Mold forcing residents out brand-new luxury complex

More than 400 residents of the 21-building Archstone Westbury community received notice that they have four months to evacuate the premises. The company has given everyone in the building a deadline of March 31, 2008 to relocate.

Reconstruction and fixing the mold problem is expected to take at least one year. Archstone-Smith says water has seeped through the exterior skin of the property.

Residents are disgusted by the mold situation and said they've endured leaky windows and grotesque mold growing right in their homes.

The building is just one year old and was viewed as a promising mixed-income housing experiment. Rents range from $2,400 per month for a one-bedroom apartment to $3,400 for a three-bedroom apartment.

A spokesman for the development says residents would be given "relocation assistance packages" amounting to a month's rent and another sum of between $1,300 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,900 for a three-bedroom apartment.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=5786975