Aro at 242 West 53 Street,

Manhattan, NY 10019

Lived here for a year. The apartments are nice, we were on the ~50th floor so the noise was pretty quiet and the views were spectacular. During out time there the AC broke a few times which was frustrating but for the most part the building functioned. No vermin of any sort.

The lobby was often messy, with the windows constantly being broken (not sure what was going on here). There were several noise complaints on our floor which the building didn't do much about. Felt like a pretty laissez faire situation. Amenities are expensive. Access to the rooftop costs $2500 a year per person (not per apartment), and that price doesn’t include guests. If you want to bring a guest, you have to pay $75/guest for a day pass. There is staff at the rooftop that enforces these restrictions. You can’t access any part of the rooftop without paying this fee. Even if you pay for the rooftop, you still have to pay for the gym, which is $125/month with a minimum 1 year commitment.

Professional staff, great location, competitive pricing

Other tenants’ pets pee and poop do not get cleaned as often as they should. Stepping outside the lobby into the minefield on the sidewalk is always a gamble. Fault of the tenants, not the building.

Staff manner and responsiveness, rental agent (Michael), quiet, cleanliness, style

hallway decor feels stylistically dated, circa 1975

Central location with easy access to subway. Close to Central Park.

Cheap finishes in kitchen and bathroom.

Can’t so anything to kitchen and bathroom finishes i suppose

The little things like trash chute cleaning every couple of months. Plenty of staff during the day for maintenance, cleaning, mailroom and reception. Emails are responded to. Rent renewal was fair. Maintenance is prompt when you have issues in your unit. Feels like living in a hotel.

Neighbors can be a headache. No one picks up after their dogs, so the ground is filthy in and around the lobby. The smell of urine and piles of feces are commonplace.

Keep up the good job

The amenities are good. Staff generally helpful. Location is central.

No proper exhaust for cooking. Quality of material used for some finishes (ie flooring and kitchen counter) are a bit cheap. Dog pee all around the front entrance. Very expensive access to the rooftop when you can only use it for half of the year. The building link app is great.

Thorough cleaning of front entry and post signs to let residents curb their dogs. More affordable access to all amenities.

Luxury building with incredible reviews

Neighbors play the piano a lot but this place is great otherwise

Location! Newer building

Dog pee and poop smell at the entrance; lack of greenery

Clean the area in front of the building on a daily basis. Plant some bushes and flowers to make the entrance more appealing

Very modern building. Great design, interior and exterior. Management is responsive, professional and the staff feels more like family. Amazing views, incredible amenities. Price is reasonable and management is not super strict with rules enforcement. The units are very well appointed. Any maintenance that is needed is done same day. GARAGE IN THE BUILDING WITH PRIVATE ELEVATOR ACCESS. True luxury.

It’s Midtown West/hells kitchen. We are very close to Times Square. Not my favorite neighborhood in Manhattan.

The door staff could be a bit more focused on the outside of the building. Help people who come out of cars with packages, keep an eye on the sidewalk and surroundings. Give a general sense of safety.

Clean. Responsive. Great amenities

Very expensive. Not for long term

Brand new building with a beautiful view on Manhattan, lots of space and storage, many facilities

Can’t find cons, I’m just not in love with Midtown

The apartments look nice and amenities are top notch (though overpriced). Climate control in units is perfect.

I’ve lived in ARO for over two years. They lure you in with fancy amenities (with obscene prices) and nice looking apartments but the reality of living there is another matter. The construction materials used look fancy but do not hold up. Nearly every apartment gets warped floors, to the point where they’re already having to replace them in some units. In the nearly 3 years I’ve lived there the windows have been cleaned ONCE. There’s always an excuse why they can’t yet clean them again but the reality is they are disgusting now which kinda ruins the point of having a view. There’s sometimes a door person, but the schedule seems random and good luck getting the desk staff to take the very minor effort to push the button to open the door. The package room goes on random hour long breaks and has limited hours anyway, and good luck getting the front desk staff to help you out when off hours no matter how urgent your delivery was. Maria, the person you’ll need to deal with for any communications about leasing, prides herself on being as unresponsive and difficult as possible. It can take WEEKS with multiple follow ups to get an answer. They had a fatal design flaw in the building so noisy facade work has been going on for months and every day cigarettes and metal shavings rained down onto our balcony. Elevators are frequently out of service (there were weeks when we had only 2 with 10 minute waits). I lived in a much less nice building before ARO but the staff made the experience living there a delight. The staff at ARO mostly don’t care.

Shore up your management. Replace Maria.

New building, great amenity, nice neighbors

Some staff is rude because they gossip and is not very responsive Takes forever to get hot water on high floor Very noisy when the building is under construction The elevators are always in trouble, drives tenants crazy Expensive rent

The service standard should do up to the rent people are paying Stop gossiping ( someone working on the front desk and always being fake friendly)

New development, clean building, no pests, great lobby/front desk and maintenance staff

The management company is absolutely terrible, they don’t care about their tenants and it takes quite a long time for them to respond to email.

-Great location -New building -Great Amenities

Roof access is too expensive.

Brand new, good staff, large amenities

Neighborhood has gone downhill since pandemic.

A on-site community manager would be helpful.

Very clean - building only build in 2018

Package room closes early on weekends and elevators can take a long time

Keep package room open later