Metcap Out As Managers Of 500 Block In Spryfield
HALIFAX–The controversial third-party management company MetCap Living is no longer operating a string of buildings in Spryfield, commonly referred to as the 500 Block.
Written notices went up February 1 notifying tenants that the eight properties along Herring Cove Road will now be directly managed by Vida Living, which owns the buildings.
The 500 Block made news in 2021 after tenants staged a large protest against MetCap, claiming the company was ignoring requests to fix urgent issues like rotten floors, holes in ceilings, broken doors, and infestations.
One resident, speaking to Huddle last year, said living in the buildings was the worst experience of her life.
Vida took over ownership of the 500 block buildings in July, a few months after the protests, but kept MetCap on while it ramped up staffing. Now that VIDA’s office staff has grown from 6 to 21, the company feels it’s ready for the transition.
Huddle spoke to MetCap’s VP of operations, Michael Guyette, about the decision. Guyette said he didn’t believe resident complaints had any impact on the decision.
“This is just the normal ebb and flow of this industry,” he said. “As a third-party manager you’re always taking on and losing properties based on purchase of sales.”
“We took over two properties in Toronto today, we lost some in Halifax today. It changes all the time.”
Ron Lovett, Vida Living’s owner, said that’s not entirely true. Although Vida always planned to self-manage the 500 block, customer complaints did play a role in the timing.
“We certainly had a handful of customer complaints. So, yeah, I think hearing your customers complain and you not being able to directly impact what’s going on day-to-day, that certainly comes into our decision,” he said.
“If the customer said, ‘oh my God, we’re having such a great experience,’ we probably wouldn’t have taken over so early.”
Guyette defends MetCap’s management of the 500 Block buildings. He says the company didn’t fix building issues prior to the protest because it wasn’t made aware of the problems.
“A lot of those things they identified were first-time things,” he claimed. “We just addressed the issues as they were raised to us; no different than any other time.”
“If we don’t know there’s an issue, we can’t address it.”
Lovett said tenants can now expect a more community-oriented management style. He wants to work with residents to find solutions to their problems. His goal is to “flip the coin” on the narrative surrounding the block.
“I grew up around Armdale and hung out in Spryfield a lot. I used to spend time in the 500 block. And we have an uphill battle, we know that; there’s lots of challenges.”
“Why not put 500 block on the map and get some media attention for being an excellent community that has people with dignity living there and proud of where they live?”
One initiative VIDA has started is hiring 11 “building ambassadors.” These are people who live in the apartment complexes and will serve as a link between tenants and owners. People chosen to be ambassadors will also receive a discount on their rent.
“Instead of having one resident manager manage 225 units there’s going to be 11 [ambassadors] doing that,” said Lovett. “We give our building ambassadors autonomy to make decisions-and quickly.”
RELATED: How Ron Lovett Plans To ‘Transform’ 1,000 Affordable Housing Units In N.S., N.B.
Lovett is also offering tenants the possibility to be involved in improving the buildings if they have the right skills. This way, they can be an active part of the solution and make some extra money on the side.
“If you’re a painter, we want you to paint units, if you’re a landscaper we want you to landscaper… we want to tap into those skills,” Lovett says.
As for MetCap, the company isn’t entirely out of the neighbourhood yet. Guyette says there are two buildings in the area, not currently owned by Vida, MetCap still manages.
Guyette even mentioned that MetCap would welcome a second chance at managing those buildings.
“I wish Vida well. They’re nice buildings, it’s a nice area. I’m from [Halifax] myself…and the people there are good as well,” he said. “If Vida sells the properties down the road, we’d love to manage them again.”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].
February 2, 2022 @ 9:47 pm
Go to any apartment in the buildings in question, and ask how responsive Metcap was to the requests for repairs. I bet dines to dollars that not one will have anything positive to say about Metcap. From their non- staffed offices during office hours, to games of not providing the residence their copy of work orders and not finishing jobs, etc. The list is long, so no amount of spin by alternative facts management of Metcap.
October 30, 2022 @ 2:21 am
I witnessed first hand how things went more downhill in the 500 block after Metcap took over fr Atlantic Living. I was at 538 Herring Cove Road and after two years of submitting requests for bedbugs and many other issues I left this cesspool. I know people were letting Metcap know but were being ignored they just want to place the blame anywhere but themselves. Despicable!!!