CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — A dispute between the company that manages Broadway Tower and the City of Corpus Christi has left tenants in a twenty-story office building in uptown without water and wastewater service since December.
Corpus Christi Water told KRIS 6 News that the property management company has not made a utility payment since May 2024.
The building, located at 615 N. Upper Broadway, consists of nearly 400,000 square feet of office and bank space with several dozen tenants.
Wednesday, the management company, TYKO Management, LLC, (TYKO) was granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the City of Corpus Christi, which requires the city to restore these services.
TYKO sent a notice to tenants on Wednesday informing them of the TRO and stating water would be restored that day, however as of the close of business Wednesday, the city had not received a copy of that TRO.
We are writing to inform you that we have just received confirmation from our legal counsel that a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) has been granted, requiring the City of Corpus Christi to restore water services to Broadway Tower immediately. The court order is being delivered to the city's water department as we speak, and a city technician will be dispatched to the building promptly. While we do not yet have a definitive timeline, we can assure you that the restoration will occur today.
On Thursday, Jan. 9, tenants told KRIS 6 News that water service had yet to be restored. One tenant told 6 Investigates it had sent employees home due to a "sewer smell" permeating the building.
According to court documents, the company said it was notified by the city on Dec. 12 that it intended to terminate water and wastewater services due to $120,000 in unpaid invoices.
"Despite their claim that the total amount due spanned several months of non-payment, we had not been notified by the City of an impending disconnection. We explained to numerous persons in a number of different departments that the billing was incorrect: we were being overcharged for our water usage due to either defective meter readouts or accounting procedures at the City, and payments we had made were not being properly credited to the account," Cole Moscatel, CEO of TYKO Management, LLC, writes in an affidavit to the court.
According to that document, Moscatel offered to make "an immediate payment of the undisputed portion of the billing (roughly $50,000) but was told that unless the full amount was paid service would be disconnected."
The City told 6 Investigates that utilities had been disconnected because the company failed to pay its bill and it had been an ongoing issue.
Drew Molly, Chief Operating Officer for Corpus Christi Water, said that the city has a revenue requirement that must be met and if any ratepayer defaults it means other ratepayers "pick up the slack and pay for that revenue."
"These guys have failed to pay and they've used a product that cost us money to deliver to them," Molly said.
The property management company has not made a water utility payment since May 2024. Out of consideration for the tenants in this building, the City has worked consistently with property management since 2021 to address their delinquent utility balance. We've maintained regular communication and explored various payment solutions throughout this period.
When these efforts did not resolve the situation, we began the formal disconnection process in June 2024. Even then, we continued working with property management to find a resolution. In early December, our team made several attempts to connect with them, including personally delivering a courtesy disconnection notice on December 11.
Throughout our discussions that day, we outlined clear options to maintain service. However, when no payment was received by the specified deadline the following day, we proceeded with the disconnection. We followed all proper notification procedures, ensuring every notice was delivered to the correct address.
Several building tenants reached out to KRIS 6 News this week, saying that the water had been off since at least Monday. According to court documents, the building had been operating on residual water since the termination of services.
Tenants, who declined to be identified, said the situation had become untenable and that they were forced to use an adjacent building's bathroom. Tenants also said that air conditioning has been off in the building for some time and there are only two working elevators.
A former tenant who wished to remain anonymous told KRIS 6 News that they left in November after a myriad of issues, including three floods, a small bat infestation, and a non-working AC unit in the summer months.
"I had to walk up the stairs when it was 101 degrees outside, another tenant, an older woman actually wore her bathing suit to work," the tenant said.
After all this, TYCO tried to raise the rent by 30%, even though the management company went through multiple building managers.
"I think we went through four or five managers in three years," the tenant said.
Eric Perkins, an attorney representing TYKO, said Thursday that his office was in the process of obtaining a stamped copy of the TRO to deliver to the city and said TYKO will pay what is owed, but that there are significant questions regarding the amount owed and failure to make credits to the account.
"There is probably fault on both sides," Perkins said. "We're just trying to get them both to the table to resolve the issue."
Other claims of delinquency
A civil lawsuit was filed against TYKO by Tara Energy, LLC, in September 2023, alleging TYKO had failed to pay its electricity bill at that property.
According to court filings, "Tara Energy provided electricity services to TYKO between September 24, 2021, and June 14, 2023. Tara Energy sent TYKO invoices for all the services rendered. TYKO never objected to or disputed any of the invoices. Despite numerous attempts to discuss and collect the balances owed, TYKO failed to pay Tara Energy for the electricity services rendered, the early termination fee owed, and the late fees incurred."
That lawsuit alleges TYKO owes Tara Energy $475,862.44 in addition to contractual fees, interest, and reasonable collection costs and expenses incurred while trying to collect the debt owed. TYKO denied the allegation.
A lien filed in September by Prestige Painting and Remodeling also claims the company is owed nearly $24,000 for painting work performed at Broadway Tower.
Additionally, after inspection by the Corpus Christi Fire Department, the building received 15 fire and safety violations. The building has also been placed under fire watch, where dedicated staff will circulate around the building, looking for signs of fire.
Who is Cole Moscatel?
According to Moscatel’s IMDB page, he is an American media personality, known for being the co-founder of Snob World, a luxury travel platform that offers “concierge services to the rich and famous.”
Moscatel is married to social media influencer Kelsea Moscatel and the pair starred in a YouTube reality series dubbed “The Moscatels” where they document their extravagant lifestyle. No episodes of the series are listed on YouTube other than a promotional video, and the link to their Snob World website redirects to GoDaddy.com where that domain can be purchased.
KRIS 6 News contacted TYKO Management but they refused to answer our questions.
