Dozens of renters are looking for new homes after receiving eviction notices from the new owners of their complex.

Carmel Apartments, a subsidiary of San Francisco-based Carmel Partners, sent eviction notices to 84 families at Marina View Towers, they said, to perform seismic retrofits. The company purchased the building, at 1100 Pacific Marina, for $18 million in May.

Renters said they were notified July 1 they have until the end of August to pack up and move out – right in the middle of peak moving season and a market in which rentals are becoming increasingly costly. As of July 18, renters occupying 20 units already left, but only 38 out of 84 of them relayed their moving dates to Marina View’s manager, according to the calendar posted in her office.

The summer months in Alameda are especially challenging for apartment hunting families. Compared to neighboring cities, Alameda is seen as an ideal place to raise youngsters. Parents of young children consider summertime the perfect period for upgrading the nest and relocating closer to school. Knowing this, movers and van rentals servicing the city are hiking up their rates, according to a Marina View tenant who declined to be named.

“We haven’t found a place yet,” said Bob Wilson, a husband, father of two, and resident of the apartment complex for two years. He said he’s expected to leave by August 15.
“It’s going to be hard to find a three-bedroom like this in Alameda,” Wilson said.

Some Marina View tenants ultimately relocated to Oakland, San Leandro, even as far away as Stockton, according to a 39-year-old tenant who would only give his first name, Jaime. Like Wilson, he lives with his wife and two children and is slated to move out in mid-August. However, he recently managed to find housing in Alameda.

“We were one of the lucky ones,” he said.

The tenants said they received no reimbursement for moving costs, though City Manager John Russo told the City Council on Tuesday that the building’s new owner told city staff relocation assistant was being provided and that all but 25 of the complex’s tenants had left. Alameda has no city ordinances or policies on its books regarding compensation for tenants displaced from their homes.

When asked to comment, Marina View Towers manager Charlene Cancel deferred inquiries to the new owners of the building. The owners didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking additional comment Wednesday.

Carmel Partners, Inc. is a real estate company located in San Francisco’s North Beach district. After seismic retrofitting, the building is slated to reopen in summer of 2014.