The latest problems, which have caused some residents to move out, come about 20 months after an 82-year-old tenant died in a fire in one of the apartments after smoking in bed.
That incident in February 2008 led to a court-ordered 24-hour-a-day fire watch at the property. A local judge ruled the safety regimen must continue until a sprinkler system is installed to comply with Metro ordinances.
The apartments' board of directors says it's searching for ways to raise $2.5 million for the sprinklers.
But after an average 53 percent rent increase a year ago, and an additional 6 percent hike last month, some tenants argue that the cost of efficiency, one- and two-bedroom apartments has gotten so expensive that they can no longer afford to live there.
Jon Rhea Bowers, 81, is among tenants who decided to move out. Bowers said she had lived at the apartments for eight years.
"I moved out about six weeks ago because of the poor management," she said.
"You can't imagine what a lovely place that was until they let it run down. Then they raised the rents supposedly to pay for the sprinklers, but still haven't put them in.
"It was nice and very conveniently located," Bowers said. "But it just went down so fast and so bad. A lot of people have moved out, and there are a number of others looking to move."
Rents strain budgetsAt the intersection of Hillsboro Circle and Abbott Martin Road, adjacent to The Mall at Green Hills, the 14-story, concrete-and-steel apartments were built in the early 1960s to provide low-cost retirement housing to retired female public school teachers.
The building was later opened to anyone age 62 or older with a maximum annual income of $35,400.
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