One month after fire, The Cooper Apartments tenants demand access to belongings

One month after a six-alarm fire displaced 800 residents of The Cooper Apartments, some tenants attending a protest took matters into their own hands Wednesday and entered at least one apartment to retrieve belongings.

Gretchen Rea, who lived in Building 2, entered her apartment after thwarting the attempts of Camp Construction workers and security to stop her and other tenants from entering their units. Residents were forced out of their apartments after the June 23 fire, and haven’t been allowed to return to gather their belongings in order to move out.

Rea threw a mattress, a rug, ottomans, clothes and other items out of her balcony down onto the sidewalk.

“I shouldn’t have to do this to get the stuff that I worked so hard for this. It’s just not fair,” Rea said.

Rea’s friend Grace, who wanted to go only by her first name because people were not allowed to enter the building, said they feel that have a legal right to enter their units.

Rea, Grace and other tenants started packing Rea’s clothes in garbage bags and filled her car with her things.

“This is our building with our stuff,” Grace said. “Our belongings are in here. So we tried to go into the garage, in the in the in the elevator, and the elevator wasn’t working. They were telling us that we can’t be there.”

A few other tenants entered the second and third floors and stated that they are holding their ground until they hear from the new management company, RPM Living of Austin.

Lauren Garcia, the tenant who organized the protest, said she wants to hear from RMP that residents are not allowed to enter their apartments.

Garcia complained that construction workers were blocking doors in an attempt to keep tenants out.

A spokesperson for The Cooper Apartments said in a text message to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that The Cooper thanks the residents for their patience and understanding as they’ve worked through the situation over the past several weeks.

“We are pleased to share that, after a considerable effort to get us to this point, we can now begin reaching out to each resident individually to discuss next steps relative to their personal belongings. That process will begin Monday, 7/28,” said the Cooper Apartment spokesperson. “Due to the size of the community, the process would take time to complete, and they would continue to give tenants regular updates when new information became available.

“Our residents should know that they can continue to contact us at any time via phone or email or in person with any specific questions they might have,” said the statement. “We are here to support them in any way that we can.”

Garcia, who organized the protest and town hall a couple of weeks ago, said that she will believe it when she sees it.

“We get a little bit of hope, we wait till Monday, and then we’re deflated all over again, right,” Garcia said. “And then we have to do something like this to put pressure on them to even get answers. So, we’ll wait for Monday.”

Tenants have begun sharing their experiences on social media to raise awareness about the events that have occurred since the fire.

Rea and others created TikTok videos. They said others have come forward in the comments to share their stories from other complexes with the same management.

“I’ve been able to connect with the Fort Worth community and other people who have experience with these kind of things,” Rea said. “So it’s been really enlightening and just empowering.”

Amy Ngo said the situation was mentally exhausting and she has other things going on in her life.

“My mom just got diagnosed with breast cancer,” Ngo said. “On top of all this, it’s been rough, but I’m determined. I’m not going to stop until we get our answers. Because everyone’s lives is in there. It’s locked up in those units.”

Officers with the Fort Worth Police Department were at the scene and tenants said an officer was trying to get in touch with the new management company to speak with them.

Several tenants still remained at The Cooper late Wednesday afternoon waiting for a representative from RPM Living.

Tenants said that they want other renters in Fort Worth to know their rights.

“Keep every single email on hand. Keep every single correspondence,” Garcia said. “If you file a maintenance report or maintenance request, keep a copy of that.”

Antonio Busby and Precious Bailey, whose unit is in Building 2 said, that it feels like their life has been put on pause and are frustrated about the way the management company has been communicating and want other Fort Worth renters to be aware of what us happening.

“Always make sure you have renter’s insurance,” Busby said. “Go with the private renters insurance, if you can, it’s affordable, 12, $13 a month at the lowest and it can change your life.”

This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 5:04 PM.