My wife and I, two senior citizens, lived in Birchwood Park in Cranford for three years. We were the original tenants in our apartment:
1. The floors are paper-thin, and there's no concrete between floors, so unless you live in a third-floor apartment, you'll hear the footsteps of your upstairs neighbors, as well as other common noises such as vacuuming. Even though we replaced our area rugs with larger ones, bought additional rugs, added thicker padding, etc., our downstairs neighbors still constantly complained about the noise. And this was despite our not hosting parties, playing loud music, exercising, or do anything else that would be expected to generate loud noise. The floors are so thin that you can feel them bounce when you walk from one room to another.
2. Equally troubling is that management, rather than acknowledge or try to fix the problem, reacted to our downstairs neighbors' complaints by having their outside counsel send us a formal letter threatening us with eviction!
3. The gym is tiny. Often, I was unable to get on a treadmill or exercise bike when I wanted to.
4. The other amenities are limited. There is no playground or pool.
5. Rents went up 5-10% each year. By the end of our time there, we were paying close to $4K per month in rent. read more