Dot Miles stood on the sidewalk outside her building at the Atlantis Apartments holding a few decades-old photographs of a wedding. One shows a boy in a white tuxedo holding a ring-bearer pillow.

Darlene Miles has lived in Atlantis Apartments for 40 years. Not much had changed during her time in the government-subsidized housing complex off Birdneck Road. Until now. The New York-based company ...