Beware of Neighbors. Good Building Turned Bad
Pros
A very long and pleasant experience turned bad. What used to be a serene neighborhood is now trash. do not rent here. please. Read my review to understand why
Cons
I live in 534 McDonald Avenue and it was very very pleasant until I had new neighbors. Our neighborhood, Kensington, has buildings very similar to brownstones except it's poorer quality than brownstones. We share the same wall as the building to our left and our right. In other words, if I am in the rear unit on the 1st floor? I share the same wall as the rear unit on the 1st floor of the building on 536 McDonald Aveand the other wall is the same as the 1st floor of the building on 532 McDonald Ave. This means we hear EVERYTHING. Yes, we hear everything from each other due to the shared walls. Let me tell you how extremely problematic 536 McDonald Avenue, our neighbors, is because this is a big warning. I know my landlord has had a lot of tenants leave due to the noise problem coming from 536. Our landlord is absolutely exceptional - they have tried multiple times to confront 536 to no avail. For this reason, the landlord has multiple vacancies and even though I love this landlord, PLEASE for the love of God, do NOT rent this building. I know we are cheaper than the rest of New York City, BUT that's because of the 536 neighbor problem. It is NOT worth it. Please do NOT rent here. Please keep reading. Let me explain. There is a kid who moved in around 2023/2024 next door in 536 who is clearly of school-age but never ever goes to school. I believe they either get suspended often, can't advance to the next grade, the schools won't accept him, or something. The amount of wall banging (yes, on OUR shared wall), pots dropping, screaming, wailing, yelling, fighting, throwing of things against our shared wall, etc. is so bad, the entire building and the next door building hears it all. We are a tight neighborhood. We do laundry together. We actually went to school together. We questioned if we needed to report this as domestic violence. I believe someone did report this and there was an employee who went to our neighbors to check. Not sure if anything came out of it. It is not just a "little kid playing around for a few hours." That kid has some problem - he bangs, cries, throws things nearly 24/7. He cries so hard, everyone on the streets hear it. It is absolutely embarrassing and abysmal. I have seen the kid before on our block riding a scooter of some sort. This kid is beyond troublesome and problematic. He will ride his scooter into you so that he can hit you, and the adults "watching" don't care. There. That's the problem right there. A problematic kid comes from extremely dysfunctional parents, and they make the WORST neighbors. I know my landlord went through severe trouble confronting the 536 landlord, and they did absolutely nothing to fix this problem for over a year. A LOT of tenants in this 534 building left for this very reason. We have kids ourselves. Our kids do cry. Not 24/7. Our kids do fight. Not 24/7. Our kids do throw things when they are upset. Not sustained throwing 24/7. Our kids sleep. Period. Our kids rest. Our kids get tired. What is wrong with our neighbors? If it weren't for this extremely problematic building? This neighborhood is worthwhile. But honestly? So what if we have $1,000 cheaper rent that the average New York City rent? You will want to cry breaking the lease when you experience the pains of these 536 neighbors. I'm a scientist. I left because I am absolutely not letting these disgusting neighbors make me lose my career - something I worked extremely hard for for over 12 years. I did not work 12 years winning against thousands and thousands of professionals just to lose my career due to terrible neighbors. A lot of the people in Kensington are scientists and high level tech workers - many of us are literally in the same cohort. We would rather pitch in $1,000 - $1,500 extra to split a nicer home in Manhattan than to live near these neighbors. PLEASE do not rent here. I understand it is cheap. It is cheap for a really bad reason. Remember - in Kensington, we share walls. Just look at the way our buildings are built. We are literally glued together - I could use better architectural words but I want everyone to understand the depth of this neighbor problem.
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