r/newhaven • u/Beto-143 • 18h ago
Olive & Wooster (O&W): Still a "No"
UPDATE:
- For clarity: This post is about owners who impose unrealistic budget cuts and arrogantly believe they aren't accountable to residents—not the on-site team, who can only do so much, and certainly not coffee. The recent assault at The Whit, along with O&W's dismal sanitation and maintenance history, underscores the seriousness of this accountability failure.
- Case in point: I learned today that our porter works only 4 days a week. This means that from Friday at 5:00 PM to Tuesday at 8:00 AM, a 300+ unit building operates without a porter. If you think that's acceptable, feel free to leave the owners a 5-star Google review.
Note: To save a few people the trouble of typing "just move out"—my lease runs through December 2027. Moving out sounds good, but breaking a lease is impractical and costly.
I hesitated to send this post because most people don't want to hear about things they can't change. But after so many neighbors, friends, and readers asked how things are really going at O&W-87 Union Street, I decided to share an update for anyone considering renting here.
The short answer: I would not rent here because the owners don't run O&W properly. Their decision to ignore our complaints and keep leasing fully staffed while under-resourcing O&W operations shows an arrogant business mindset that's become all too common.
We're all exhausted by companies that take your money, strip away basic service, and then make you feel like the bad guy just for expecting what you paid for. These big real estate outfits rely on deep pockets, legal loopholes, and political influence to operate under the radar and avoid answering to ordinary residents.
Take the building's coffee setup as a small example. When I moved in, coffee was unlimited—even if the machine was often broken or out of supplies. The owners eventually scrapped that, promising a shiny "new and improved" program. The catch? They capped residents at 30 cups a month, but the machine still runs out of beans and jams with a full waste bin just like before. They spent money on a new machine to cut their own costs and labor, not to help us.
When it goes down during prime morning hours (6 to 9 AM), and we ask for a quick 20-second text update once it's working again so people don't make wasted trips down to the lobby, the owners' agent flat-out refused. He claimed texting us would "bombard" residents and put an "undue burden" on the office. But two days later, the owners' agent sent two email announcements: the first about an elevator outage, and the second about service being restored—in a building with two other working elevators.
It’s not really about the coffee; it's the attitude. When the owners treat basic courtesy like an inconvenience, that same neglect trickles down to their agents and eventually to the stuff that actually matters:
• Sanitation: On weekends, the owners allocate only 9 porter hours (Sunday: 8 AM - 5 PM) to handle trash room duties for a 300+ unit building, covering 87 total hours from 5 PM Thursday to 8 AM Monday. This leaves rotting waste on our trash room floors for over 42 hours, timed to coincide with city inspection hours. When rodents show up, it's not bad luck—it's what happens when corners are cut. The evidence has been submitted to local officials, including Mayor Justin Elicker, LCI Director Liam Brennan, and Alder Carmen Rodriguez, and is updated weekly.
• Security: Look at recent local headlines, such as the unfortunate violent attack at the nearby Whit garage, covered by the New Haven Independent. When the garage gate and the HVAC systems for the lobby, the community room, and the gym have been broken for 9 months, as they have been at O&W, you have to wonder what happens when an actual emergency hits.
Big developers rely on the fact that short-term renters don't complain; long-term renters get tired, stay quiet, and eventually move away. But they can't hide from the clear evidence in the gallery above.
If you're touring the building, it looks great on the surface. But a shiny lobby doesn't fix a culture of neglect. Whether it's morning coffee, rotting trash, or broken security gates and HVAC systems, once you're locked in, you're on your own.
