The Truth Behind Portage Apartments Heating Situation In Great Falls

What Is Portage Apartments?

Portage Apartments is a Senior Living Center in Great Falls at 1521 23rd Street South.  It is for people 62 years old and older, it's accessible, and it's income based rent.

NO HEAT In The Apartments At Portage Apartments?

KRTV ran a story on Saturday, January 13, 2024 (Updated on Monday, January 15, 2024) that tells of no heat in the apartments even pipes bursting. I tried calling to ask if the problem had been fixed, and there was no answer.

The Portage Apartments are owned by a place in Minnesota called Accessible Space. It's very hard to reach someone, but I finally did.

I Talked To A Regional Manager, Based In Colorado

Understandably, she was hesitant to speak with me at first, but she opened up a little bit.  According to this manager from Accessible Space (I don't want to publish her name due to the nature of the story.), this is NOT a problem that has been happening for 2 years.  She was very scared to make any kind of statement at all, but she did get me in touch with someone who could talk of the incident.

Manager, Ken Berry, Director of Property Management

Mr. Berry called me to talk about this past weekend at the Portage Apartments.  I was going to transcribe his email for you, but instead, I'm going to quote him here from a follow-up email:

As we discussed by telephone today, we sincerely appreciate the opportunity to respond to the ongoing reports that there is no heat at The Portage Apartments.  Although we have been challenged by the extremely cold weather hitting the Midwest, we have been able to successfully maintain temperatures at The Portage at or near 70 degrees.  Both boilers are currently operating with one running at 100% while the other is running at about 80%.  The low-pressure, hot water boiler system will operate best if residents can refrain from turning their thermostats past 70 degrees during this cold spell, since increasing the thermostat setting above 70 degrees will increase demand for hot water within the pipes, which will move the water through the heating pipes throughout the entire property, but which actually causes the water to cool faster and require more demand on the boilers to secure and/or maintain temperatures throughout the system, which will run continuously until the thermostat temperatures are achieved.

Although we continue to provide heat at The Portage Apartments, please note that we have ordered two new boilers which will be delivered and installed within the next two to three weeks, which will help ensure that the residents we serve as the nonprofit sponsor, developer and manager of The Portage continue to live in safe, sanitary and well-maintained housing.  We sincerely appreciate the patience, as well as the cooperation of our residents to help us get through this extreme cold spell to ensure that all residents stay warm, and we look forward to the predicted warmer temperatures within the region within the next few days.

In addition to the email, Mr. Berry told me that Portage Apartments welcomes anyone to come down to the Portage Apartments to see for themselves that there is heat in the building and heat in the apartments.

I'm going to be keeping an eye on this story for you.  If there are any updates, we'll let you know.