Acropolis Gardens

This place is horrible and disgusting. I brought here thinking it was a good investment. Worst decision of my life. There is constantly problems, the coop is in major debt and owes so much money (plus the building is falling apart, so the fees will be increasing by even more over the next 1 – 5 years). The management is horrible and adds to the dysfunction of the building.
Additionally, the building is unsafe (people break in constantly) and the trash piles up, adding to the rat/​cockroach problem.
I want to warn other people before they make my mistake.

I have been an owner for 10 years. My pros and cons.
The Acropolis is a very bit (620?) unit complex. What happens at one end of the block may not happen at the other. What happens in one building (each building has 10 units, so this is a lot of buildings) may not happen in others.
Are there bugs. Yes. It is nyc. There are people who culturally/​religiously do not believe in killing things. Are there TONS of bugs –no. Is there an exterminator on call. Yes.
Are the apartments huge. No. It is NYC. But, they are decent for their price range.
Locks and security working. No. The outside heavy gate doors haven’t worked in (5?) years. The door buzzers (at the bottom of the stairwells, outside of the fire doors) on my building now work. There was an issue, now fixed. I can hear the person and buzz him up. The video component no longer works.
However — I have never felt unsafe here. The neighborhood is very safe day and night.
Heat — toooo much. Most of the winter my 5^th floor, top floor, apartment is too hot. The windows are open all winter. I can’t speak for other units, of course. Mine has heat. I know it is not easy with older buildings (1920?) regulating to everyone’s perfect temperature.
Hot water. We have had fine water up to about 1 (2?) years ago when our boiler started failing. We had an oily residue come in the apartment when the fix was going on (this was really annoying and responsibility denied/​not taken by management). the water was then too hot. A phone call had it fixed in a reasonable amount of time.
Now, however, we have not had hot water (well, we have had low trickle warm water after a five min wait) for two months. After the awful east village explosion, our recent boiler fix was inspected and con ed said various things had to be tweaked. Of course they (con ed) are super sensitive right now — but — i would rather have things fixed to a higher standard than not. Next con ed said we had to have new meters. This has added WEEKs to the water situation.
It isn’t just water — it is GAS. So — if you want to cook, bake on a gas stove you are sol.
What else. The people who live in my area are very very very nice. Very mixed, culturally. The courtyard area is always maintained very well. I have never seen a rat (we do have cats all over taking care of things).
The train is very close. The neighborhood is clean and safe. The restaurants are plentiful and varied.
Is the acropolis itself GREAT no. Is it ok. Absolutely.
Is the neighborhood Great. Pretty much!
Is the N/​Q perfect Nope. BUT as a last stop, you always get a seat.
Is the management efficient — not always. I frequently work with them. There is one guy who is really rude all the time — but another who is always really great.
Is maintenance perfect. No. But they are friendly and for me — generally come to see my situation right away and i have reasonable response/​fix most of the time. Could the stair wells be cleaner — absolutely. Is my apartment falling apart… no more than I would expect for an almost 100 year old apartment (some cracks, some creeks, some calls — to maintenance).
Do I want to move — well — I wish I wasn’t on the 5thfloor every time I start to climb. BUT on balance: I really like it here and I am willing to work with what is available/​people/​management to reasonably make things better.
This is my 25cents worth.

The positive reviews must be from the management company, or someone who is just clueless.
There are a few things I need to share on Unilocal.I’ll start with the laundry fail room.
There are two laundry rooms, and both are filthy! There have been several times that I opened a machine and roaches crawled out. It’s also smelly! The machines leak water. Pet owners wash their pets bed, blankets whatever and leave the hair in the machine. They don’t bother to clean it out. Unfortunately, there are no more laundry rooms. One was closed down for repairs. That has been over a month, maybe 2 months. Absolutely no work has taken place on the first room. The second laundry room, machines fail constantly. Good luck on finding a machine that works. Now, that you found one, lets hope it does not eat up your money. The dryers that do work, don’t actually dry your clothes. On April 29, there was a minor fire on the second laundry room. The same day, management had workers repairing the room, until The City of NY put a stop work order. NYC found violations.
Moving on.
There is a huuuuge bug problem, and a growing rodent population. Try walking in the garden during the summer. See how many bugs you swallow just from breathing air. Last Friday, I almost stepped on a glue mouse trap. Someone flung it out the window into the garden area. The glue trap had two mice still alive. AND! it was witnessed that a medium size rat was scrapping the garbage area for take a guess – GARBAGE. Where are all the cats? Some person killed them off one by one with poison.
The door buzzers do NOT WORK AT ALL. You can’t buzz a person in, and the person cannot buzz you to alert you they are downstairs. This has been over a year now.
Water pressure sucks. If you need hot water in the summer, don’t count on it, if you need cold water in the winter don’t count on it. It’s either only cold, or only hot. You either burn your ass, or freeze.
Before I forget to mention, there are loud guys that smoke pot and drink alcohol in the court yard, and in the outside area. Hey, I’m all about a good drink and occasional smoke, but do it in PRIVACY. I don’t want to see it, or hear it at 1am on a week night. The security cameras DO NOT WORK. This place is The A-​CRAP-​olis. It lives up to its name.

wonderful place to live! I have lived here for over 3 years. Beautiful garden view when you look out your window. close to the train! 20 minutes away from the city! Walking distance to many restaurants and local bakery’s! love it here!

