UPDATED: March 23, 2022 at 2:26 p.m.

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iaxuan Tang swiped into the stairwell of Aspen Syracuse’s Building 1 garage on the night of March 7. He had to climb the stairs to his apartment on the third floor due to an elevator malfunction, he said.

As Tang was about to step onto the stairs, he felt someone touching him from behind. Tang turned around and saw a man holding what appeared to be a handgun pointed at him.

“Give me the money,” Tang recalled the man saying to him.

Tang, a Chinese international student studying economics at Syracuse University, was the victim of an armed robbery at Aspen Syracuse apartments that evening. The suspect, who fled the scene on foot, was described as a man in his 20s, wearing all black and a black mask, according to a campus-wide email from SU’s Department of Public Safety on the same day.

Tang lives in Aspen Building 1, one of the three apartment buildings of Aspen Syracuse, a student housing apartment complex located at 4101 Brighton Place.

For months, residents of the apartments — many of whom are Chinese international students — suffered from a string of crimes and violence happening on the property, including car damage, trespassing, larceny and robbery. Residents also shared their unpleasant living experiences with The Daily Orange, such as poor maintenance response, infrastructure damage and unreasonable security deposit charges.

Such complaints have often gone unresolved, residents said.

Aspen Heights Partners and Asset Living, Aspen Syracuse’s owner and property manager, respectively, declined multiple requests for comment on residents’ allegations. In a statement issued through Antenna Group, Aspen Heights Partners’ public relations partner, Asset Living said it does not publicly comment on resident matters, citing the company’s policy.

“As policy, we do not publicly comment on resident matters. At Asset Living, we are diligent to address all resident concerns in a timely manner and will continue our correspondence directly with residents at Aspen Syracuse to ensure that any and all concerns are resolved,” the statement reads.

Property relations

Built in 2017, Aspen Syracuse is owned by Aspen Heights Partners, a property management company founded in 2006 in Texas. The company owns student housing communities in over 33 locations throughout the country.

To the east of Aspen Syracuse’s Building 3 lie the red-brick buildings of Vincent Apartments, a property owned by Green National, which manages over 1,000 apartments in buildings throughout the Syracuse area. There were 149 past-deadline housing code violations — such as broken doors, missing and/or inoperable smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors, roach infestations and plumbing leaks — reported at Vincent Apartments as of June 1, 2021, according to a press release from the state attorney general’s office.

On Feb. 22, New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced an agreement with Greenland Property Services, LLC, and its related entity Green National, requiring them to address all housing code violations within 60 days or face a $300,000 fine.

Although Aspen Syracuse does not belong to Green National, multiple Aspen Syracuse residents have said they witnessed outside people enter through the fences between Aspen Building 3 and Vincent Apartments. It is unclear whether the fence is part of Green’s property or Aspen’s.

According to a city of Syracuse Division of Code Enforcement document obtained by The D.O. through a Freedom of Information Law request, the city of Syracuse has determined an open code violation of Aspen Syracuse as of March 9. Aspen Syracuse failed to obtain a current certificate of compliance of the premise and was ordered to apply for the certificate within 15 days.

“The intent of this law is to ensure the safety of those persons who occupy the City’s multiple residential dwellings and properties of mixed residential and commercial character,” the document reads.

Asset Living issued a statement on March 23, stating that it is in the process of addressing this code violation with the Department of Neighborhood and Business Development, and that it is following proper protocol as outlined in the document.

Safety concerns

Tang was robbed in the Aspen Syracuse garage. To him, the garage cannot be labeled as safe at all.

Since October 2021, residents have reported outside trespassers entering the garage multiple times. On Oct. 17, 2021, around seven vehicles parked inside the Aspen Building 3 garage were damaged by several people who appeared to be teenagers, said Yuefeng Wang, another Chinese international student at SU who lives in Aspen Syracuse.

Tang said the design of Aspen Syracuse’s garage makes it especially easy for trespassers to get in, as there are windows near the ground level of the garage that are easy for people to climb over. Yingrui Liu, a Chinese international student resident of Aspen Building 2, said the same.

“The only benefit of Aspen’s garage is probably that your car won’t be buried in the snow over the winter,” Liu said in Mandarin. “It won’t help you at all in terms of security. Instead, your car might be more likely to get smashed because there are not so many people walking around there.”

On Feb. 21, Liu drove back to Syracuse from Rochester, New York, and parked his car in front of Aspen Building 2. He chose not to park in the garage because he had heard cars had previously been damaged there. He went upstairs to cook dinner.

