I lived there for the longest year of my life.
Pros:
- Great location
- No fee apartment
- Laundry in the complex - but the exterminator suggested that we shouldn't use it due to the bed bug problem in the building
Cons:
- BED BUGS - After my first inspection from the exterminator, he said that they were coming from the surrounding apartments. He said that on that day, he had appointments in almost every building in the complex. We scheduled a monthly appointment to treat the apartment so the bed bugs would die if they came through the outlets/floorboards. Which they did. I didn't sleep well for a year.
- insane amounts of dust. No matter how much we cleaned, it wouldn't get rid of the dust. I know that is standard in NYC, but I've never seen dust like this in my eight years of living in this city.
- roaches. There is an overall problem with roaches in the complex, but I think my neighbors had a particularly bad infestation, which of course, carried over to our place.
- minimal security. My boyfriend's car was damaged multiple times (always on the driver's side facing the sidewalk) whenever he parked next to the building.
- our buzzer failed to work the entire year we were there, even though they claimed that it would be fixed the first week that we moved in.
- dirty stairwells and courtyards. They rarely, if ever, cleaned.
- safety. During a "water issue" in the building resulting in no hot water (no notice given), they managed to dig a fairly deep 4x4 hole in the building's entrance, only being covered with a flimsy piece of plywood. Scary.
- management. While I know that many units are owned instead of rented, our landlord was ridiculous. After finally moving out, the landlord claimed to have put our security deposit in the mail, but after quite a while of not receiving it, I started calling their office to follow up. Turns out, no check was ever put in the mail. Shocking. After a tremendous amount of back and forth, they deducted $400 from our deposit due to tiny, insignificant damages on the wall. Fine. At that point, I was just ready to be done with this place for good. Only after I uttered the word "litigation" regarding returning our deposit did they actually get their act together. If you are not 100% willing to track their process along the way, don't expect to ever get your deposit back.
The long and short is this: the Acropolis is in a great location, but the numerous headaches brought on by poor management and lack of sleep due to a tremendous bed bug problem make any other place in Astoria a better place to live. Just don't do it. read more