Medical students at apartments near Johns Hopkins have hot water issues fixed

Residents and Johns Hopkins University medical students finally have hot water at their East Baltimore apartment after being without it for weeks.

Between exams and medical school interviews, the stress pushed some residents to take matters into their own hands.

Tenants living at The Essential apartment complex, located along Wolfe Street, filed at least two court cases within the last month, while city inspectors issued five violation notices related to the hot water failure. 

The Essential told WJZ on Thursday that the hot water issues have been resolved. 

"There was no cold water getting to my room"

Sarah Kozosey, a new graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, said emails were sent stating that the hot water issue was being fixed.

Kozosey said she moved into the 20-story building in August, and the water issues began in mid-October. She told WJZ her water has since been fixed, but explained how she navigated the situation.  

"There have been emails going out saying the hot water issue was being fixed, but it's been ice cold, and I had to take showers in another unit in the upper floors because there was no cold water getting to my room," Kozosey said. "All the floors below eight have definitely been having this issue."

"Some of us are like med students, like, they're preparing for their interviews, and it's like, a very stressful time as well," said Annabelle Hung, a tenant and Johns Hopkins graduate student. 

"There were really loud noises coming from my bathroom, 24/7, and it was starting to come at night too, so it was disrupting my sleep schedule as well," Kozosey added. 

The 327-unit facility opened in 2012, and it is owned by the North Carolina-based nonprofit P-3 Foundation Inc. 

The Essential said boiler repairs took time

Management at The Essential said residents on floors 2 through 8 were impacted by the hot-water outage. They now have hot water.

However, floors 9 through 20 did not experience hot-water outages because they were served by a separate boiler system.

Management told WJZ that the building had to "undergo a complete water shutdown to safely repair a leak."

Then, after water was restored, crews needed to replace a non-functional pump. 

Management said that when the system came back online, air became trapped in portions of the hot water lines, slowing or stopping hot water from reaching some units, and removing the trapped air took time and required crews to purge each affected line."

Management added that the repairs took time.

"They had to go into the actual shower and fix them from the inside just to get the issue resolved," Kozosey said. "And it's finally resolved, but I know there are some people still dealing with the issue." 

Johns Hopkins responds 

Johns Hopkins told WJZ the University leases the land but does not own or manage the building. 

"We are aware of and concerned about the hot water situation at The Essential. Johns Hopkins has been in continuous contact with the building owner and property management company to insist that hot water be restored as soon as possible and to advocate for alternative arrangements for residents," a university spokesperson explained.

The violation notices remain open, and there is another inspection scheduled. 

"I would like them to completely check if the plumbing is up to date with all the floors, and not just, you know, turn on the hot water for a little bit, but actually go inside the plumbing unit," Kozosey said.