Liu said he then received a message from a WeChat group with Chinese student residents — which has about 500 international students, among which 300 to 400 currently live in Aspen Syracuse — saying that multiple trespassers climbed through the broken fences between Aspen Syracuse and Vincent Apartments. The message said the trespassers were heading to Aspen Building 2. It didn’t take long for someone to hear cars beeping downstairs, Liu said. Liu checked his car’s mobile app, which showed the driver’s seat door and the trunk were unlocked.

Zipeng Lin, a second year graduate student at SU who lives in Aspen Building 3, was the one who witnessed four people — who appeared to be teenagers — climbing through the fences and notified other residents in the WeChat group at 8:33 p.m. on Feb. 21.

Lin said he followed the trespassers walking from Aspen Building 3 to near Building 2, and went back after he did not see anyone entering the building. He notified the group chat again at 8:39 p.m., sending a video filmed from afar, which shows a vehicle’s emergency light flashing in front of Aspen Building 2.

At 8:56 p.m., three to five minutes after Lin went back home, Liu texted in the group chat in Chinese, “My car was rummaged.”

“I was like, ‘Sh*t.’ I went out to check my car. The emergency flasher was on, and the car was beeping,” Liu said to The D.O.

Liu said he and his girlfriend’s jackets were gone, along with Liu’s headphones, vehicle registration, glasses and a box of gum. Liu’s trunk was emptied out, except for a basketball and a water bottle he usually takes to work out. His sneakers and hoodies were also gone.

In the lease, Aspen Syracuse outlined that the landlord is not responsible for any theft, damage or towing costs in its parking areas.

“There is no solution,” Liu said. “The … solution (Aspen Syracuse provided) was ‘not to put valuable items in your car.’”

The 911 operator Liu spoke to assured him that an officer would come over after he called. Liu said, however, that he waited all night and did not meet a police officer. He went to Aspen Syracuse’s staff the next day, who had him fill out a form to record his report. There have been no updates since then, Liu said.

Lt. Matthew Malinowski, the public information officer of Syracuse Police Department, said in a statement to The D.O. that while an SPD officer was dispatched to the scene that night, they weren’t able to get in contact with Liu.

Liu also said the fences in front of Aspen Building 3 were damaged once around Thanksgiving, and residents have witnessed trespassers walk in through the damaged fences multiple times.

“Me, my girlfriend and my roommate have been endlessly reaching out to Aspen,” Liu said. “They always say they are going to dispatch more security aids. Even after I reached out again (the morning before the robbery happened), they told me today that they’ve added security officers 24/7. Now we’ve got an armed robbery.”

Tang, the victim of the armed robbery on March 7, said he handed about $90-100 in cash to the robber, who then left the scene after making sure Tang didn’t have any more money. Both DPS and SPD’s information releases said no injuries were present.

“Terrible service, vehicle frequently got sabotaged and nobody cares. Fence were broken for weeks, nobody cares…” Lin wrote in a comment on Aspen Syracuse’s Google review. Aspen Syracuse responded with a comment apologizing for the delay in response time and adding that they’re doing everything they can to ensure a positive resident experience.

In an email addressed to Aspen Syracuse residents sent on March 1, Aspen Syracuse stated the property had hired a fourth courtesy officer who resides in the buildings. The property also hired armed officers to patrol the property at night and monitor the parking garages and the leasing center starting at 11 p.m., the email reads. It also stated that SPD will be monitoring the property’s entrance on Brighton Avenue.

After the March 7 robbery, Aspen Syracuse told residents it will add more security measures on its property in collaboration with outside support from SU and local law enforcement agencies.

“In response to this event, we have further expanded our third-party patrol services both in terms of individuals monitoring the property as well as hours monitored,” wrote Marlynda Walker, the community manager of Aspen Syracuse, in a March 9 email addressed to residents. Walker added that security officers will be onsite, patrolling the property and parking garages.

Angelo Procopio, an armed security officer hired by Aspen Syracuse after the armed robbery on March 7, told The D.O. that, while he has just started his job, he has noticed several security concerns surrounding the property, such as the dark street lights and broken elevators inside the apartment buildings.

Henry Brown, another armed security officer who was hired by Aspen Syracuse before Procopio, told The D.O. that Aspen Syracuse has been making some changes to enhance its security measures on the property. For example, the security officers received rosters of all residents sorted out by room assignments so that they can check it when seeing suspicious persons on the property, Brown said.

