Giannis Antetokounmpo might be a champion on the court, but according to a tenant who lives in the NBA player’s Brooklyn building, he might not be the best landlord.
Speaking to Defector about the situation, the unnamed tenant claimed to not have not had heat in their apartment since February 23, when a blizzard dropped over 19 inches of snow throughout New York City.
"From what I understand, a lot of people's heat has been out, because there's an issue with a condenser on our roof that froze over during the blizzard," the tenant said. "The management company hired people to come by last week, and they couldn't fix it, and so they had to order parts. Then they brought new people in yesterday who said that the people who came in last week fucked everything up."
The tenant claimed he reached out to Antetokounmpo on Instagram to hopefully get the situation rectified, but they haven’t received a response yet.
Elsewhere in the interview, the tenant revealed that they didn’t know that the Bucks player owned the building when they moved there in 2020; they discovered later from an announcement.
"I remember scrolling on Twitter one day, and all of a sudden I saw a screenshot from this trade organization that announces when famous people buy apartment buildings," the tenant said. "The first thing I remember seeing was my address. I was like, 'Why am I seeing my address on Twitter? That's crazy. Then I saw Giannis, his face on it, and there was a moment where I didn't believe it."
Regardless of Antetokounmpo’s ownership, the tenant has faced more problems than not having heat. They claimed the building suffered from "security issues" for awhile, as well as aggressive kids smoking in the lounge.
This also isn’t the first time the tenant has faced heat problems. They claimed they’d experienced not having heat for extended periods of time in recent years, but they received a rent abatement for the issues.
According to New York City laws, building owners are required to heat apartments to at least 68 degrees during the day, and 62 degrees at night between the months of October and May.
Antetokounmpo’s real estate investments continue to grow outside of this New York building and others in Wisconsin. Earlier this year, he made a $21 million real estate investment in Chicago that was reported to be the fifth property acquisition he made in months.