TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Dozens of residents at Villas Las Naranjas on Tucson’s southeast side have suffered without air conditioning for nearly two weeks — a troubling ordeal amid triple-digit temperatures that has prompted city citations, mounting frustration and mounting risks to health and safety.
Management at the apartment complex, located at 1345 S. Kolb Road, acknowledged to KGUN-9 that it’s “doing everything in its power to get the chiller unit responsible for cooling the apartments back up and running.” Despite that assurance, many tenants report little relief.
“I asked for a follow up, you know; obviously, it’s the next day, and I haven’t heard anything yet," said resident Jaryd Thrasher. "But I think that we need an answer at this point, and it’s not fair to us.”
Longtime tenant Bobbi Stress-Claytor voiced wider concerns. “I don’t want anybody to think that it’s just me whose life has been disrupted… My baby (cat) will get hot and go lay on the tile over there. And I will pay very close attention to him.”
Though she’s seen some progress in her apartment — “It ran really good for an hour," it's been inconsistent. "And then it shut off again!,” she said.
Christopher Billiter, operations manager for Oracle Energy, the firm contracted to service the chiller, said technicians “did find a circuit down. We found some wiring shorts due to vibration and basically has damaged some of the components.”
The company added that because the unit is old, obtaining replacement parts proved difficult: “The parts aren’t sitting on a shelf somewhere, they’re in New Jersey and Minnesota. So they take a long time to get here,” Billiter said.
Meanwhile, Code Enforcement has been active. Inspectors issued a notice of violation on August 5 and followed up with a general citation on August 8 when cooling remained inoperative.
Inspections conducted on August 9 and 10 revealed units without proper cooling — including some relying on swamp coolers or portable devices — with indoor temperatures recorded between 83° and 88°.
The owner was cited for violations affecting 15 units. A property representative responded that the system would be replaced, and follow-up inspections were scheduled for the day after the statement.
Greenwater Investments, the owner, on August 9 issued a $150 credit to each tenant affected and stated, “We take it very seriously of being a good landlord. We always continue investing in our communities.”
This story continues to develop. Be sure to follow KGUN9 for further updates.
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Eddie Celaya is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9. Born in Tucson and raised in the Phoenix area, Eddie is a life-long Arizonan and graduate of the University of Arizona who loves the desert and mountains and hates the cold. Previously, Eddie worked in print media at the Arizona Daily Star. Share your story ideas with Eddie at edward.celaya@kgun9.com, or by connecting on Facebook or Instagram.
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