Arias Park Slope cuts back on doormen service, prompting “aggressive” response from tenants

Arias Park Slope, a 95-unit condominium-turned-rental building at 150 Fourth Avenue, has opted to limit its doorman service, Brownstoner reported.

In an email, management told tenants that the service would be scaled back from 24 hours to 12 hours a day, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. A tenant described the response from residents as “aggressive,” fueled by recent rent increases for those who had renewed their leases. The residents are “concerned about safety, convenience and, frankly, getting ripped off,” a tenant told Brownstoner.

In April, doormen at the Arias and other New York City apartment buildings rallied together to allege they have not been paid the $22 per hour they are guaranteed by law, as previously reported.

The managers of the 12-story building, which did not comment to Brownstoner on the change, is weighing the option of a “virtual doorman” that would allow tenants to screen visitors and gain entry through an offsite command center. There is currently a CCTV system, so visitors can be seen and heard before being given access to the building by a tenant, the report said.

Invesco Real Estate purchased the building for $57.5 million in 2011, and was the second-biggest commercial sale of that year in Brooklyn. [Brownstoner] – Mark Maurer