Already in ‘disrepair’, metro-east apartments lose manager, maintenance staff
A low-income apartment complex in Cahokia Heights is in “disrepair,” but the property manager and maintenance workers abruptly left in early June, causing tenants uncertainty about their homes.
Tenants of the federally-subsidized Greystone Apartments off Missouri Avenue say they have been living with leaks, mold, inadequate air conditioning and other issues — in some cases for years.
Now, weeks after the sudden departure, tenants say they are still in the dark about why it happened — and whether management will return.
“We don’t even know what’s going on,” tenant Twanna White said.
Court records show the 148-unit complex is serving as collateral in an ongoing foreclosure proceeding, but it has failed to sell.
Owner Moshe “Mark” Silber, currently imprisoned for his part in a loan fraud scheme, is accused of defaulting on the $5.5 million mortgage loan with Merchants Bank of Indiana.
Silber’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Matt Mason of Hilco Real Estate LLC has been the court-appointed receiver since March 2025. He recently told the court the receivership cannot afford to continue running the property.
Mason wrote in court filings that the receivership has about $615,000 from federal housing assistance payments, but the bank has requested about $914,000 for protective advances — spending related to preserving the collateral that can include maintenance. That’s on top of about $50,000 owed to vendors, $10,000 to the receiver and at least $8,000 to the property manager, according to Mason.
“Due to the lack of funding, the receiver has been unable to complete required unit renovations necessary to return units to rentable condition, and several vendors have declined to perform work due to substantial outstanding balances owed to them,” Hilco stated in court records. “Moreover, the property is in physical disrepair and financially cannot sustain itself.”
At Hilco’s request, St. Clair County Associate Judge Stacy Campbell dismissed the receiver in a June 10 order.
Elmington, the management company Hilco hired, confirmed it is no longer managing the property under the court’s decision.
In a statement to the BND, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said it is aware of management’s departure and is planning a trip to Greystone Apartments.
“HUD will be visiting the property to determine the property condition and related resident needs and will determine options to best protect the residents’ health and safety in coordination with the property owner and mortgage lender,” the agency stated.
“HUD will continue to monitor the situation to ensure matters are fully addressed.”
Merchants Bank of Indiana declined to comment when asked about next steps and the future of the apartments. Hilco and Elmington didn’t respond to requests for comment on tenants’ complaints about a lack of information. Elmington recently rebranded; it is now called Bedrock.
Several tenants said they only learned about management’s departure from a sign posted on the locked office door around June 11.
“Please be advised that the leasing and management office is currently closed until further notice due to a management transition,” the sign read. “In the event of an emergency requiring immediate assistance, please call 911.
“Information regarding future rent payments, maintenance requests, and other property-related matters will be provided as soon as possible. Additional instructions will be communicated once details are available. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience.”
‘It’s like a lost cause’
Tenants like Sierra Smith say they are frustrated and confused by the sudden loss of management and maintenance staff.
“At what point was they gonna tell us?” Smith said. “I don’t know how to move forward with it. For now we’re still in the heat, holes in the ceiling, leaks.”
This summer, it has gotten as hot as 87 degrees in her apartment, Smith said.
Smith, as well as tenants Linda Eiland and Andrea Polk, said their central air conditioning isn’t working. They think that’s the case for many others, based on the number of window units they see.
“If you come out here, everybody got air conditioners in the windows,” Polk said. “That’s not how we supposed to be living.”
Eiland said her apartment also has a major leak from a second-floor bathroom. She and her children, ages 18, 10 and 6, put towels down before baths and showers to soak up water. But a hole has formed in the first-floor ceiling and there is a “mildewy” smell, Eiland said.
“It’s so many issues wrong with my apartment,” Eiland said. “I’m at a point I don’t expect anything different from them. … It’s like a lost cause.”
White said she bought a replacement part and paid a repairman to fix her air conditioning when it was out last summer while the region was hit by a heat wave.
Around the same time, she got on a St. Clair County Housing Authority waiting list for housing assistance. She said she also has a leak in her apartment, holes in the walls, no power in the living room, and she loses hot water for hours at a time after washing dishes or doing the laundry.
“This is ridiculous,” White said of the conditions.
White recently learned she moved off the waiting list for assistance. She’ll leave Greystone Apartments soon for a new home.
Polk said she’s been looking for somewhere to move, but it’s been difficult to find options for her and her children, ages 18, 11, 5 and 1.
“Everywhere I’ve been calling has been telling me they don’t have any vacancies right now,” Polk said. “My goal is to get a little two- or three-bedroom for me and my kids.
“I just wish I could get some kind of home.”
Owner’s charges related to real estate
Silber, a former New York real estate investor, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution in July 2024 and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in March 2025.
He was accused of using a stolen identity to buy an apartment complex in Cincinnati at market rate, then faking a sale for more money to a co-conspirator so he could get a larger loan based on that inflated price. He kept the excess funds for himself, the criminal complaint alleged.
He served eight months in Connecticut and New York prisons. In December 2025, he was transferred to community confinement, which can mean either home confinement or a halfway house overseen by a Federal Bureau of Prisons residential reentry management office.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons declined to specify the type of community confinement for privacy and security reasons.
Silber also faced criminal charges related to his real estate business in Pennsylvania. He was accused of diverting rent money from another federally-subsidized apartment complex, Mon View Heights Apartments, to other businesses while Mon View Heights tenants complained about needed repairs and security for their homes.
He pleaded no contest to those charges on June 11. The judge sentenced him to no further penalty.
Silber’s projected release date is Oct. 13.
