AVA Fort Greene — Local services in New York

The front desk staff, Maisia, is very impolite, impatient, and unprofessional. She obviously hates her job and the residents here. I am not sure about the reason and I would hope that she is not racist. I have learnt through other Asian residents here that they have also been mistreated by Maisia in different ways, but we all observed that she was rather nice to the white residents here. It is rather confusing and I really don’t want to attribute her negative attitudes towards racism, but I also cannot think of other reasons. It would be best for both her and the residents that she finds another job that she likes.

On Aug 11, one of the ACs in our apartment was broken, so I asked another staff at the front desk to send a maintenance personnel up to check. I gave permission for them to go in when no one is there. They did go and moved some boxes in the apartment while checking the ACs.

I noticed later when I got back that they already came, but they didn’t identify the one that was broken. I went downstairs again to ask the front desk to send the maintenance personnel again whenever possible. It was Maisia who was there by the time I went down, and she was very dismissive. She briefly asked on her walkie and then insisted that no one from the building ever went to my apartment. Whenever I tried to explain the communication I had with the other staff, she would interrupt me by yelling “You are not listening”, and continued to claim that no one ever went to my apartment. At that point, I became worried as I did notice other people moving things around in my apartment when I was not there, and if, according to Maisia, it wasn’t the maintenance personnel, then I am gravely worried about my safety. Maisia refused to look further into the issue and told me to call the police if I felt unsafe. I was very shocked that she suggested me call the police, for it could’ve been easily solved if she either listened to what I told her or if she actually looked into the issue.

I later confirmed with another front desk staff, Kenyon, who was, contrary to Maisia, professional and helpful. He helped me confirm that it was indeed the maintenance personnel who went into my apartment, and I stopped worrying about safety. He also said that he would talk to Maisia after hearing about our conversation.

Later, when I went to the front desk again for other inquiries, Maisia was there and told me that Kenyon talked to her. She further asked me why I did not express my opinions about her to herself and made an apology (she made it sound sarcastic, and I really hope she didn’t mean it that way).

Later, I went downstairs and was looking for a package on behalf of a friend. She was, again, impolite, dismissive, and refused to help. On top of that, she accused me of being upset at her when everything I said or asked were directed towards finding solutions. I later communicated with other Asian residents living here, and surprisingly (or maybe not so really), many responded that they have been treated horribly by the same person at the front desk. I did not mention her identity, but all people responding immediately knew that it was Maisia that I was talking about. According to them, she has also been mean and dismissive, yelled at them, and even accused one of them of stealing coupons from the front desk.

I do not understand how and why she is still working here. She obviously hates her job. I don’t understand why she doesn’t quit if she hates this job so much, and I don’t understand why the building never responded to her abundant unprofessional...

Update 4/8/25: The high-rise elevator situation that plagued us last summer has since been resolved. Most days, all of the elevators are operational. I appreciate the attention that building management has given to this issue.

Update 8/4/24: The high-rise elevator situation has been a mess almost all summer. This morning we received the third email in about as many weeks stating that ALL THREE high rise elevators weren't functioning! That means that everyone accessing floor 26 up through the penthouse level is left to use the hot, stinky, and slow freight elevator.

For the majority of the summer we've only had access to one working high rise elevator. For as much as we pay for rent, it's not a lot to ask to have regular functioning elevators. God forbid a resident has a serious emergency and is slowed down by these constant malfunctioning elevators - then AFG will really be in for a problem.

I'm not sure what the crux of the issue is, but this is untenable and the building needs to figure out a real solution to this problem.

Original review from September 2023: I’ve lived in the building for a little over two years and it’s largely been a pleasant experience.

Ava FG is a pet-friendly building and many residents have dogs. I adopted my first dog last year. Thanks to him, I’ve befriended many of my neighbors, dog owners and non-dog owners alike. We even have a group chat. We care for each others' dogs and if someone needs a dogsitter, multiple people volunteer. I am so grateful for the community I have here; they make Ava feel like a real home.

The concierge staff is as wonderful as everyone says. I'm always happy when I see Rafael, Kenyon, or Miasia at the desk. They're all welcoming, go the extra mile, and make residents feel valued. They also know many of our names, and in a building with hundreds of units, that's impressive!

Building maintenance deserves a shoutout, as well --especially Christian, Gabriel, Burt, and Hector. They’re courteous, knowledgeable, and the turnaround time for solving issues is fast.

There are three reasons why I’m not giving the building five stars: The elevators break down too often. Building management is always apologetic and they call the vendor to fix the issue right away. But, it's still an inconvenience when it happens. I’ve begun to wonder if the service vendor is incompetent on purpose to keep themselves in business.

There is a plaza outside the building open to the public where unfortunately a lot of nonsense goes down. Folks dealing with mental illness and/or those on drugs tend to congregate there. They routinely cause disturbances and sometimes harass people who pass by. Just last week, a woman--who'd literally set up camp outside the building entrance--followed me and my neighbor as we walked our dogs. When my dog (rightfully) barked at her because she kept taunting him, she snarled "stupid a-- dog!" I didn't engage and she eventually moved on to bother someone else. This issue is not necessarily the building’s fault, but it is part of what comes with the territory living here.

Each year, it seems they rent to more and more students. It's beginning to feel like a dorm, which changes the vibe in the building - and not for the better.

Lastly, I do wish there was a dedicated dog play area or dog run like they have at a neighboring Avalon building. Fort Greene Park is nearby (yay!), but I don't particularly feel safe going there after dark. It...

Update to DO NOT MOVE HERE!!! 8/4/24 This morning all high rise elevators down again. As I got downstairs using the freight elevator (which was also down last weekend) I saw firemen by the elevator bank. I asked what was happening and was informed someone was stuck in the elevator. The kicker is this was the same elevator that was being worked on for the past few weeks, that they were waiting for a part to fix and supposedly was all good now……yeah THAT elevator. And this is not the first time I’ve heard about someone getting stuck in recent history. 1 out 3 elevators remains out of commission with no idea when it will be fixed while the other two elevators take turns breaking down after band aids get put on them. This is completely absurd especially given the cost to live here.

DO NOT MOVE HERE!!! 7/16/24 I have reviewed in the past when the quality of service was much better. Have lived here over nine years. Quality started to noticeably decline about 3-4 years ago. In particular the elevators have not been consistently working, especially on the high rise side. For the last two years there is always at least one elevator down but often more and we are left to rely on the freight elevator. Over the last few months there has been a noticeable uptick in lack of service. We are sent generic emails about management looking into/working on restoring service. Never any real updates as to why the consistent problem. For the last couple years the scenario has been the elevators break, they bring someone in to fix them, they work for a couple days, maybe an week and then they are down again. For the last couple weeks we have had to rely mainly on the freight elevator with spotty use of one elevator while a serviceman worked on one of the other elevators (there is a third that has just been down indefinitely). Currently all high rise elevators are down and the freight is not responding to pressing the button to keep the door open while people exit and enter. There is also no air circulating in the freight elevator so it is like an oven. This has been extremely frustrating to say the least but given this is also happening in the summer when we have record high temperatures/humidity, and we have people who rely on wheelchairs living on the high rise side, this is dangerous and difficult to understand why more measures have not been taken to actually fix this issue rather than apply band aids. Rather than spending our rent on changing the facade of each floor back to the same thing we had before (totally unnecessary use of funds) they should spend it on the elevators and poor air circulation in the hallways. Truly disappointing decline in service and...