Amid further delays in Independence Towers sale, tenants remain doubtful
As a Jackson County judge continues to debate the potential sale of Independence Towers after a year-long receivership, tenants remain worried that they will not be heard — or protected — by the terms of the sale.
Trigild Inc., a San Diego-based company which Judge Charles McKenzie appointed as the receiver of the troubled apartment building at 728 N Jennings Road in May 2024, filed a motion in March requesting that the court approve the sale of the building to PG Independence Towers LLC for $2.8 million.
PG Independence Towers LLC is an Indiana-based shell company linked to Dynasty Properties Inc., an Illinois corporation owned by Vijai Ponnezhan, according to court records. Dynasty’s application to purchase Independence Towers was one of seven similar applications, according to court documents.
As McKenzie questioned Trigild Vice President Nancy Daniels Friday, about 20 Independence Towers tenants and supporters lingered in the courtroom, hoping they would be allowed to speak despite not being a legal party to the sale.
McKenzie declined to make a final call on the proposed sale Friday, waiting to review a final report from Trigild. Before closing the hearing, he addressed tenants directly, declining on the basis of court protocol to let them speak but vowing to keep their interests in mind.
“I am not ignoring anybody, and I am not ignoring any circumstances,” McKenzie said, addressing the courtroom gallery. “I am cognizant of the issues.”
Tenants, however, worry that Friday’s hearing signals that McKenzie will not include additional protections — such as mandates to speak with tenants or renew existing leases — in the final sale agreement for Independence Towers.
“Whether it’s a legally binding agreement or not, tenants should be afforded an opportunity to at least meet and ideally negotiate a lease agreement that protects tenants when the sale happens,” Independence Towers resident and organizer Anna Heetmann told The Star. “Tenants should be involved, and the law doesn’t afford us an opportunity to be heard.”
Finding a buyer
Daniels said Friday that the process for selling Independence Towers began six months ago, after Trigild decided to find a traditional buyer rather than putting the building up for auction.
“A potential sale was always contemplated within the scope of this receivership,” Daniels said Friday.
Daniels testified that one of the reasons Trigild hopes to choose Dynasty as a buyer for Independence Towers is the firm’s prior experience taking over residential buildings in distress.
“I am very much aware that when we have a multifamily [building] come into receivership, these are people’s homes,” Daniels said.
Aaron Jackson, an attorney for Trigild, said Friday that Dynasty has expressed that if they bought Independence Towers, none of the existing leases would be “modified or wiped out.”
For Heetmann, though, Trigild’s considerations are inadequate compared to direct tenant involvement.
“It sounds like it was a robust process, but tenants were not involved in that process at all,” Heetmann said. “We’ve been in a position where we’re let down time and time again by landlords who come in and fail to actually put money into the property.”
Fannie Mae has put upwards of $1.5 million into building repairs, maintenance and upgrades organized by Trigild throughout the marketing process, Zachary Hemenway, an attorney for Fannie Mae, said Friday. Jackson said additional delays to the sale process could make it difficult to maintain Independence Towers’ current market value, since the building is currently operating at a loss.
“Rental income for the property is insufficient to perform all the repairs,” Jackson said.
Legal battles
The proposed sale was discussed in court amidst multiple ongoing legal battles between Independence Towers’ owners, lenders, receivers and tenants.
Fannie Mae initially filed a lawsuit against FTW Investments — owned by former Independence Towers owner Parker Webb — in January 2024, alleging that FTW had defaulted on its initial loan and that its subsidiary had failed to properly manage the building. FTW countersued Fannie Mae, alleging breach of contract.
Organized tenants first attempted to become party to the lawsuit in August when Heetmann filed a motion to intervene. Her motion was denied based on precedent.
Also in August, a former Independence Towers tenant and a former tenant of the nearby Stonybrook East apartment complex sued FTW and its partners, citing poor conditions and retaliation.
Trigild filed an emergency motion on March 21 to expedite the sale of Independence Towers to its potential new receivers. Webb filed a contrasting motion through 728 N Jennings Rd Partners LLC, claiming that the sale was too rushed.
The proceeds from the sale would go to lender Fannie Mae to pay the costs of the receivership as well as the balance of Webb’s initial loan. Webb’s LLC still owes over $5.5 million in debt related to Independence Towers, according to court documents, which would only be about half-covered by the proposed sale.
Dynasty presented the second-highest offer during the search process, Daniels testified, coming in $50 under the highest offer.
Plagued by problems
Independence Towers has been plagued with poor living conditions and serious utility issues for some time, according to tenants, including plumbing and HVAC failures, pest infestations and mold. Some residents of Independence Towers formed a union with Kansas City tenants advocacy nonprofit KC Tenants in May 2024 after a two-week hot water shutoff in the building.
In June, an arson attempt in an Independence Towers apartment damaged several units on the lower floors of the building. In July, 3-year-old Tidus Bass fell to his death from an eighth-floor window, prompting felony child endangerment charges for residents Moses Bass and Destiny Lee Randle, who have now filed their own civil suit, claiming they attempted multiple times to get management to fix the faulty window latch.
Multiple unionized tenants have been withholding rent for seven months as of April, in what organizers have described as the Kansas City area’s longest-running rent strike.
Daniels testified that Trigild inherited a “very distressed property” and had to authorize expensive repairs to the garage, elevator, heating and cooling system and common areas.
“From the day we took over until today, we’ve been addressing repairs on a regular basis,” Daniels said. “It’s significantly better, but it’s very clear that this property needs a buyer who is willing to come in and make significant changes.”
Heetmann, however, doesn’t believe that the building’s condition has notably improved since Trigild took over.
“Significantly is a very strong word, and I would not agree with that,” said Heetmann. “I will agree that there have been improvements made, but the pest situation is not, at least from my observation, not meaningfully improved.”
As negotiations over the potential sale of Independence Towers continue, Heetmann noted that tenants feel their advocacy has brought some improvements outside of the courtroom. Recently, a tenant report detailing broken equipment in the laundry rooms led to immediate repairs by property managers, Heetmann said.
“Every time that we’ve been afforded any opportunity to be heard, or expressed what’s been going on in the property, there’s a reaction almost immediately,” Heetmann said. “What I’ve learned about tenants’ rights is that we are the most protected when we stand together and when we speak up.”
The final hearing on the proposed sale has not yet been scheduled.
Previous reporting by Robert A. Cronkleton and Noelle Alviz-Gransee contributed to this article.
