5511-777 St. Marks Avenue Brooklyn LLC

- Has maintained a lot of the existing culture and charm of the neighborhood
- Most of the tenants are very nice and interact with everyone regularly
- Dedicated number/email you can call with any service needs most hours of the day
- Online system to track your service request and rent payments
- Some apartment have been renovated with nice finishes and fixtures
- Generally great hot water and water pressure
- A/C and 2/3/4 trains and lots of bus stops close by

Management has been cutting costs in the last few years and there is no longer a full-time team that keeps the common areas clean and attends to maintenance requests.

A day contractor comes in every so often to pick up the trash and that is about it. There floors and walls are rarely cleaned these days. Porters used to keep the building clean and smelling good. They also knew everyone so they would keep an eye out for folks and our packages. Management has not put in place a system to collect compost.

Maintenance personnel used to resolve issues within a day sometimes even less. Now it can take several days for the super to even come and assess the issue. Likewise, the property manager can be difficult to agree with. They can be sticklers about what they approve to be fixed. Everything goes through the call center first and then is reviewed by the property manager. We do not have direct communication with the super who lives two buildings over.

It is a lovely place to live things are just changed over the years while rent has continued to go up.

Hire some dedicated staff members that know the building and keep up with things daily.

Some friendly neighbors and kind, polite staff. Management was very responsive to issues.

Package theft is rampant, several units had bed bug infestations, garbage and overall building cleanliness was an issue (tenants at fault - staff did their best). Loud noise at night due to kids congregating in the stairwells and shouting and management not being able to help

Stricter rules/consequences for package theft, and loud behavior in common areas

Neighbors are great and handy men are nice

Management sucks they don't keep up with the building at all...

Some apartments have in unit washer/dryers and dishwashers. I’m guessing they’ve renovated old apartments as people move out. The building is maintained well, from what I can see. They take the garbage out twice a day on each floor and mop every day. Neighbors are kind. Apartments are very spacious for New York.

When I moved in our unit had roaches and there was no apology from the management. It was never disclosed prior to moving in. We ended up discovering they were coming in from openings around the medicine cabinet. We have caulked around it on our own accord and have not seen any roaches in a couple of weeks. I will add that management sent an exterminator to come inspect the unit and he was very helpful. Additionally, some neighbors do smoke marijuana outside their windows causing the smell to come into our apartments. But it’s New York so you can’t do anything about that.

Remediate bug issues prior to new tenants moving in and ensure units are properly cleaned

The porters they hire tend to be nice. Neighbors for the most part are lovely. Good location - close to several bus routes & a decent walk to several train lines. Cute park up the block with off-leash hours if that’s your thing.

No super in the building- it is shared with one from a building up the block. They rotate our porters like every few months so no solid consistency there. You have no real direct line to the super or property managers, rather you have to call the service center- they basically work as a middle man and while most can be lovely to speak with, they’re so disconnected they’re not generally helpful. You can wait days to hear back from the property manager if you do at all. They give little to no notice or explanation for new jobs or repairs being conducted in the building. Little to no effort is put into actually fixing the issue rather than applying a patchwork job. The upstairs bathroom kept leaking into mine causing damage both to structure of my bathroom but also my personal property. It took numerous complaints over several months for them to address the problem. Then the upstairs neighbor got a newly renovated bathroom and I was left with bare minimum effort (read below for how that has played out in the months following). They once sent in contractors and plumbers to do some “necessary” work who covered nothing and let debris & dust from inside the walls and floors coat every inch of my kitchen and bathroom; the workers also used my towels and then put them in with the trash. People’s packages frequently get stolen yet management will not work with tenants to check the cameras; we do not believe they were ever actually set up and are more likely just for show. Their solution to us was to accept this is city life and to have our packages delivered elsewhere. They replaced the front door with what other tenants have described as someone’s old closet door and they did so with the door opening the wrong way. The lock also started acting up and they were notified people’s keys were getting stuck. But the service center deemed it to not be an emergency. And then all over the weekend people were fighting with the door trying to get in with their keys, and becoming increasingly frustrated. So what happened? We’ve had a doorway filled with broken glass for days. Again, good luck if you have a small child, pet, or happen to fall. The gate to the parking garage got stuck closed effectively locking people who pay to use the space both in and out respectively. They don’t care at all about how the decisions they make affect the people who pay to live here.
Your ceiling can come crashing down due to faulty repairs on their end and not only will they act like it’s your fault, they’ll leave you waiting for days on end for repairs and even then not offer any confidence the issue will actually be resolved. True story.
They also spend an exorbitant amount of time gutting older units to knock them out of stabilization. Beware. We are certain the reason they don’t make proper repairs is to encourage us to vacate so they can up the rent for the next tenants.
The heat is wonky at best and smells weird. It can be 60 degrees out and the heat will be on full blast, or 20 degrees and we have to call about the heat.
All in all there is absolutely zero quality control with Akelius - whether it be work they’re conducting or “repairs” the work is inconsistent at best.

Treat all of your tenants equally- it’s clear you prioritize the newer tenants.At least make it look like you’re trying. A reminder we pay you to live here and not the other way around.
Do better.

Location is good if you don't mind a long walk to trains, or have a car, or okay with taking bus. I walk and ride bike often.

Akelius multi billion dollar slumlords who convert rent control/stabilized buildings into posh apartments , one at a time, where they can charge more than double the rent. So there's IN-HOUSE noise pollution and dust 5 days a week.
Workmanship when something is repaired is very very low. Even got paint all over my wooden floors-really?
The plumbing is old and I had my bathroom ceiling collapse and Akelius did nothing but patch the gaping hole after ignoring my warning. This could of easily resulted in physical harm. Left me without a bathroom for a day.
Nightmare. Debris of rocks, dust and mold everywhere, my cat now has asthma due to the conditions.
My old cheap cabinet got damaged and the floors cracked but Akelius has not replaced anything yet.
They have several violations of over-charging rent-check your rent history at 311 to see if there is a spike in your rent from previous tenants. Old peeling paint throughout building and in my apartment. Heating is sketchy. Mice in building. Report all violations to 311.

Be more ethical, life would be easier and more rewarding.