Complaint Review: Arbor Ponte Townhomes (Brookline Managment)

The address of this company is 31200 Northwestern Hwy., Farmington Hills, MI 48334. They also go under the name RHP Properties.

Hopefully, this will speed up things for the Better Business Bureau's investigation.

Ladies and Gentleman,
I am happy to report that I have been reimbursed my $299.99 dollars that I placed for a deposit down in Sept. 2003. It did take a while. After searching the web, I finally got through to Brooklines bookkeepers and presented the documentation to them. At first, they were confused on why my check was even cashed if I never even lived there. They apologized and sent me a check. I still think that the general public should look else where for residencency. The location in Lansing is very bad.

I use to work for Brookline and I know first hand how their employees and residents are treated. If you want a great apartment with a professional staff and quality living, go to any Hartman & Tyner Property. They know how to make their employees and residents happy!

I use to work for Brookline and I know first hand how their employees and residents are treated. If you want a great apartment with a professional staff and quality living, go to any Hartman & Tyner Property. They know how to make their employees and residents happy!

I use to work for Brookline and I know first hand how their employees and residents are treated. If you want a great apartment with a professional staff and quality living, go to any Hartman & Tyner Property. They know how to make their employees and residents happy!

I use to work for Brookline and I know first hand how their employees and residents are treated. If you want a great apartment with a professional staff and quality living, go to any Hartman & Tyner Property. They know how to make their employees and residents happy!

In July "03", I was one of these people suckered into this great move in deal. "Apartments are going fast, we need your $299.00 to hold your apartment!" the leasing agents says. So I give them a check to hold the apartment for me for a September move in. Lucky, I went home and did some investigating my self and logged onto the Lansing Police Website and found so many things about Arbor Pointe. It was aweful, the crime rate there was horrible, they had tons of citations against them for piss poor construction of the property. Immediately, I called them back, wanting to get my money refunded. That's been the tuff part. Everytime I call they have a new manager, so it seems like I'm getting no where. Finally I dropped the "S" word, yes sue, and then I get there attention. Brookline then comes back and says they have no record of my check. So I go to the back and give them a copy of my check with the bank they deposited, date, and when. They call me back and say, that wasn't their bank, and the signature isn't one of theirs, and they have no such accounting number. I'm keeply muffed right now. I have a receipt from Arbor Pointe, I handed the check to one of their members in the office, which by the way I was told was fired the very next day, and I never even moved in there. Time to call the BBB, and get my lawyer involved. Suggestions to tenants there now, call the Attornery General's Office of Michigan and make a complaint, also, you can draft up a letter to Arbor Pointe,stating you will hold you rent in Escrow at a bank until all repairs or problems are fixed. (This can be done easily at your Bank) Savings accounts can be done too, just be sure you put your money in there if they so happen to complete the work. However, viewing the comments that are so seen here, more than likely they will kick you out and take your to court, but taking these steps will surely bring you a step closer to getting those things done.

P.S. Still haven't got my check yet.

This is an article from the Lansing State Journal about how bad this complex is. I moved out in July and they had shut down 42 buildings and now its more. Don't ever move here. Read on to see how bad it is.



Published 9/1/2002

Neglected neighborhood

Lansing is considering options as Arbor Pointe owners promise change

Stories by Christine MacDonald



Less than three weeks after the owners of Arbor Pointe apartments promised improve-ments, Lansing has shut down about 30 more units and cut off new federal rent help to the troubled complex.



Disrepair: A boarded-up broken window on a red-tagged apartment is shown in mid-August at Arbor Pointe apartments. The window still has not been fixed.

And the owners' rental properties near Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor are drawing similar scrutiny for shoddy or unsafe conditions.



In Ypsilanti Township, police visits have soared to the 1,028-unit complex owned primarily by Farming-ton Hills business partners Ross Partrich and Joel Brown. Police are called there so often that township officials are considering billing the owners.



In western Michigan's Kentwood, city officials cited Partrich and Brown's management company in July for civil infractions for overdue repairs - the first time the city has done that in at least 14 years. The company agreed to pay $5,000.



At Arbor Pointe in southwest Lansing, the city has shut down 77 apartments in the past month because they lack windows or door locks, or because of overdue repairs. The 350-unit complex likely has far more overdue repairs than any in Lansing, according to a city survey of rental inspections.



Brown makes monthly visits to his Arbor Pointe complex, but still didn't know the extent of the problems and the city's dissatisfaction, his spokesman, Fred Marx, said Thursday.



Brown said he and Partrich have worked quickly to make repairs and clean up the grounds in Lansing, Ypsilanti and Kentwood.



