Connecticut House, a “nuisance” property, will be managed by the same company that oversees the Brandywine Apartments

by Marlene Berlin

The apartment building at 4500 Connecticut Avenue will be under new management as of the new year.

On Monday, November 28th, Connecticut House residents received this welcome letter from Borger Management.

It is our pleasure to announce that Borger Management, Inc. has been appointed the Managing Agent for Connecticut House, LLC effective 1/1/23. We are excited about this opportunity to provide you with our professional management services; and we are proud to add your community to our select portfolio of residential properties….

The notice is the result of a settlement between the DC attorney general and DARO, the owner of Connecticut House and about a dozen other DC apartment buildings. The settlement, announced on October 20th, barred DARO from managing its own properties, and gave the company 18 months to transition management to a third party. That third party is Borger, in this case.

The Borger letter to Connecticut House residents did not mention the settlement, nor did it acknowledge the building’s longtime issues with security, trash, noise, and numerous police and fire department visits. Last spring, the Metropolitan Police Department referred the building to the Office of the Attorney General’s nuisance buildings division.

Just up the street, at 4545 Connecticut Avenue, is a Borger property with a history of similar problems: the Brandywine Apartments.

A year ago, the Brandywine Apartments Tenants Association president provided Forest Hills Connection with an update on that building’s issues. Back then, David Luria said, it was getting better. The tenants association had been meeting monthly with the police, and Borger responded to their demands for 24-hour security and new managers who were more responsive to tenant concerns.

With the change of Connecticut House’s management in mind, I contacted Luria again. His response: Livability has once again degraded. Police visits to the Brandywine increased by 35 percent over the past year to average 16.4 per month. That’s every other day, and more than triple the average in 2016. Luria said most of these incidents involve domestic disputes, mental health and drug abuse issues, and noise, but each incident rarely rises to the level of a crime.

The Brandywine tenants association gets copied on complaints from residents about issues including:

• Dog urine and feces on carpets
• Persistent marijuana fumes
• Mold in the walls near the laundry room
• Noise disturbances at all hours
• An increase in rodent and insect infestations
• Lack of accessibility, including parking, for residents with disabilities

Luria said the Brandywine Apartments has long been understaffed for a building of ten floors, 305 units and 500 residents, taking up half a city block. In 2018, Borger eliminated the position of an in-house assistant manager who lived in the building. Although the on-site manager is responsive, no one is available to seek out and respond to issues between the hours of 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. Also, the 24-hour security has been reduced to 8 to 12 hours, depending on the day.

Luria said he feels that the residents, who are paying $1,900 to $4,500 per month for their apartments, deserve better.