Bancroft Commons

I am very glad to be moving out of here soon. After the second management change in the last 3 years, the newest company decided to offer a new lease at $ 75 per month more than what I was paying on the expiring lease… yeah right! I can confirm what everyone else is saying about the elevators, they are constantly breaking down and not being repaired. The laundry room uses cards that will only accept $ 5 bills as payment. That’s right, not $ 1 bills, not $ 10 dollar bills or even $ 20… only $ 5 bills, which is very inconvenient. Plus you have the added fun of having to go through the washers and dryers to see which ones are actually available and not filled with someone’s laundry which they forgot to take out several days ago. Not to mention the fact that last October, someone got stabbed in the apartments across the street on Portland St (also managed by the same company) and decided to come to 50 Franklin to seek help (please refer to a previous reviewer’s photo below). Coming home to a crime scene and police tape around the building was not a fun experience at all. The hallway carpets are filthy and have never been washed for as long as I have lived here, and the stairwells are just as dirty. People also just leave trash in the trash chutes and don’t even make the effort to push it down so they are usually blocked by the end of the weekend, and I have seen mice in the trash room on my floor. Getting packages is a pain especially if you work 8 – 5 because the leasing office isn’t open past 5 and you’ll have to wait until the weekend to get them. And they wanted me to pay over $ 1000 a month to live here???

If you’re looking for a place to live at, DO NOT LIVE HERE. I repeat, DO NOT LIVE HERE.
I had to find a place on short notice, and I knew a couple friends living at the main building across from the park. According to them, it was nothing glamorous and there were a few problems, but the rent was cheap. There were no rooms in that building available at the time I needed a room so I opted for a studio across the street. The rent was $ 725/​month, $ 75 for garage parking, and you would pay for your own electricity. You could do outdoor parking for free if you were willing to get a permit from the office every 5 days (max). One time I got my car towed because my permit was a few months expired, even though they didn’t mention it every time I paid for my garage parking.
Here are some of the problems I’ve had while living here:
— A rat came out at 4 AM and it took a week for them to put steel wool around my apartment (I actually had to sleep at school for a few nights because I was so anxious)
— You have to pay for maintenance issues like plumbing or even emergencies that can happen overnight
— Fruit flies are all over my apartment
— Half the laundry machines broke down and they won’t replace them
— Office staff is as apathetic as you can be and if you need something, you have to ask/​remind them 10 times
— Every night, someone’s blasting music or someone’s arguing outside for the everyone to hear
— They have internet (not wifi) that runs through the whole building. I bought the router they recommended, and it still didn’t work. They said that I was using it wrong and there shouldn’t be any problem. Long story short, after a month of no Internet, there was a problem with wiring behind the wall. Even though I knew this was the problem from the beginning, they ignored my complaints and took over a month to solve what could’ve been dealt with very promptly if they had only cared to listen.
Here’s the final straw for me: My electricity bill came out to over $ 200/​month. I’m barely home, and I use as little electricity as possible, so this doesn’t make sense at all. I was away for a month so I disconnected my meter, and it still came out to $ 191. That means I’ve been paying for someone else’s usage (who knows who’s). I have all the documents, bills of other residents to compare, and documents from National Grid, and leasing still refuses to do anything about it. After months of wrestling with the office/​NG about the situation, they still refuse to recompensate me or even look into the issue, but only that they can transfer me into another unit. But, that unit could still have the same issue? They’re not even going to help with me moving? My friends didn’t have hot water for a week, and they got a whole month of free rent. w t f???
As a grad student with tons of loans, I needed an affordable living space. With a few sacrifices, I was living to give up some comfort and luxury. If I knew that I was to face all these problems, I would’ve stayed at Skymark (600 Main St) down the street which has free parking, security all night, cleanliness, and prompt maintenance service, and convenience, even if it is more costly. I’d rather have spent a few hundred dollars than have to deal with all this stress that Bancroft has cost me. Don’t be duped by this company! It’s not clean, safe, nice, or convenient. I can’t wait to get out of here!

These guys are the most unprofessional people I’ve dealt with. They will waste your time. Do not even bother.

The apartments’ «new» management is simply a joke. The laundry has been out of service for 6 months now. Hot water comes and goes without a permanent solution. Leasing office closes 50 minutes before their actual closing time. Need I say more? It is a failing establishment that is slowly decaying and only a matter of time until the government forces it to shut down for health violations. Don’t be fooled by the «luxurious» looks of the complex from the outside, it really is rotten on the inside.

Please do not live here. They do not turn on the heat until mid October despite the fact that it has been 40 degrees and below at night for weeks. Do not live here especially if you have children. It is so cold.

In response to «Mo S.»:
Judging from another tenant’s review from April 2014, the place sounds about the same, if not worse, than when I left it. New management??? Ok.
How about the elevators? Still have the same, broken-​down elevators in there?
What a joke.

