Beautiful Building, skeevy owners
Pros
Elevator, live-in super, garbage taken out regularly, laundry in basement, kind long-time neighbors, very close to Prospect Park and subway, 5 years my rent was stabilized, many apartments in this building are rent stabilized
Cons
Check the rent history if you're moving in here! I did and I saw they doubled the price while it was rent-stabilized. But the outcome still wasn't great for me. My apartment was converted from a one bedroom to a three bedroom apartment without permits before I moved in and the new layout made a weird totally pitch black, windowless living room that's not very comfortable to be in. The landlord doubled the price by underhandedly claiming that conversion construction as improvement costs (IAIs) which I fought against. Years later though the city granted the de-regulation anyway (without looking into it) and the management immediately reneged a new lease offer and hiked my rent 24% with very little notice (like illegally short notice). They simply didn't answer back when I asked about negotiating so I had to pack up right away after years. Management is a giant landlord family who are ruthless and absent and who make it a hobby to test the enforceability of tenant protection laws. Thin floor/ceiling means lots of sound traveling between floors - music, conversations, kids playing, singing TV. Very, very creaky, dipping floors - it feels like there's an issue with the floor joists in some places. Electricity failed in our wing of the building one summer and they only initiated fixes when we threatened to withhold rent. We used to be able to go on the roof but they put a blasting alarm on the door. Packages repeatedly stolen and management was uncooperative about giving security footage. Windows are cheap and not well sealed so sometimes freezing air will stream in in winter. So expect it to be either cold or boiling. Expect to do apartment fixes and repairs yourself or to get either halfway fixes or be ignored.
Advice to the owners
Teshuvah
make it work
Pros
rent stabilized building, great super, overall tenants are nice, awesome neighborhood
Cons
property management is sketchy and hard to reach. you have to fight to get things fixed. but that’s common in nyc anyway. building is old and you can hear everything next door/above you. i had to move out because my upstairs neighbors were too loud. if i had gotten a top floor unit i would stay