Green Bancroft was managed by Troy Green — an out-of-state resident and son of NFL football player Tim Green — who was accused of permitting and not fixing unlivable conditions at his apartment properties in the Empire State. Green Bancroft has been cited multiple times for code violations at the local apartment complex.
City of Dayton and local public housing officials say they are concerned about the empty and boarded up Bancroft Apartment property, which could be a nuisance and an eyesore for an area that is seeing a lot of new investment, including the redevelopment of the DeSoto Bass Courts housing project across the street.
“We share the community’s concern about Bancroft,” said Jennifer Heapy, CEO of Greater Dayton Premier Management, the local housing authority that owns and operates DeSoto Bass. “That said, we remain ready to collaborate with the owner and community stakeholders to encourage a positive outcome for the neighborhood.”
HUD-supported housing
Late last year, HUD sent letters to residents of Bancroft Apartments, located at Danner Avenue and Bancroft Street, saying the agency was abating its Section 8 housing assistance payment contract with the owner of the apartment complex, Green Bancroft.
HUD said ownership failed to remedy major health and safety threats at the property, and eligible residents would receive tenant protection housing vouchers and relocation assistance.
GDPM helped 52 families relocate, with the last of the tenants moving out in July. Bancroft Apartments’ 90-plus units are now vacant and boarded up.
Green Bancroft purchased the apartment property in 2019, and Troy Green is identified as the contact for the buyer in a special instrument deed filed with the Montgomery County Recorder’s office. Green — whose address on multiple business records is a P.O. Box in Skaneateles, New York — also is identified as the manager of Green Bancroft in loan documents filed with the recorder’s office. Green Bancroft obtained a $2.8 million mortgage loan to help acquire the apartment complex.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
Troubles in the Empire State
Troy Green is the 31-year-old son of former NFL player Tim Green, who played for Syracuse University and spent eight seasons with the Atlanta Falcons.
Troy Green oversaw and was a member of limited liability companies and entities that owned, operated or managed multiple affordable housing properties in New York state, plus other affordable housing complexes in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, says a petition filed by the New York Attorney General in the Onondaga County, New York court system. Green’s father was co-founder of some of the management and ownership entities.
The New York Attorney General launched an investigation into Green’s companies in early 2021 after receiving reports of unsafe conditions and crime problems at multiple properties. The companies were accused of repeatedly failing to correct significant code violations in a timely manner that were a threat to health and public safety.
The attorney general said Green’s properties had roach infestations, plumbing leaks, weak security measures, broken elevators and doors, missing or faulty smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors and other issues.
In the summer of 2023, New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office obtained a court order that permanently banned Green from owning, operating or managing affordable housing properties in the state and required him to pay $152,000 in criminal contempt fees and his company to pay $299,000 in penalties.
“Tenants at Green’s properties were forced to live in unsafe and unsanitary conditions for too long,” James said in a prepared statement.
Green did not return multiple requests for comment.
In legal filings in 2023, the city of Syracuse alleged that Green’s properties had unsanitary and unsafe living conditions, and at times they were unfit for human occupation. A petition claimed that ownership and management continued to collect rents while allowing tenants to live in uninhabitable conditions.
Apartment buildings at times allegedly did not have heat or working elevators, and trash, human waste and hypodermic needles sometimes littered the common areas of the buildings.
Green’s properties were put into receivership and sold, court documents state.
Troy and Tim Green also appear to be preparing to pay $800,000 to settle a class action lawsuit filed against them by residents of an affordable housing property in Syracuse, which the mayor of the city once declared as “public nuisance No. 1,” New York court document state. Residents claimed conditions at the building were unsanitary and dangerous.
Bancroft Apartments
It’s unclear what is going to happen with the Bancroft Apartments.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
Steve Gondol, Dayton’s director of planning, neighborhoods and development, said the city remains in contact with the owner, and housing and inspection staff continue to monitor the site and will ensure the owner is held accountable for conditions.
The owner boarded up units when they became vacant until the property can be sold or reused, Gondol said.
According to Gondol, Green Bancroft has received seven criminal and civil violations for failing to maintain the exterior of its property. The violations were related to improper disposal of trash and debris; overgrown vegetation; overflowing dumpsters; and multiple unauthorized dump sites, the city said.
Housing and inspection staff received a variety of complaints about Bancroft in mid- to late 2024 and earlier this year, Gondol said. This included a complaint that garbage at the property was attracting rodents, and a property manager last fall complained that residents at DeSoto Bass were dumping trash at the apartment property.
Troy Green earlier this month paid a small fine in a misdemeanor zoning case for violating Dayton’s outdoor storage regulations.
Earlier this year, a Montgomery County Common Pleas Court judge issued a default judgment against Bancroft Apartments for failing to pay a $42,250 bill for lawn care and maintenance services at the apartment complex.
About the Author
