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250 St. Pete seniors remain displaced two months after apartment building evacuated

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Published  February 7, 2025 10:27pm EST
St. Petersburg
FOX 13 News

Residents still out of their homes after fire

Genevieve Curtis reports.

The Brief

    • More than 200 seniors are still waiting to return to their homes after the Lutheran Apartment building in St. Pete was evacuated.
    • A fire in the electric room a week before Christmas left the building without power and water.
    • Since then, the seniors have been bounced around to different hotels.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - More than 200 seniors still have not returned to the Lutheran Apartments after being evacuated from the building a week before Christmas. Initially, they were told they would only be displaced for two weeks, but now, it's looking like it will be nine weeks. 

Local perspective:

Liz Klier, 90, is one of the displaced seniors, who has been out of her home for the last two months. She had to be taken out of the apartment on a stretcher when the building was evacuated after a fire in the electric room left the building without power and water. 

RELATED: More than 250 seniors displaced from St. Pete apartment building still waiting to return

"They were not prepared for this emergency. And that's frightening. If there had been a [bigger] fire, I don't know what we would have done," she said. 

Since December 17, 2024, those displaced 250 seniors have been bounced around from hotel to hotel. For one of those months, Klier said she was in a roach infested motel in Tampa, before being moved to the Holiday Inn in St. Petersburg. 

"It was horrible. Horrible," she said. 

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The other side:

Building management said the repairs to the old electric system have taken longer than expected.

What they're saying:

"A lot of the equipment there is old, is my understanding, but we are old too, right? I can't find parts anymore for myself. You know, they're outdated," said Jeff Claus, another Lutheran Apartments resident.

Residents left with whatever they could carry and have not been able to get any of their things since.

"We were given one hour to pack like one suitcase that we could personally or most of us are. All of us are over 65. Most of us are disabled," said Claus.

PREVIOUS: 250 seniors evacuated from apartments after fire at 16-story downtown St. Pete building

What's next:

Building management said they are expecting to get everyone moved back in by the end of next week. 

On Friday, a sign on the door to the building still deems it uninhabitable. Christmas lights could be seen flashing from the windows, a bright reminder of the holidays residents prepared to celebrate in their homes, before being forced out.

The lights will still be on when they return, which may very well feel like Christmas morning, after all.

The Source: The information in this story was gathered through interviews with residents, information from building management and previous reports from FOX 13's Genevieve Curtis. 

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