West 56TH Street Associates

The view is great

A bit noisy with the street. Windows thin

large building with nice laundry room (though machines are out of service often, some reject credit card), nice doormen, had freezer break down twice and mice twice.

pest control on the lower floors, no amenities really, heat doesnt work at night during winter and then blasts so hard in the mornings so you wake up sweating

handle mice

Maintenance requests were fixed promptly. Large bedrooms and big windows. 24/7 doormen so packages aren't stolen. Laundry in-building. Elevators. Prime location to Columbus Circle / Central Park. No pests on upper floor (yet). Tiny trash chute on each floor.

Old building and LIMITED HEAT. The building controls the heat, which means even if you turn on the heat in your apartment, it will not turn on unless the building has it on. Invest in a portable heater. Small fitness center costs $600/year (not worth). Thin walls. Poorly insulated windows with gaps so you can hear 56th VERY clearly (including horses, pedestrians, cars, daily construction in the parking garage, and trash trucks twice a week). Moving in and out is only allowed M-F from 9a-4p.

Great location, friendly staff, generally clean building.

Had mice issue a year back - have heard it’s not uncommon for building. I stopped bringing food home and no long have this issue.

big windows with natural light, central air, responsive super & team for repairs

Can't control the heat, thin windows

just let us control the heat

Friendly door people
Central location, a bunch of subway lines available

Heating was so fickle
Sometimes I was left super cold because the heat would not be turned on during the day time

Quiet neighbors, location is also pretty quiet, close to subway with lots of lines

A bit outdated but not too bad

Reasonable condition, gym in building, maintenance comes promptly, kind staff and management, great location

Can be hard to find open laundry machines, have to call maintenance a bit more desirable for repairs but it always gets done (some appliances are getting a bit old)

Great location with easy access to 59St-Columbus Circle Station and 57th St Station. Close to Central Park, tons of fast/fast casual restaurants nearby. Most doormen are friendly, all the handymen/cleaning staff are extremely friendly and go out of their way to help you with trash, etc.

Roach and Mice issues - Found a dead roach on the day of move in so I knew I was off to a bad start. Kept finding roaches (dead and alive) within the first month of moving in and it took multiple complaints and temporarily vacating the unit for any measures to take place. Certain doormen and super (if you can reach him) will gaslight you into saying it’s a waterbug and dismiss you of your concerns. Ex. You will complain about rats and they’ll respond with “Oh it’s just a mouse. You live in New York, deal with it.”

Unresponsive and Unhelpful Management - It’s hard to reach the super as he is either always away and “don’t have” an email/phone number to contact him. You have to rely on the doorman to pass along the message so there’s never a paper trail. When you request maintenance, it’s unclear when and what action will be taken so you have to follow up multiple times and again, they don’t take you seriously.

All the stress and paranoia of living there caused me insomnia and aged me about 5 years.

All that being said, the roach/mice issue seems to vary by unit. My unit and the unit next to mine had a lot of issues but I’ve also met residents who lived there for decades with no problem.

The doorman are super friendly. The elevator is always working. Appliances all work well. There is central heat and A/C, which is great.

Building is a bit old, saw some roaches a few times in the apartment.

Great and safe surrounding area, amazing doormen, spacious bedrooms, & has the most incredible super - overall perfect starter apartment!

Sometimes there was the occasional roach (happened 3 times over our 12 month lease) in the lobby or the stairwell….but its new york its gonna happen.

Lovely doormen, quiet on the side not facing the street

Cockroaches pop up in the lobby sometimes, and recycling area is gross

Doormen are great, new kitchen amenities. Responsive to fixing

Heat in old building so turns off during the day. Loud noises outside of building

proximity to Central park and Whole Foods, relatively quiet, friendly doorman

Ralph, the super, will be condescending and aggressive if you make any sort of request. He makes you feel as if you're being unreasonably picky if you make any requests or ask questions. He also neglects his responsibilities. Before moving in, the unit was in an absolute mess, so I wanted to make sure that it's in a livable condition upon moving in. I called to schedule a visit prior to my move-in date to make sure that things are fixed and ready to go. He didn't respond, and he reacted rather aggressively when I called him again. I ended up having to troubleshoot issues with the AC and everything after moving in.
This one time, when I needed maintenance help, I said I wanted to be present while the work was being done, and could come home early from work to accommodate his work schedule. He insisted that I allow him to enter without my presence, and I ended up giving him consent. Residents have the right to choose whether to allow people to enter their home, and he clearly does not respect that.
At this point, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have to interact with him until I move out, because even just seeing him makes me uncomfortable. I hope he treats all residents with respect.

good water pressure
location is amazing
nice doorman
shared spaces are maintained pretty well

Temperature control is awful. Windows are very thin and not insulated at all, so it gets suuuuuuper hot and humid when it's slightly warm outside, and it gets cold very quickly too.
The biggest issue is that the superintendant Ralph *never* responds. Even if you have a critical issue in your apartment that needs immediate attention, Ralph will ignore your request.

Super needs to do his job

- Doormen are great, friendly and makes tenants feel safe.
- location is amazing with easy access to subways and central park

- Constantly broken washers/dryers
- long waits for the elevators as they dont work consistently.
- building restricts food delivery (ie uber eats, seamless, etc) services - tenants have no choice but to pick up in the lobby
- no real maintenance on outside windows (last time windows were cleaned was before pandemic)
- rent increases are inconsistent year over year

Work on improving building facilities, amenities and services to justify increased rent year over year.

Location, amenities, nice views

No rooftop, sometimes the door is locked when the doorman is away for a short period of time, which can be frustrating in winters

The staff is helpful and great
The water pressure and temperature is great
The garbage management is amazing

Laundry room always has its problems

friendly and quick maintenance staff. Great concierges. Well kept, good communication.

Living rooms with no windows. No light fixtures in bedrooms and living room.

No ventilation in the hallways + carpet causes smells to stick around for a while.

Great door men

Sometimes water issues