1 Ocean Drive,

Brooklyn, NY 11224

new building, amenities, neighbors were nice, staff was nice

small square footage and horrible layout for what I paid. getting access to building was annoying as a tenant, parking garage damaged my car and refused to take responsibility.

High quality building with a good price; good amenities; lovely terrace with ocean view

Surrounding neighborhood looks sketchy

The concierge’s are pleasant. The apartments generally have great views facing the ocean or VZ bridge. High Jewish population & close to Seagate.

For 3 years tenants were not allowed usage of fob keys to enter building, w/o explanations. The lobby has flooded knee high during rain storms. Neighbors are a nightmare with uncontrollable children that have broken a mirror wall in the gym. The kids in the building have also broken the foosball table (it wasn’t replaced), stolen pool table accessories & dumbbells from the gym. The sofas in th lounge have stains. The pool has been broken. Kids through your cellphone from your lounge chair in the pool while your swimming. The walls are incredibly thin and allow noise to come through as if it’s in your apartment. Security is openly biased towards 4 minority families. Marijuana smoke wafes through the vents. Security uses implicit bias to accuse tenants meanwhile a dealer lives in the building stinking up the whole floor. Tenants dogs take dumps on the pet free patio. Tenants stole all the laundry carts. Dog hair is hefty in shared laundry machines. Management is unresponsive & reneg on amenities like free shuttle to train & free parking ($300+ a month). Pool is cold in winter. Also for 3k a month, the building should be spotless. The walls have plaster where there was wall paper & grime in btwn the tiles.

Have a diverse staff! Be attentive to tenants complaints. Clean this building like it’s a luxury building. No grime in tile crevices. No plaster, re-wallpaper.

Concierge. Most of them are exceptionally sweet. The rest and lovely. The parking lot is inexpensive and after enough mistakes, they “get” that they need to do it right. New manager is excellent.

RedApple Management is run by Katzimatedis. He is known by insiders to mistreat employees and skimp. In other words, he is very cheap. 1&2 Ocean Drive are advertised as “luxury buildings.” Keep in mind that there are no standards for that, so anyone can say that. At first glance, the glass buildings on the boardwalk are beautiful. A deeper dive shows the following:

Extremely high turnover of angry tenants. The revolving door of tenants moving OUT and in because they just had enough of management ignoring their requests for anything above the most basic repairs (READ: unless the hot water isn’t working or the handyman can’t fix it, management will ignore you and hope you forget). To make sure you understand: if you have maintenance requests that require a third party to investigate, IT WILL NOT HAPPEN WITHOUT A LAWSUIT, COURT/CITY ORDER, FLOOD OR FIRE. PERIOD!!!

Security: There used to be 24 hour security with an AMAZING head of security who sat up front and chatted with the tenants. He knew when to get tough, and when to be empathic. However, to save $10,000/year, RedApple made the decision to eliminate him, and 24 hour security.

Instead, they brought “bottom of the barrel” guards (one smelled so bad, he would keep anyone away) who split their time between both buildings. So 24 hour security became 12 hour security. Eventually, they brought back 24 hour security by folks who know what to do with a toothbrush.
Unfortunately, they never brought back the one guy everyone loved…well those tenants that still remained.

Windows: No screens. Understandably, they used to clean the windows twice a year. BUT…you guessed it, that costs money. So…they stopped. Now, there are no screens on filthy windows that can’t be opened because lantern flies and mosquitos will get in.

Employee mistreatment: There are labor laws for a reason. RedApple forces their employees to work extremely long hours just up to the point of violating NY Labor Laws. That’s vomit sick.
No wonder turnover is high.

They have 1 qualified handyman (after 1 retired) the other is questionable. They used to send the porter to do handyman work…you guessed it…to save money. Which actually didn’t because whatever he did had to be redone by a REAL handyman. That porter got offended and found another job.

Management is desperate: Tenants have a tenants only app and a tenants board (each post has to be approved by management). Tenants are angry at 100% lack of communication by management. They leave, they complain to 311. Management has been getting desparate.
They sent out emails offering $500 for referring tenants. Nothing. They upped it to $1000. No help. People aren’t happy living here. Why would they refer anyone but their enemies, but then they have to live with their enemies! Management hired someone to put on social hour 1-2/months. She brings food and sugary soda (no water or diet soda) with a theme. They will install a coffee vending machine. After 4 years, they FINALLY switched the keyfob entrance to the building so that tenants can use their keyfobs to enter the building instead of wait for concierge to let them it.

You're paying heavy for being cheap. Communicate frequently with your tenants instead on issues that matter instead of trying to bribe them with coffee machines.

Nice views. Quiet at night, despite the thin walls.

Smoke everywhere. Far from everything.

Respond better to complains

Building is great, staff is friendly and the amenities are awesome: swimming pool, gym, BBQ grills, front desk and package reception, underground valet parking. It’s also a new building and probably the nicest view (ocean and city skyline) that I’ll ever have. Beach is right there.

It’s a bit far from everything. Friends and work are always a drag to get to. Ended up investing in a car just to make the place feel less lonely.

Also, the area is pretty windy, so you can’t use the patio all year round.

I haven’t experienced this first hand, but based on the community board postings, some people have bad experiences with neighbors smoking on nearby patios and in their apartments.

The building is right on the beach. That’s it.

Management (Red Apple Group) is the worst. They have zero respect for tenants. They run this place like a dorm. People both old and young hate the restrictions and curfews placed for common spaces. Understanding the current climate with Covid m, they are way too rigid considering there are very little tenants in the building. Also, they had a covid outbreak amongst the staff and didn’t tell anyone

They are too afraid of fines and lawsuits and not the happiness of their tenants

Lovely and personable front desk personnel.
Pool gym beautiful views of the sweeping ocean.

Nothing at the moment