Nice Apartment, Good Price, but lacking Cleanliness
Pros
My unit is renovated with updated cabinets, a good gas stove, large fridge and nice wood floors. The apartment was painted fresh before I moved in. The apartment size is a really good - each bedroom can accommodate a queen size bed, desk area, and comes with a full proper closet. The ceilings are very high, allowing for ample upper closet space as well. These pre-war buildings are built with great room sizes as opposed to all of these new luxury buildings with tiny rooms. The unit not only has closets in each bedroom, but includes 2 hallway closets and a proper linen closet. Kitchen comes with a proper pantry too. The unit itself is really nice, even though there is no dishwasher or washer and dryer. For the price, it’s a great apartment, in a good neighborhood- very close to Prospect Park; as well as Walgreens, and numerous grocery stores and a handful of local businesses and shops. Although the building is on Clarkson Ave- the bedrooms face the back of the building, while the living room is in the front. It’s a great layout for a prewar apartment. The people who live in the building vary- there’s young couples, older families, roommates, dogs, single folks, etc. Most people who live in the building are nice enough to say hello, hold the door or elevator for you, or help you if you’re carrying something heavy or unwieldy. It’s nice to have neighbors who are courteous.
Cons
Biggest con of the building is that the hallways are typically dirty as well as the elevator. The trash gets taken down in the passenger elevator and it can make it stinky and gross for days, or until it gets mopped. There are some neighbors who unfortunately leave food, drinks or junk in the hallways. On occasion someone is smoking pot in the hallway, or leaves a mess. Someone’s dog has peed in the hallway and it was left for a few days at one point. So it can definitely get pretty gross. The trash vestibules on each floor are also not the best. They can sometimes be very full and overflowing, until they are taken out. Signs of roaches are in the hallway for sure. It’s a large building with about 70 units- so there’s a lot of trash. Another con is that the elevator can, on occasion, get stuck on certain floors because the door doesn’t close shut well. Throughout my time living here we have had various issues with mail theft. There are times of year that are better than others, but typically around the holidays there’s a lot of package theft. If your package is delivered right to your unit / door, you should typically receive the package with no issue. However, if it’s left on the first floor by the mailboxes, if left for more than 5 minutes, there’s a 50/50 chance of it still being there. Lastly, a con of any prewar building is having to deal with roaches and rodents. My unit has had both issues numerous times over the years. The management company does respond to these issues- and sends an exterminator when I report that we are having an issue. However it will take some diligence, and detective work on your end to really figure out where the vermin are entering from and how to stop it. In addition to the exterminators from management, I have caulked and sealed some of the areas around the sink, stove and radiators myself to help deal with this issue.
Advice to the owners
I wish the hallways and elevator were cleaned more frequently, it would help make the hallways of the building feel less gross. Additionally getting to the root cause of rodents or roaches would help, and focusing on more preventative matters in each unit would be helpful- making sure entry points are sealed.
Pretty good experience at 184
Pros
Live-in super is pretty responsive, but due to the age of the building you may be calling him a lot. Lots of families but noise isn't really a problem. Generally on top of garbage management. Honestly fairly spacious apartments.
Cons
Heating can be iffy occasionally. Biggest issues that have arisen have been from old pipes leaking in the building.
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