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CHICAGO — Current and former residents of Algonquin Apartments in Hyde Park experienced heat, water and power issues during the intensely cold temperatures that hit the city last month and are filing a class action lawsuit against the property manager.

A press conference took place Thursday afternoon where three residents sued the management and building owners for negligence.

The lawsuit comes after 181 residents were displaced during the dangerously cold winter storms that hit right before Christmas.

“Our clients suffered as a result of MAC Properties’ misconduct,” Attorney Caryn Lederer with Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd. said. “They turned them into the cold for three weeks during Christmas.”

The lawsuit alleges that MAC property management LLC installed individual window heating units without permits from ComEd or the Chicago Building Department which led to weeks long electrical outages, displacing almost 200 residents.

About 181 residents of the apartments were forced out of their homes on Christmas Eve.

The apartment complex has six buildings and residents said buildings 4 and 5 lost power on Dec. 23 while temperatures were below zero.

Many residents said they were not given alternate accommodations until a day later and others claim they stayed with relatives or slept in cars while temperatures were below freezing.

A spokesperson for the Chicago Building Department said they were made aware of the outages more than 24 hours later. Heat, water and electricity issues forced the apartment building to shut down.

“I spent the night at my apartment even though it was freezing cold thinking the power would come back on because MAC sent us an email saying it would only be a few hours,” Shaunte Sims said. “I woke up and the power still wasn’t on.”

A tenant who has lived in the building for three years said she has never had any heat issues but recent experiences has left her concerned and believes tenants should have been treated better.

“I was sitting in my house in gloves and a coat because no one knocked on my door and said ‘Gabriella, it’s time to evacuate,'” tenant Gabriella Johnson said.

Residents who chose to return to the building have been back since Friday but say there has been damage to their unit and valuables have been ruined or stolen.

The 27-page lawsuit alleges MAC Propety Management LLC. installed individual window heating units without permits from the Chicago Department of Buildings.

“DOB found that MAC Properties transferred the building’s heat source from basement boilers to individual window units and this overwhelmed the electrical system,” Lederer said.

WGN reached out to the management but have yet to receive a response.