The Leland House apartments in downtown Detroit remained without power or heat Friday after equipment failed and just days after it was threatened with a shutoff notice for delinquent electric bills.
Building management was ordered by a judge last week to pay a deposit for overdue DTE Energy electric bills by Monday to keep the lights on. Power went out on Wednesday and has not been restored.
The outage stemmed from “customer-owned equipment that cannot be accessed due to existing structural hazards inside the building,” said DTE spokesperson Dana St. Coeur.
Chelsea Neblett, Detroit’s chief of housing solutions and supportive services, said the failure occurred on Wednesday and that Detroit Fire Department crews responded immediately to assist and ensure all residents were safely exited.
About 40 tenants live in the building. Neblett said the evacuation was ordered by the Fire Marshal.
“Firefighters went door to door, floor to floor, working closely with building management to make sure everyone was out,” the statement said.
Luis Ramirez, president of Leland House Limited Partnership, which owns the building, told The News in a statement, “We recognize how difficult and upsetting the recent power outage has been for residents, especially for those who were forced to temporarily relocate.”
“Our team is actively assessing the full scope of the repairs needed to restore power to the building,” Ramirez added.
DTE is “working closely with the city to ensure impacted residents are safe and have access to temporary housing,” St. Coeur said.
“We feel for the residents of the Leland House and know how challenging these past few weeks have been,” St. Coeur said.
City officials said DTE is paying for the cost of temporary housing, while the city’s housing department helped tenants find a place to stay.
Moving forward, the city will pay for “move-in related costs such as security deposit and first month’s rent” if Leland House tenants want to move into new permanent housing, said Allison Derees, director of communications for the housing department.
Ramirez, the ownership group president, said, “The Detroit Fire Department, DTE Energy, and the City’s Housing and Revitalization Department played a critical role in helping residents secure temporary shelter and ensuring everyone’s safety.”
Last week, DTE said it would shut off power to the building over delinquent payments; the building’s operator told residents they needed to move out before Dec. 3.
Judge Maria Oxholm of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division ordered Leland’s management to pay a $57,000 deposit on its overdue bill by Monday. Oxholm is presiding over the building’s federal bankruptcy case.
Ryan Heilman, an attorney representing the Leland House Limited Partnership, which owns the building, confirmed in a bankruptcy hearing Thursday that the partnership paid the DTE deposit. The News accessed a recording of the hearing through federal court electronic records.
St. Coeur declined to comment on whether DTE received the electric bill deposit but said if it not for the current equipment issues, “power would be flowing” at the building.
“We’re prepared to restore service as soon as the building owner can make the necessary repairs and ensure a safe environment,” she said.
The 22-story building, built in 1927, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been cited by the city for code violations in the past.
In a 2022 lawsuit, the city called it “unfit for human habitation” after an inspection found standing water in the basement, unreliable heating, missing smoke detectors and only one functional elevator.
As a result of the lawsuit, Leland’s management agreed to bring the building up to code.
The Leland House Limited Partnership has managed the building since Mike Higgins, its former owner, died in 2023.
