$420K In Past-Due Water Bills Owed At 2 St. Pete Apartment Complexes With Looming Shut-Off Date

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — More than two weeks after receiving notices about past-due water bills at two apartment complexes in St. Petersburg, the company that owns the buildings still owes more than $420,000 after making partial payments to the city, officials said.

This puts the residents of The Morgan, 5473 27th Street S., and Elements on Third, 3201 3rd Ave. N., in danger of having their water shut off on Aug. 21, the deadline for payment, Samantha Bequer, public information officer, wrote in an email to Patch on Monday.

The city issued delinquency letters from the Billing and Collections Department to Texas-based Lurin Real Estate Holdings LXIV LLC on July 24, she said.

Delinquency notices, warning of the impending shutoff, were delivered to every unit at each property — 304 units at The Morgan and 436 at Elements on Third — on Aug. 1.

A woman who lives at The Morgan and asked to remain anonymous told Patch that learning about the outstanding balance weeks after this letter was sent is “horrific news.”

Like other tenants, she pays $75 a month to Lurin for water, wastewater, sanitation and stormwater services, she said, and wants to know, “Where did it all go?”

Prior to this, she had been hopeful that the company would catch up on its past-due amount by the threatened water shut-off date, she said, adding, “Wow, now, I’m really depressed.”

Lurin owed the city about $256,000 across five accounts for Elements on Third at the time the July 24 letter was sent, documents provided by the city show.

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“Four of those accounts have been made current, accounting for 228 of the total units,” Bequer wrote in her email.

One account with a balance of about $80,000 remains delinquent and is associated with 208 units, she added.

Lurin also owed about $453,000 to two accounts associated with The Morgan for the same services as of July 24, documents show.

Neither account is current, according to Bequer. One account, which is associated with 157 units, has a delinquent balance of nearly $47,000. The other account has a delinquent balance of about $293,000 for about 147 units.

In their letters, the city demanded the total past-due amounts at both properties from Lurin.

“Despite prior billing statements, delinquency notices and multiple attempts to communicate with your local management, the amounts remain unpaid,” the city’s letters read.

As of Aug. 7, the company paid nearly $304,000 in payments toward the outstanding balances at both properties, Bequer wrote.

The company owes about $420,000 across all of their accounts with the city as of Monday, she said.

“This balance must be paid prior to August 21, 2025, in order to avoid an interruption of service at these properties,” she wrote.

Despite Lurin still owing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars, “we are encouraged by the progress so far and will continue to work with the property owner to collect these delinquent balances,” Bequer wrote. “We will remain in active communication with property management until the balances are paid.”

“Lurin is continuing to work constructively with the city to address these claims, and we fully expect to resolve them before there is any impact on the households in these communities,” the company’s ownership team said in a statement provided to Patch by its spokesperson, Ed Cafasso.

“Our company is committed to delivering the best possible living experience to its residents, and our teams work hard every day to offer great apartment homes in growing markets that badly need quality rental housing,” the ownership team added. “We pursue this mission in dynamic and often difficult conditions, striving to maintain stable daily operations for our residents while also responding to inflationary pressures, contractions in financial markets, and unexpected natural disasters. Through it all, the comfort and well-being of residents remain our top priorities.”

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