Ron J.'s review is absolutely accurate, although I will offer one clarification. It sounds like he…read morewas living in one of the corner units, and I do recall being told those share heating with the rest of the building. So the additional charge makes sense. That all said, this demonstrates the downward spiral this property has suffered under the management by Weidner. I'm not surprised our friend Ron didn't know about the extra gas charge because Weidner clearly doesn't know their own building that they bought! Whoever that representative is from Weidner that replied to his review is outright lying about the history of the building, the smoking policy, and I am extremely skeptical that they conduct daily walks of the property.
Having actually lived here for several years, I can share the history of the building. The original property management company was Sidal, and the manager was Heather. She was absolutely fantastic and did an amazing job in maintaining the community. For example, on a snowy night after business hours, you would see her outside shoveling the snow for the parking ramp herself even though they had a maintenance team that does that. For another example, before the package lockers, she would go around and deliver packages to all residents. She always demonstrated how much she cared about the community and was always thoughtful. It used to be a pet-free community, and it was always just a quiet community. It was ALWAYS a smoke-free community, so I find it unprofessional, bold, and libelous a Weidner employee would claim something provably and categorically false.
What went wrong was when Weidner came in to buy the property around 2020/2021. It seemed like about every 2 years, we got new managers. They churned through a handful of managers who were callous and failed to communicate changes since they acquired Gallery Flats. For example, the pet-free community suddenly accepted pets; no mercy for anybody that might have lived here to avoid pet allergies. There previously was no infrastructure for pets, so it's not surprising residents would find pet waste all over the complex. Just one thing Weidner completely mishandled.
I am extremely skeptical there are any regular building checks by the management. For example, there was a leaky pipe in the parking ramp, but that took several days before it got handled and repaired. On top of that, they never once communicated that to the residents. Another example is that they've only recently been sending emails warning vehicles that they're getting towed in the guest lot, which is cute, because it's not a secret that cars have been taking up those guest spaces, and nobody's ever done anything about them for years. And for one last example, there was a time where the building was smelling pungent, so they left a window or two open in one of the stairwells. But they never thought to close those windows for like months. I wasn't going to do their job for them either, but clearly they don't check their own property if open windows are getting overlooked. So just another thing they happened to overlook or outright aren't checking the building for. I will say they are prompt about maintenance for individual apartments, and Austin deserves credit for that. But only Austin deserves the credit, not Weidner. Ron is right in that the carpets are dingy and gross. They certainly haven't been shampooed recently, but it speaks to how poorly they maintain anything outside of your individual apartment. They used to vacuum weekly, but they cut back on that too since 2020. There used to be a larger maintenance and cleaning staff, but I think Austin might be the only one working these days.
Interestingly, Kimberly, the manager that was here through 2023 and that Ron mentioned, got promoted by Weidner. I think that speaks to how a terrible job by their own employees gets rewarded. I don't blame them when their employer has such low standards and is incompetent though. This property is hopeless under Weidner. They should just fire their leadership and hand over the property to competent owners. You've got plenty of better options in Downton Hopkins. Just don't rent from here.