I have lived here for a year and I really have no major complaints about this complex. The apartment is spacious, with amazing lighting (not just for NY apartment but for any apt), heat and electricity has always worked, no bed bugs ever, really quiet neighbors, close to the train and great restaurants/​nightlife just around the corner. It seems like all of these negative reviews are from like years ago and the area in general seems to have definitely improved because I am not having any of the issues that have been listed.

I was once a coop owner here so here is my two cents. If you are thinking about moving here, do yourself a favor and do a little dd. Just walk around the block and through its courtyyard and perhaps two things will come to your mind 1. it’s dirty and 2. the security doors are opened. Talk to the residents and you will hear about bug and maintenance issues. Further because of the security gaps, on numerous occasions when I came home late at night, there were ppl hanging out smoking in my building entry way nook. Please be diligent If you are thinking of buying a coop here. Please take a moment to review its financials and chat with the residents and you may uncover some very alarming facts that may dissuade you from further considering the purchase. For example you may quickly notice outlier ratios in the financials and the mounting fines. Hopefully this would save you some money and heartache in the future…

I’m just about to complete the end of my 2 year lease in The Acropolis other wise know as The ACRAPolis to people who live here.
I lived in the 21 – 06 C section of this complex. If you are thinking about moving into this building I would advise you to look else where. This building is old, run down and not properly taken care of. We have had extensive problems with heat and hot water. For starters there is NO FUNCTIONING heat in either of the bedrooms. The heat in the living room does work but very poorly. Unless you like heating you apartment with space heaters this is not the place for you. We were also without hot water a lot, an average of 1 – 2 times a week and that’s being generous. our average electric bill in the winter was approx. 150 $/​month which is even more expensive than the summer using our air conditioners. If you do decide to make this horror your life I would suggest telling you landlord you want them to pay a portion of your electric bill in the winter time since you will be using heaters every day.
Best of all is when you try to contact management, it is like pulling teeth for them to advise what is going on with the heating/​hot water problems. Once I got my landlord involved and she called management, they surprisingly have no records of any heat or hot water complaints. SHOCKER they are covering their asses saying no one had called. I know this is a lie as I called the office and 311 multiple times to report these issues. I walk my dog and would frequently see other tenants of our building and would ask them about their heat/​hot water and they had the same complaints. Poor heating if any, horrible hot water problems and dealing with a management company that doesn’t respond.
The grounds of this apartment complex are not up kept. Broken glass through out the ground, piles of trash, piles of dog and or cat shit, buzzers and gates that don’t function properly, dirty stairwells and entry ways. And the spaces between the buildings is disgusting, garbage every where, I’m not surprised some people have complained about rodent issues.
There has also been complaints of bed bugs. We luckily did not experience this and cannot leave this place soon enough. We did however have some roaches here and there.
I spoke with real estate agents, some won’t even deal with this complex because of such bad reviews. The real-​estate agent we spoke with said for us to pay the raised rent of 2000 $ is crazy for that building and we could find newer places with heat and hot water that functions. This place is a piece of sheeet, look else where as you will find a better deal.

Worst experience of my life. This was my first home in NY and the worst renting experience I’ve ever had. First we noticed huge roaches, and then found out we had mice. Before long we discovered we had bed bugs. Management did little to help. By that point I was too fed up to stay. B/​t work, school, and non stop infestations of some sort this place had me on the verge of a breakdown.
There are no pros to moving here. I don’t care if it sounds like a decent deal it’s not. That building literally needs to be destroyed, it’s so run down and no matter how much you clean there is always a layer of dust on things. Seriously, what the heck is up with the dirty hallways?! I wish I would’ve moved in to a studio in Brooklyn alone upon moving to NY b/​c I wasn’t thrilled about moving here, should’ve trusted my gut. I’ve been living in Brooklyn Heights now for about 2 years now and it doesn’t cost much more and is super clean. I’m so much happier being in a clean/​secure building.
Please don’t move here!!! Save yourself the headache!

Stay away from this place! I owned & lived there 3 years. The grounds just got worse and worse while the cost went up and up. If you see their management offices, you’ll see where all the money goes. It took 2 years to sell. I lost buyer after buyer because banks don’t allow loans for that building due to terrible finances and poor management. Their words, not mine. Their finances are allegedly a mess. The management is allegedly corrupt. I have no proof, just heard from lawyers, banks and locals. Worst mistake I ever made. Stay away! Anyone who says otherwise has an ulterior motive. They either work there, own and sublet, or own and are protecting their investments. They’ll sing another tune if they finally sell. Great location though.

