hard it was to climb all those stairs.
“By the time I would get to the 25th floor, I truly thought that I was going to have a heart attack and I was going to have to call 911,” he said.
It was during that summer of 2024 that Fox 4 first started investigating Harbor Grand apartments. The elevators were fixed after that but Charron said that as of late April, one of the elevators has not worked for close to 40 days.
“And I truly have stress every single day, knowing that that overused one elevator that’s been going on for 40 days, is going to break,” Charron said.
The constant elevator disfunction is just one of several city code enforcement violations Harbor Grand is facing, including issues with electrical pannels and door locks.
Below are the violations from the City of Fort Myers:
"All sorts of code enforcement issues and they just don’t get fixed,” Charron said. So the sauna is still broke, the hot tub is still broke.”
The Fort Myers Fire Department also cited Harbor Grand in March after finding that many smoke alarms in units were either taken down, had batteries taken out, or were told they weren't working.
Charron said he has reached out to both Harbor Grand ownership Westside Capital Group and property management company Casenta for answers but they did not respond. Fox 4 reached out to them about the issues at Harbor Grand as well, but also got no answer.
“I believe honestly, at this point, the city of Fort Myers needs to get involved,” Charron said.
The Fort Myers Code Enforcement Board has issued Harbor Grand ownership a notice to appear at a repeat offender hearing on Thursday.
But Charron said there has already been a mass exodus of people leaving the apartment complex.
“It’s somewhere where no one wants to live anymore,” he said.
