Terror Behind the Walls, for Real: Tenants Raise Health Concerns at Premiere West Chester Apartment Complex

Chestnut Square opened full of promise, but water leaks and secrecy have residents fearing what’s behind the walls.

This article orginally ran in the West Chester Weekly Roundup. Subscribe now to get the next issue.

When Chestnut Square opened in 2016, it was ripe with promises. It would provide tenants with a boutique hotel living environment. There would be exclusive amenities and maintenance-free units.

“We had a vision of creating a lifestyle not seen in our region,” development partner David Della Porta said in a statement at the complex’s grand opening.

Nearly a decade since that announcement was made, many of those promises still hold up. When you enter, you walk into the impressive grand lobby. The auxiliary rooms are lovely too. There are plenty of amenities, including a swimming pool with sundeck, a courtyard lounge with a fire pit and grilling station, and a fitness center with yoga room. Plus, there are hotel-like concierge services, indoor and outdoor bars, and various tenant-only special events. Then there is the location. Almost anything you want downtown is only a few short blocks away.

“The friends we made, the amenities, the location, it’s wonderful, but that doesn’t change the question of how it was built,” said resident Rich Heiland, who moved to the complex with his wife in 2021. Rich, along with at least three of his fellow tenants, has concerns about what’s going on behind the walls at one of West Chester’s most elite complexes.

“I’m just so angry. I’ve paid $160,000 to date to live here,” said Bridget Kelly, who moved to Chestnut Square in 2017 and until recently hasn’t had a complaint with the complex or its management company, Bozzuto. “I’ve never missed a payment. I pay attention to keep the place clean. I have worked to be a good citizen in this community. I want to know because I’ve had cancer. Do I need to go and get an X-ray? I don’t think that’s a lot to ask.”

Flooding, leaks and water damage

In May of 2023, Keith Stonefelt relocated from California to West Chester. Site unseen, he signed a lease on a one-bedroom Chestnut Square apartment.

During the walk-through, he noticed a water stain on the ceiling. He was told it had been fixed. The ceiling would be repainted, and he wouldn’t have to worry about it. It was. So, he didn’t. Then, in January, after a heavy storm, his apartment flooded.

“What happens is the water leaks from up above and comes down the siding. I’m on the first floor here, which is concrete. The water hits the concrete and has nowhere to go, so it came into my apartment,” he said.

About an inch of water covered the living room floor. “All the furniture had to be removed. The carpet was taken out and cleaned,” he said. Maintenance reps also removed the damaged drywall and brought in fans to dry the rest. Then everything was put back and repainted, a process that took about a day and a half to complete.

However, when the maintenance reps tore the drywall out, they noticed what appeared to be mold. “[Company management] told me they are going to spray for the mold. I think they used the word mold,” said Keith. They did spray, putting Keith up in a hotel for two days. It was an inconvenience, but it was tolerable. Then the flooding happened again.

“About two months later, my apartment flooded again because they hadn’t fixed the problem. The problem is the siding. The problem is the roof. The water just keeps coming,” said Keith.

Betty Thornton and her husband moved into a third-floor two-bedroom apartment in May of 2024. They had no issues until a hazmat crew showed up to repair some nail pops.

“They knew that they were coming in here for mold, they called the [Maximum] Restoration crew in. They told them to bring hazmat [suits], bring signs, bring plastic. They did not choose to tell us. Trust eroded,” said Betty.

Timeline of Events

Construction failures are being blamed for current problems with more complexes in the works does history stand to repeat itself?

So, how did West Chester’s premiere rental destination end up with men in hazmat suits lining the walls with plastic? The issue may go all the way back to its construction.

“Chestnut Square received reports of intermittent water intrusion in the façade around certain areas of the balconies and promptly engaged contractors to investigate and remediate,” Bozzuto Regional Associate Cindy Gogluizza shared in an email statement sent last week.

Bridget, however, thinks the issues go farther back than that.

“A year or two [after the complex opened], because they had so many apartments flooding [on the east side of the building] along Patton Avenue, they took the whole side [of the building] off and did to some extent what they did here, and if you look now, it all has coral color aluminum siding. That used to all be red brick,” she said.

“So from day three the buildings have been leaking,” she added.

And they just haven’t stopped.

“Well, in Feb/March of this year, my apartment flooded again,” said Keith. “Third time. I’m talking noticeable standing water.” This time, however, he was advised to wait on the rebuild because Bozzuto was ready to address the root problem.

Repair Work Begins

In April, Chestnut Square Apartments announced it would begin repair work.

“As you know, we have been anticipating repairs to our courtyard area balconies. These repairs are scheduled to start on April 15th,” began a letter sent to all residents. The letter gives no reason for the repairs, nor any details on what repairs were to be completed. Just directions to remove balcony furniture and avoid using the Patton Ave. parking lot.

Shortly after, a crane was hoisted over the exterior walls of the complex, and work began to remove and replace the courtyard balconies. The courtyard, pool, sun decks, fire pit, and dog run were closed to tenants. An email sent on April 10 estimated the job would take a week per section. With 10 sections to complete, the job should have taken roughly 10 weeks to finish. By June 30, they had one section finished.

The work was loud and intrusive. The effects were beginning to take their toll.

“The current conditions verge on unlivable for many of us, and it is unacceptable that such a massive project was initiated without adequate planning, communication, or consideration for the residents who call this building home,” Bridget wrote in an email to Bozzuto CEO Tony Bozzuto dated May 20, 2025.

That same day, she received a response from Cindy. “It is never our intention to disrupt our residents in their homes, although it is sometimes unavoidable,” she wrote. She blamed unforeseen circumstances and delays to the original repair schedule for the “prolonged” construction timeline. She also announced that construction would pause at the end of June and resume in late September, so that the pool area could open.

Round 1 of Construction Ends

Three weeks after the original round of construction concluded, ten out of the 19 impacted units received a letter from the Chestnut Square Management Team stating that a construction team would be visiting the following week to perform “repairs to the inside of your apartments” caused by the balcony replacement project. Listed repairs included: “nail pops and other drywall disturbances.”

One week later, crews showed up at Betty’s apartment wearing hazmat suits.

“So, I’ll just let you know what happened,” she said. “Sunday night, we went and put painters’ tape on the 46 nail pops we had. Then we learned that some drywall would have to be removed near the back door. We went, ‘Why would they be removing drywall to fix nail pops?’”

On Monday morning, a Bozzuto construction representative arrived at her apartment with a team from Maximum Restoration, a licensed mold remediation company. “These guys start to suit up in hazmat materials, and they put plastic up in our living room,” said Betty. She and her husband were never informed as to why they were there.

“They said the [Bozzuto] construction person would be here at all times. They were not. So my husband and I sat here in the apartment while they were doing this,” she said. Betty and her husband watched while the workers completed their remediation efforts. “We sat there, no mask. The workers were hazmatted but they didn’t offer us any masks or anything.”

“This is where my concern is about tenants’ rights to know,” she said. “Now you’re looking for mold, but you’re not doing anything to protect your tenants.”