Independence Towers residents reach agreement with new landlord
After nearly eight months of rent strikes due to heinous living conditions, residents at Independence Towers have reached a deal with the building’s new ownership, according to a local tenant union.
In a bargaining session Tuesday between the Independence Towers Tenant Union and new landlord Vijai Pennezhan of Dynasty Properties Inc., the two agreed on new leases and negotiated rent along with major repairs to the building.
Issues with Independence Towers, located at 728 N. Jennings Road in Independence, have been extensively documented, from pests and lack of air conditioning — which lead to them forming a union with KC Tenants, a local union advocating for tenants — to a child’s death and legal battles.
Since October, the majority of tenants in the building have been on the longest and largest rent strike in regional history, withholding nearly $300,000, according to a KC Tenants news release. The new agreement makes clear there will not be any retaliation against those involved in the strike and major repairs are to be completed in the building this year.
“Yesterday’s agreement, which satisfies key union demands, allows the union to consider de-escalating from strike and resuming rent payments in June,” KC Tenants said in a statement. “The union will meet tonight to formalize this decision.”
Details of new agreement
As part of the new agreement, Dynasty Properties will offer a lease renewal to all current tenants and offer them to sign for a second year with a 5% rent increase cap, according to the agreement.
The rent, which includes water, sewer, trash and gas will be: $730 for a studio, $755 for a large studio, $855 for a one bedroom apartment and $965 for a two bedroom apartment. These prices, which keep most tenants paying the same amount, were amended Tuesday night and will be formally ratified Wednesday night.
If a tenant is late on rent, Dynasty has agreed to charge a $50 late fee on the first month, and give the tenant three weeks to pay before starting the eviction process, according to the agreement.
As for repairs being done to the building, Dynasty committed to doing permanent HVAC repair by the end of November and to do pest extermination, plumbing, in-unit repairs and reopen the parking garage and community room by the end of the year. An automatic discount of $75 will be given until the HVAC fix is done.
Tenants will be informed on the progress of repairs through newsletters, according to the agreement. If a tenant has to be displaced because of repairs, ownership will relocate them to another unit on the same rent terms or allow the tenant to end the lease at no cost, according to the agreement.
A troubled history
Two months after starting the union in March 2024, residents protested against management company FTW Investments, which oversaw the building at the time.
FTW and co-founder Parker Webb were then ousted by a Jackson County judge for violating their loan agreement, and a new company, Trigild, Inc., was appointed by the court to manage the troubled property.
Then, tragedy struck. In June 2024, Destiny R. Kley, 22, allegedly confessed to setting an arson fire in her kitchen, displacing 27 residents across three floors of the building.
Six weeks later, a 3-year-old Tidus Bass was found lying on the grass outside the building, unconscious but breathing, and was rushed to a hospital where he later died. He had fallen from an unsecured window on the eighth floor, authorities said.
The boy’s father, Moses Bass, and his girlfriend, Destiny Lee Randle, face felony child endangerment in the case, but allege they’d been asking the building management to fix the broken window for a year.
This past April, Judge Charles McKenzie approved the sale of the building in for $2.8 million to Dynasty Properties Inc., an Illinois corporation with ties to Vijai Ponnezhan.
Terms reached between the tenant union and the landlord are subject to be renegotiated at the end of the renewal period, according to the KC Tenant news release.
“We formed the Independence Towers Tenant Union to stand up against treatment that can only be described as dangerous and inhumane,” the union said in a written statement Wednesday. “We are a community, and Independence Towers is our home.”