"We are working with all three communities so that all the needs of the communities are met

Carol Wood, a Lansing city councilwoman, is disappointed with the owners' Aug. 19 improvement plan.



Among her concerns: It calls for fixing a broken pool gate by Sept. 10: "We could have small children that could end up falling in a pool," Wood said. "It's unbelievable."



Work needed



Repairs are overdue at 198 of Arbor Pointe's units, according to a city survey of the 12 Lansing complexes with at least 200 units.



These are problems discovered during city housing inspections that haven't been fixed and re-inspected within the time allotted.



The 11 other complexes combined have only 15 apartments with overdue repairs.



Correction notices range from no window screens to a water-damaged ceiling.



Arbor Pointe spokesman Marx said Friday that repairs have been made at most of those 198 units. Owners are waiting for the city to re-inspect them, he said.



The Lansing Housing Commission decided Thursday to issue another ban on new Section 8 voucher holders from renting apartments at Arbor Pointe. The reason: apartment managers failed to tell the commission whether repairs were made.



Last winter, the commission put a four-month ban on new voucher holders from renting at Arbor Pointe for the same reason. Section 8 participants pay 30 percent of their income for rent. Federal funds pay the rest.



Brown met with the commission Aug. 14 and promised improvements.



"We haven't seen any improvement at all," commission Executive Director Chris Stuchell said Thursday.



Originally called Canterbury Commons, Arbor Pointe was built with state funding in the early 1970s by Francis Fine's Fine-Bilt Homes. It's assessed at $8.7 million. Rent ranges from $615 for a one-bedroom unit to $840 for a three-bedroom.



Problems came to light there after 11-year-old Amber Reynolds was hit by a stray bullet as she lay in her bed last November. She barely survived.



Residents complain about vandals breaking into vacant units and a lack of outside lighting, among other things.



Brown acknowledges Arbor Pointe has had maintenance problems.



One major factor: He said he's had a tough time recruiting enough qualified staffers. He said he started recruiting a new regional manager this spring and hired Sam Gbadamosi in August. He also hired a maintenance supervisor, four maintenance workers and more outside contractors.



The complex has taken out eight building permits, required for some repairs.



After the city shut down an unprecedented 44 units in early August, Brown and Gbadamosi gave the city a time line of improvements that includes filling potholes, repairing fences and trimming bushes.



Fixing outside lights and adding address numbers to many of the townhomes to help police respond to calls weren't mentioned in the plan. Brown said those problems will be fixed in the next couple weeks.



The city has three options if the complex doesn't improve:



Ask a judge to declare Arbor Pointe a public nuisance. The judge could then order the owners to fix it and if they don't, penalize them with fines or jail.





Shut down the property for a year if two drug offenses occur on the grounds within six months.



Demolish the property if the cost to fix the units is more than half of the property's worth. The city hasn't calculated a repair cost.



As the city mulls its options

About 75 miles from Lansing in Ypsilanti Township, Lake in the Woods once boasted a nine-hole manicured golf course, a marina stocked with expensive boats and a community of young professionals.



Today, township officials say Partrich and Brown's apartment complex on Ford Lake has earned a new nickname: "Lake in the 'Hood."



The golf course is brown.



The marina's deserted.



Break-ins and domestic assaults are on the rise.



"It looks like a place where crime should flourish," said Michael Radzik, the township's police services administrator.



Police responded to 926 calls there through July of this year - up from 290 calls in the same period of 2001.



Radzik said the township is considering billing the owners for police service. Last week, the owners hired a security service to improve safety.

Ongoing problems



When Kentwood code enforcement officials inspected Partrich and Brown's four complexes there last summer, they mandated improvements at three of them ranging from new smoke detectors to filling potholes.



A year later many repairs had yet to be made, including fixing aging balconies and stairwells, said Terry Schweitzer, community development director for the Grand Rapids suburb.



The problems were found in Breton Court, Breton East and Walnut Hills. Hunters Ridge was not cited. Brown and Partrich bought all four in 1999 for $20 million.



Last month the city issued Brown 49 civil infraction citations and Brookline Management Co. received six for not making repairs. Brookline, owned by Brown and Partrich, manages the Kentwood apartments, Arbor Pointe and Ypsilanti Township's Lake in the Woods.



On Thursday, Brookline accepted responsibility for the six tickets and agreed to pay Kentwood $5,000. The 49 tickets against Brown were dropped.



Brown also agreed to clean up the properties. As a part of the deal, he plans to escrow $25,000, which will go to the city if things don't improve. If the agreement is broken, a Kentwood district judge said Brown could face contempt charges and be sentenced to jail or to live in his own apartments