Fire crews have responded to Sycamore Place Apartments on Milwaukee’s northwest side more than 200 times since January 1, 2026, and at least 70 of those calls turned out to be false alarms, according to public records. For residents like Karen Davis, who has epilepsy, the near-constant blaring isn’t just an inconvenience — it’s a potential health hazard she says has already caused her to fall and injure her back.
Davis has lived at the 322-unit complex on Dean Road for the past year, and she says the alarms go off several times a day at all hours, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee. She says the disruptions have wrecked her sleep and caused significant stress, and she sent a doctor’s note to the Housing Authority of Milwaukee explaining that the alarms can trigger her seizures. Davis says her epilepsy medication sedates her, so being jolted awake from deep sleep by a blaring alarm is especially dangerous — she says she once fell inside her unit and hurt her back while trying to evacuate. The toll has gotten bad enough that she says she’s considered leaving for a shelter just to escape the alarms.
A Complex Built for Seniors, Now Home to Hundreds More
Sycamore Place has more than 500 residents, the complex has said, spanning market-rate apartments, senior apartments, and a nursing care facility, with some units covered under Section 8 housing. The campus was originally built in 1973 as Friendship Village and operated exclusively as senior housing for decades, according to Urban Milwaukee. That changed in December 2022, when the Milwaukee Common Council approved a zoning change letting 226 units convert to all-ages market-rate housing while 96 units remained reserved for seniors alongside an 87-bed skilled nursing wing.
The property was 60% vacant in November 2022, and Florida-based AB Asset Management bought it in 2021 for $25.1 million, per the same Urban Milwaukee report. A separate 220-unit project was proposed nearby in 2023. Meanwhile, the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee has contracted private management firm CVR Associates, Inc. since January 2025 to handle day-to-day operations of its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, which covers some Sycamore Place tenants.
Fire Officials Call the Pattern a Concern
Milwaukee Assistant Fire Chief Joshua Parish acknowledged that large buildings typically generate a high volume of fire department calls, but he told FOX6 that repeated false alarms are a cause for concern and that the property owner and manager should be addressing the underlying issues. Parish said the false alarms tie up resources assigned to the surrounding neighborhood while firefighters assess each situation, which could lengthen response times to simultaneous emergencies elsewhere…