I owned an apt. here for five years.
Pros: it’s a good location near the train and some good food.
Cons: the building is over 80 years old and is falling apart.
Every apt. either has a roach problem or a bedbug problem.
The maintenance is over $ 650 or/​month and it all goes to paying off the enormous financial problems they have.
The building is rarely cleaned and the «security» is non-​existent.
The cameras and the locks on all the gates are broken.
The hot water would go out twice a month – always on the weekends.
It is filthy; the courtyard and garbage areas are horribly maintained.
The heat (when it is working) blasts constantly in the winter so you have to open windows.
Most owners claim the units are 600+ sq. ft. This is a lie. They are approx. 460 sq. ft.
The management is a huge scam: their office is maintained immaculately (paid for by the owners maintenance fees) as an illusion to he the complex is kept. They should be thrown in jail.
Banks do not want to give mortgages because they are co-​ops and because of the horrible financials.
Stay away from this albatross; don’t get fooled into buying here as I did.

I owe 2 bedrooms apartment in this place. Even I pay 750 dollars of maintanence fee every month I could not manage Mr Brandon (office guy) to give order for sweeping and mopping weekly routine of cleaning the apartment stairs. Apartment has lots of dirts and even smells. Lousy management with lots of attitude. Mold problems on the walls, water leaks, mice and cockroaches…

I lived there several years ago, and moved out after 3 months.
It’s true, there are many different towers, entrances, and the grounds were actually pretty nice back then, however the apartment I lived in was a dump. Our landlord lived in Florida, and we would have to mail our rent there. When I moved in, it was a converted 2 bedroom into a 3 bedroom. The apartment was literally falling apart. The floor boards were loose, and you would watch all of the cockroaches come crawling out between the floor boards. Everyday, I would have to check my bed for bugs. The neighbors had no respect or etiquette. It was extremely loud, and uncleaned. When I called management to take care of the bug situation, I would have to take a day off of work for them to come. However, they usually never showed up. When called, they would say I would need to reschedule for several weeks. The day that I moved out, the entire kitchen cabinet fell off the wall. We discovered, it was barely even attached. It was only attached to the wall using wood glue and some sort of tape.
They are constantly advertising on Craigslist. I only see this because I am trying to move back to the Ditmars area. Not worth the money or frustration.

I have been an owner here for over 6 years. I would like to share my perspective as an owner. This has been a fantastic place to live. It’s a prime location near great restaurants and shops. Security has never been an issue. If you are a young professional looking to purchase a place instead of throwing your money away on rent then this is the perfect place. It’s affordable, safe, 3 minutes from the train and in a great neighborhood !!

Don’t know what these jokesters are talking about… Fine place to live.
Great bang for your buck!

I am a current resident and have never had a problem with bugs, but there is a security problem here. A security guard was even assaulted in July by a group of people that buys drugs out of one of the buildings. Management advertises that the premises are on 24 hr video surveillance but the cameras don’t work and the locks on the gates are always broken.

Please note — Acropolis is made up of apx 16 seperate buildings and so if there was a bedbug problem in one, it’s like having a bedbug problem in any seperate building 8 buildings away from yours. I would ask about the particular building you plan on moving in. I have lived there for 6 yrs and we’ve never had a bedbug problem.
Management is another story but if your landlord is good you should be ok.

Just don’t do it. Not until they get their shit together enough to take care of their bedbug problem.
The Acropolis Gardens is a fantastic location. I admit. I myself almost moved there twice. The first time was in the first set of towers off of Ditmars. I paid my deposit, then went to clean the apt and found a note from the previous tenant that there was a bedbug problem that never got treated. Upon a conversation with the landlord, it was true. So I didnt move in. Got my money back.
A few years later I moved into a completely different tower. I know dumb, right? But Im figuring its a huge complex and I know people that live there bedbug free. This was on the other side. I literally moved in on a friday only to find the baseboards and outlets caulked up. I called the landlord and he confessed that 6 months prior there was a bedbug infestation. Sure enough the next day a bedbug. on. my. daughter’s. pillow.
Thankfully I got my money back and moved back into my apartment but not before EVERYTHING was fumigated and washed and dryed. It was a nightmare and we lived 6 months being afraid we brought them with us.
In short, the problem is the management who wont treat the ENTIRE tower. They are all privately owned. But the management should be extremely aggressive in treating this. If you guys are reading this, bedbugs are a HEALTHCODE VIOLATION and not being treated properly is AGAINST THE LAW and its illegal to not disclose this info.
Check on the bedbug registry. They are ALL OVER that registry.
Shame, because like I said the location is fab and the courtyards are awesome.