“There’s been some changes made, and it’s costing the company a lot of money,” Brown said. “It’s a nice place. We want to keep it nice.”

Christine Weber, SU’s communications manager of campus safety and emergency management services, confirmed in an email to The D.O. on March 9 that despite the fact that Aspen Syracuse is not a university-owned property, DPS officers are now conducting regular property checks and patrol surrounding the apartment complex. DPS was told that SPD will be doing the same, Weber said.

Unmet expectations

“Luxurious apartments, top-notch amenities, 4hr maintenance response guarantee, events intended for a busy college student, and monthly rates that don’t break the bank,” Aspen Syracuse describes the living experience at the apartment complex on its homepage.

The real situation, however, is far from “luxurious” and “top-notch,” multiple residents said.

Jenny Yang, an SU alumna who graduated in May of 2021, lived in Aspen Building 3 when she was a student. Yang said it took weeks for Aspen Syracuse to address elevator malfunction, which she said happened frequently while she lived in the apartments.

Han Mo, a first-year graduate student at SU, lived in Aspen Syracuse for a year starting in 2019. She then returned to Aspen, now living in Building 3, in August 2021. To her, the experience hasn’t been as pleasant as compared to what she had years ago.

“I actually felt different when I moved in this time. The last time, the room was clean,” Mo said in Mandarin. “This time, the floor was sticky, the fridge was dirty, the dryer and washer were full of sand and broken glass, along with the clothes from the previous resident.”

Tang also shared their experience regarding poor cleaning upon moving in. Pictures Tang sent to The D.O. show damaged walls in the bedroom, a broken bathroom drain and dirty clothes left by previous occupants in the corner in the room.

Mo said she and her boyfriend had to spend five hours cleaning the room when she first moved into the new apartment back in August 2021. While Aspen Syracuse staff apologized and solved certain issues on the same day, according to the email Mo’s boyfriend sent to Aspen Syracuse on Aug. 16, 2021, there hadn’t been any updates until Mo’s boyfriend reached out again a week later. The staff apologized again in an email.

When Mo’s boyfriend emailed again asking if Aspen Syracuse would provide any compensation in ways such as a one-time reduction on rent, Aspen Syracuse said it cannot offer any rent reduction but “would be happy to offer” some compensation in another form in reply to Mo’s boyfriend.

The proposed compensation was a $20 Amazon gift card.

“I told them, ‘I don’t think that’s compensation. I think that’s an insult,’” Mo told The D.O.

Aspen Syracuse ended up paying her and her boyfriend two $200 Target gift cards as compensation, Mo said.

Added charges

Jingyao Wen, Yang’s boyfriend who graduated from SUNY-ESF in May 2021, lived with Yang in Aspen Building 3 until they both moved out after their lease ended in July 2021.

Before moving out, Yang and Wen did a thorough cleaning of the entire apartment. Pictures Wen sent to The D.O. show a clean room with an empty fridge and a clean bathroom.

When Yang and Wen moved out, Aspen Syracuse informed them they would deduct $450 for paint damages from the $1,729 security and pet deposit. Aspen Syracuse staff said they needed to repaint the walls as there were traces of friction between a table and the wall, Wen said.

Wen consulted with legal services at SUNY Buffalo, where he is currently a graduate student in urban planning. The legal counsel he reached out to said the landlord should be responsible for the cost in this case, he said. After receiving no updates from Aspen Syracuse, Wen filed a small claim lawsuit against Aspen Syracuse in Syracuse City Court in September 2021. Wen said he expects the trial to start this summer.

“Aspen Heights Syracuse took $450 out of my deposit for no reason. I didn’t do any damage to the wall, but they charge me $450 to repaint the whole bedroom and common area,” Wen wrote in the nature of claim in the application form for the claim.

Mo and Lin said charging security deposits is typical among landlords in the U.S. But they’ve also heard many residents of Aspen Syracuse say they couldn’t get a full refund for that deposit for a variety of reasons.

“If they charge based on clearly, reasonably listed items and communicate between each other, then I think that’s OK,” Mo said.

Based on the law, landlords are responsible for normal wear and tear while the tenants are responsible for any damages, said Christopher Burke, an attorney and the director of Student Legal Services, a legal service funded by SU students through their undergraduate and graduate student activity fee.

