top
East Bay
East Bay
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Mass Evictions At Oakland's Empyrean Towers

by Lynda Carson (tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com )
The Empyrean Towers located downtown Oakland at 344 13th Street used to be known as the Hotel Menlo and was owned by wealthy millionaire Tiburon resident Richard Singer. Singer landed in prison a few years ago after getting caught by the FBI in a sting operation for trying to hire an arsonist to burn down the occupied hotel as part of an insurance scam.

Mass Evictions At Oakland's Empyrean Towers

By Lynda Carson -- November 14, 2014

Oakland -- Many of the residents of Empyrean Towers are being bullied and tossed out of their housing with eviction notices served by the management company called Innovistech Realty Co.

The Empyrean Towers located downtown Oakland at 344 13th Street used to be known as the Hotel Menlo and was owned by wealthy millionaire Tiburon resident Richard Singer. Singer landed in prison a few years ago after getting caught by the FBI in a sting operation for trying to hire an arsonist to burn down the occupied hotel as part of an insurance scam.

During August of 2011, Singer was sentenced to 27 months in prison, was fined $60,000 and received three years probation after his release from prison for the attempted arson scam. It was an employee of Singer named Samuel Manning who worked with the FBI in a sting operation to nail Singer for the arson scam, after Manning faced charges for embezzling the Girl Scouts out of more than $50,000. Manning sought reduced charges against himself in return for helping the feds go after Singer for the arson scam.

Before going to prison building owner Richard Singer and the company that used to manage the hotel known as RMD Services were also sued by many of the residents because of slum-like conditions at the hotel. Singer has already been released from prison for the arson scam, and is back in business buying and selling properties.

Fast forward a few years later, and the Hotel Menlo has allegedly been renovated in the past few years, was renamed the Empyrean Towers and the owner/managers have been renting out rooms for $79.00 a night to a variety of people from all walks of life.

Others reside there as full time month to month residents, and according to tenants facing eviction it is the long term month to month tenants that are being run out of the building with evictions recently. Perhaps 20 residents or more have been facing eviction after a fire occurred in the building last July from a lit cigarette, according to the tenants in the building.

Additionally, according to public records it also appears that Richard Singer is still the owner of the property and has partnered with real estate broker Alice Tse as partners to own and manage the building through Empyrean Towers LLC, and Innovistech Realty Co.

As a real estate broker Alice Tse has been buying properties for Singer for a number of years and she called me a few times back around the beginning of 2014.

Over the phone Alice Tse stated a few times that she was buying properties for Singer, and that she was very concerned about Singer's activities at times. Then on Feb. 21, 2014, I received a strange email from Alice Tse (alicetsesf [at] gmail.com) that said, "I have a new fraud case committed by Richard Singer who attempted to burn down the Menlo. Please call me at 650/526-2968 -- Alice." I tried calling a few times but Alice did not respond to my call, and I wondered what happened. Only lately did I learn that she is partners at the Empyrean Towers with Richard Singer.

Tenants Don Fisher and Maria Anast moved into the Empyrean Towers on December 16, 2013 after being hit by hard times in a tough economy. They lost their footing in the world of the middle class in America, and moved from San Francisco to Oakland for cheaper housing.

Now they are both on a fixed income, are very poor and receive around $300 a month each from general assistance. They also receive food stamp assistance to help get by. But by the third week of the month, they are both pretty much broke and are getting hungry. "We only get around $4 dollars a day to live on from food stamps and thats not nearly enough to survive in Oakland," said Maria.

They live in a small room with a bed, a TV, small refridgerator, microwave and a hot plate. They are lucky enough to have their own bathroom in comparison to many others who have shared bathrooms in the old seven story building.

"Life is very hard on us now, and we do not feel safe living in this building. There are drug dealers, crack heads, and prostitutes living on the upper floors. The cops are here all the time. The locks are flimsy on our doors, and we keep a baseball bat handy just in case someone breaks our door down to enter our apartment. There is no heat. They do not allow the tenants to use the elevator. The building has bed bugs, rats, and is loaded with flies and nats from the garbage piled up at the property. Our toilet does not work, the shower barely drips any water out of it when we try to take a shower, and the building lacks smoke detectors in most of the apartments," Maria and Don both explained in exasperated tones.

"We have been good tenants since moving in, are quiet, have payed our rent on time and we were SHOCKED to find an eviction notice posted on our door recently after management refused to accept our rent anymore," they said.

Don and Maria filed a response as a way to fight against the eviction, and they need to find an attorney. Others facing eviction from the Empyrean Towers have sought assistance at the Eviction Defense Center near 16th and Telegraph Ave.

Don and Maria said, "Around 20 people or more are facing eviction recently because management wants to bring in higher income tenants willing to pay $79.00 a night to stay at this building."

Don used to be an officer in the Navy, and worked in the tech industry for years after getting out of the Navy. Maria spent many years happily working in the hospitality industry. They are in their 50s, and they raised two kids who became adults including a son who entered the Navy recently, and a daughter who lives in Santa Cruz.

"We don't know what we will do if we get evicted," said Maria. "We are thinking about buying a van but we are too broke to do so. We are also thinking about buying a tent if we lose our housing but, we do not know where people camp out when they are made homeless in Oakland,'' Maria said.

Management at Empyrean Towers did not respond to my request for information about the evictions taking place at the hotel. The phone number for Innovistech Realty Co., reached the Sweden Hotel in San Francisco and they say that Alice Tse sold the property. And during a call to Patricia Singer, Richard Singers wife, she stated that she is divorced from Richard and does not want to comment on his activities regarding Empyrean Towers. She also declined to pass on his phone number. Eviction attorney Johanna Kwasniewski stated that she had no comment regarding my many questions about 20 tenants or more allegedly facing eviction. Then she reconsidered and said that she would contact Empyrean Towers LLC to see if she were allowed to make any comments.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com

Add Your Comments
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network