I have unfortunately lived in 50 Franklin since July of 2012. I will absolutely be moving out as soon as my lease is up. Actually, I’m moving BEFORE my lease is up. The place is AWFUL! It smells, the staff is rude, the building is dangerous. The elevators regularly do not run, and I have, on MANY occasions, seen people have to be rescued from them by the fire department after being stuck for long periods of time. The fire alarms are constant, and extremely obnoxious. It doesnt just beep, a voice comes on telling you to CEASE OPERATIONS AND EXIT THE BUILDING USING THE NEAREST FIRE EXIT or something like that. There is no parking, and if you park in the lot (that they charge anywhere from 50 to 100 dollars a month for) your car WILL be broken into. If you park in the garage it will cost you anywhere from 100 to 150 a month. So if your rent is $ 800 (just an example, most rents are WAY higher) you can basically consider it to be $ 900 or more because you have to park, and the street is not free during the day, or safe! The windows leak, and the heat is electric. Jan-​March the electric use is so high you will choke when you see your bill, even if you unplug everything in your apartment during the day. Most of the washers work, but many of the dryers do not. Some do not spin, so you know right away to switch to another one (after you’ve lost $ 2.00 or course) but some do spin, but have no heat! What a nice surprise to come back to wet cloths after an hour in the dryer. If you pay your rent or parking in advance, they WILL mess it up, and leave notices in your door saying you are over due, and making you look like a complete dead beat. And not to bring up the race card but if you are white you will have to pass a credit check, have good income, and you will be held to your lease terms regardless of how awful your experience is, all while watching drug users and alcoholics move in and out as they please with seemingly no repercussions. The only way to get maintenance done is to talk to the maintenance guys personally and make friends with them. THEY ARE THE ONLY GOOD STAFF IN THE BUILDING but they often dont get the messages that you leave with the office. I’m not sure if its peoples dogs or humans themselves but the stairwell almost always reeks of urine. There are rats in the trash rooms. I have heard people saying they have roaches and/​or bed bugs even though they maintain clean homes. Seriously, find a different place to live. Its awful. Get outa the downtown all together. Unless you are PART of the unsavory crowd, you will not enjoy your time here.

RUN AWAY… and don’t look back, seriously! I promise, you do NOT want to live here!
Like many other graduate students that were fooled by the pleasant building façade and lobby and temporarily polite leasing staff, I left before my lease agreement. I wish someone had warned me NOT to move in and this is why I’m writing to anyone considering it. PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND LIVE ELSWHERE!!!
1) It’s unsafe in the buliding, as in murders and stabbings, unfortunately not kidding. The threatening conditions include not only the surrounding downtown area, but many of these sketchy characters would be your next door neighbor (hence the murder and stabbing)
2) The elevators don’t work. Plan on, waiting 10 minutes each way, getting stuck, or taking the stairs, A LOT
3) If your neighbors smoke, your apartment will be filled with smoke. Maintenance suggested I get an air freshener.
4) The walls are PAPER thin, which means you hear the constant asinine yelling/​arguments from your ‘lovely’ neighbors
5) Again, the hallways and rooms smell like the festering garbage from the problematic garbage chute.
6) My hallway has smelled like dog urine for months
7) You will have MANY problems with your apartment, as it’s an old building that is poorly managed. Plan on leaks through the ceilings, walls, and windows. There will be pooled water throughout the building when it rains, let’s hear it for black mold!
8) Having repairs done involves a parade of maintenance workers each check out the problem for assessment with no actually follow up unless you are persistent with the office for months. Even this didn’t get many of the issues in my apartment repaired.
9) The fire alarm is set off incessantly including the middle of night!
10) Please DO NOT BE FOOLED by any false promises from the leasing office… I was told the elevators were being replaced, since then 2 have been shut down by Public Safety with a «Dangers, Do Not Use» sign in place. These signs have been hanging for 2 months with no sign of repairs in sight.
11) The office staff are friendly on your tour then take on an attitude of condescension and annoyance with any request or concern you have after becoming a resident.
12) Why would you live here? There are so many better options! The building is managed by the Mayo group, a simple search will show you countless reasons to avoid any of their buildings.
Good luck in your search!!! I’m so glad to be out of this horrific apartment, you would be too!

Staff is friendly, but not very responsive to work orders. I’ve asked weekly for the same security issue to be corrected and no progress has been made. The property manager failed repeatedly to give me a timeline for repair.
Rent here is a little steep for Worcester and they continue raising it. Regrettably, I recommended a friend to move into another one of their buildings before knowing how unresponsive the management would be and he has also had several issues. :(
I rent a parking spot in the Portland/​Myrtle St. lot and my car was broken into. Since then I’ve noticed several other people with broken windows and shattered glass scattered throughout the lot.
Smoking in the building is a problem. Smells leak in from other apartments and seeps into bathrooms, closets, etc.
The elevator broke recently. When I first noticed the problem I asked for signs to be posted to warn people not to use it until it was repaired. Hours later, still no signs and my neighbor ended up trapped in it for quite a while. She had a panic attack and now will only take the stairs… to the fourth floor. I later met someone else in the building with a similar experience.