According to the city of Syracuse’s Property Conservation Code, Section 27-125, a landlord has 21 days since the end date of the lease to return the security deposit or to provide an itemized list of what the damages are and the reason for the charge. The landlord may only claim such funds as “reasonably necessary” to remedy tenant defaults or repair damages caused by tenants that are beyond normal wear and tear. If the landlord doesn’t provide the itemized list within 21 days, the full amount of security deposit will be returned to the tenant.

Such a security deposit cannot exceed one month’s rent, according to the Residential Tenants’ Rights Guide issued by the New York State Attorney General’s Office.

Actions taken

Mo said she is organizing SU international students who live in Aspen Syracuse to spread the word to university departments. Ava Hu, an Aspen Syracuse resident and the editor-in-chief of WeMedia Lab, a Chinese-based new media platform serving the SU Chinese international community, wrote in a column on March 10 that Chinese international students living in Aspen Syracuse have jointly reached out to many SU departments and law enforcement agencies.

Eric Nestor, SU’s director of apartment and off-campus living, wrote in an email to The D.O. that his office will work with students who live or are interested in living off campus by discussing as well as reviewing options and resources to address the concerns they may have within their living environment.

“This can span topics of lease agreements, support through Student Legal Services, rent and budgeting, landlord and tenant relations, roommate conflict and general safety measures,” Nestor wrote. “We will also collaborate with campus partners, such as the Department of Public Safety, to provide workshops relevant to off-campus students. Any student seeking support or guidance on any aspect of off-campus living is encouraged to reach out to us.”

After the Monday robbery, Tang reached out to Aspen Syracuse about moving out of the apartment. But based on the lease of Aspen Syracuse, residents who move out before the lease expires will still be charged the full amount of monthly rental installments until the end of the lease term.

“Based on the concern of security of (A)spen, inconvenience of elevators, many times car crashed by people from outside, I am so disappointed and my life has been threaten(ed) already. Due to all the things happened above, I would like to move out as soon as possible,” Tang wrote in an email to the property management at 1:52 a.m on March 8.

Property Manager Walker wrote him back 17 hours later with the following:

“I have been trying to reach you about last night’s occurrence in Building 1s garage but I do not have a working phone number on file for you. I am so sorry to hear about the experience and wanted to let you know we have heighted our security on property by double. I have been working diligently with our hired security company, Syracuse Police Department and on property courtesy officers and staff all day to ensure the safety of you and our other residents. I am available to you at anytime so please let me know if I can assist you or if you have any questions.”

At 7 p.m. on March 10, DPS Officer Joe Shanley met with around 15 Chinese international student residents at Aspen Syracuse. Shanley told residents that while Aspen Syracuse is not part of the department’s jurisdiction, DPS has been working with SPD on enhancing the security measures of the neighborhood, increasing its presence and adding patrols on the Aspen property.

Shanley did not directly answer questions regarding the exact frequency or detailed schedule of such patrol. He said, however, that he is willing to connect the residents with appropriate campus resources to address their concerns.

“You’ve already taken these steps that I probably would have told you,” Shanley told the residents during the meeting. “You are taking very appropriate, mature steps.”

After the meeting, residents told The D.O. that while they are thankful for the increased police presence on the property, there is still ambiguity left in terms of a detailed schedule and long-term solutions.

“If we need DPS to protect an off-campus community, that means (Aspen Syracuse) has been dangerous enough in the first place,” said Will Jiang, a senior industrial and interaction design major who has been living in Aspen Building 1 since August 2019, in Mandarin. “The fact that (Aspen Syracuse is) hiring armed security officers also proves the same. This is the last resort. (Aspen Syracuse) had many chances to improve the situation but they chose to wait until now.”

In situations like this, Burke said, potential actions residents can take include reaching out to government agencies such as the Syracuse Corporation Counsel and the city’s Division of Code Enforcement. The latter can inspect the apartments and see if any code violations exist.

There are difficulties, however, in terms of initiating lawsuits to protect student rights in this case, Burke said. Considering many international students are only here for four years, a class action lawsuit against the landlord will be possible but difficult in this case, he said.

“That’s a long process. Nothing is overnight,” Burke said.

This post has been updated with additional reporting.

Asst. news editor Kyle Chouinard contributed to reporting for this article.

Banner photo by Francis Tang | Asst. News Editor

DISCLAIMER: Staff photographer Wendy Wang is a current resident of Aspen Syracuse. She does not influence the editorial content of the News section in her capacity as a staff photographer.