Brashear Towers Senior Citizen

This is not a place for mom or any senior citizen! I just moved out today, [date removed]. Old management was excellent. New owners and managers last couple years absolutely not. Many things taken away. 1. Windows in apts do not open. Fans only blow stale air around. My apt was 77 to 80 consistently. Only saving grace was when air conditioning season was there. Some apts were cold, some good, some too hot. When a toaster or something overheats, no windows to open to clear it out. 2. Seniors, including those disabled in walkers or wheelchairs, Not allowed to sit outside under the awning. Instead must go a fair walk or ride to the smoking area. Three chairs, no awning and floods when it rains. 3. Only activity was bingo. Other activities recently started by residents with discouragement from management. 4. Bathrooms near lunchroom locked. 5. If complains, residents are told they can turn in their notice to move. 6. Many residents call it a prison with manager the warden.

The apartments and building are very nice. I have lived in other HUD housing apartments and this is the nicest I have seen. The windows are new and do not open. SO WHAT! Most of the complaints about the old windows were that they were drafty. So they are not drafty any longer and everyone still wants to complain. The building is clean and the management cares. It is in a good location. Please do not let the complainers that have posted negative comments persuade you from coming to live here.

The reviews listed here are not truly accurate. Yes, the windows do not open, but it is not that big of deal. The building is nice and the management is great. They go out of their way to help in anyway they can. I have seen other government apartments and they are run down to the ground, so if you want to complain you should move.

I live here. It appeared to be a good place for the first couple of months. Other residents told me when I moved in that " You will find out its not that nice "..It is now the fall season. The building is on a boiler system so once they shut off the A/C you are SOL> If you live on one of the upper floors the heat in your apt will be at least 80 with no way to let the heat out. The windows don't open. I will be moving when my least is up. BEWARE SENIORS !! according to the AAMA safe temps for seniors is 68 to 76...mine to day was 84

The outside of the building and the public areas Have been remodeled but The apartments are old and falling apart. They made all kinds of promises Of a totally remodeled Apartment but when my furniture was waiting outside I was shown an apartment with just some paint on the walls. This is an apartment building but tenants are treated as though they live in a jail. There is absolutely no respect shown to the senior tenants. In some instances I’ve heard staff speak to residents in a manner that I would consider senior abuse.

I posted a long review here in May 2018. Some things better, some worse. the public restrooms are still closed during the day, evenings and weekends. New owners Silvertree are renovating the whole building since May of this year. Completely new exterior "skin". Replaced common areas carpets with tile. Repainted all the hallway and lobby walls. Fixed the A/C system. Those are the better improvements. All of the windows were replaced with ones that do not open. No more cool night breezes to freshen the stale apartment air. Now and since they were installed I've had to run the A/C and a fan almost 24/7. And my electric increased about $10-$15 a month. Then they hung computer-generated 'paintings' on the hallway walls. Now the place looks like a hotel. Took out the snacks vending machines and have no intention of returning them. Still haven't resumed Friday night Bingo. This week the new wall light switches for the pool room, TV room and library room do not work properly and the exercise equipment mysteriously disappeared. Can't wait to see what's next.

This is an excellent choice for subsidized housing. I have only been here for 2 months and there are new owners and a good maintenance staff and very clean since the older reviews given here. No hurricane unsightly fence now! This is Oct 2018. This is not comparable to assisted living so that is the reason for less stars for care services. The residents do look out for each other. There is a small pool/tv room, small exercise room and large dining area to be remodeled The grounds are clean and well kept as well, as snow and salt removal the residents have told me. Only planned activity is bingo, but residents plan card games, a trip to casino, etc.

Been living here about 10 years. The quality of life has dropped over time. Used to have excellent maint. crew of about 5 people. Repair requests were performed in a timely fashion with follow ups to make sure everything was OK. The grounds and parking lots were kept neat and clean. The common areas also kept clean. Only problem at first was an arrogant and dictatorial manager. She was replaced after a couple of years. New management was OK until a couple of years ago. The maint. staff has been gradually been cut to one person as of now. He is over-worked. Housekeeping is farmed out to a small crew, sometimes one person spending all day vacumming the hallways and dusting - which is haphazard and sloppy. Hallway windows go for weeks before getting cleaned. The 1st floor common area restrooms used to open 24/7 for the convenience of the residents and visitors who's needs were urgent. Now and for a few years the restrooms are locked 24/7 except for the key in the office if one can wait that long, which is available only during office hours.New 1st floor hallways and lobby carpet was installed last year. Took a week or more to install. Only after it was finished did management realize that the patterns didn't match up between the lobby and the two adjacent hallways. The lobby carpet had to be pulled up and re-done at what expense? A hurricane fence was installed all around the building as a safety measure for upcoming building wall re-surfacing work. That was 5 years ago. No new building surface and the fence is still up. Looks like a 1930s E.Berlin ghetto gulag. 15 or 20 trees were cut down last Fall for reasons never given at promised tenant/management meetings which also never happened. And lastly - the cable company switched over from analog service to digital which required tenants to purchase a conversion unit. But the two TVs in the common areas of the lunch room and the billiards room have not been converted. Management claims they called the cable co. But haven't followed up after over 6 weeks - that is if they ever called them at all. So the programs that many people here like to watch (because they do not have the multi-station service in their apartment) on one of those TVs cannot be watched. So all in all the quality of life and services here at the Brashear Towers is less and less what it was but should be.

Main managers are excellent, [Removed] as well as the building support staff. Always on top of situations and provide needed upkeep and support for residents. Compared them to other low-income providers in the area and they are the best choice.

Lived here for 7/8 years. Been nice until a couple years ago. Maintenance staff reduced to one from 5. Ugly hurricane fence all around building. Trash around building. Ground floor public restrooms closed evenings and weekends. Several "accidents" have occurred as a result.