Amazing but with problems.
Pros
Loved this apartment so much. Was here for 4 years. Beautiful apartment building in amazing location. Fair pricing but does not care about loyalty/length of tenancy. No immediate access to super.
Cons
PEST CONTROL: few years were fine aside from cockroaches. However, mice became a huge problem. There’s no immediate contact for super (at least we were never given) but had to contact through the portal app. Had to wait for business hours. Then had to be in touch with the pest control people who have inconvenient times to come. Would stuff a few holes, give new traps but then mice would find a new place in the wall to chew or chew through the stuffed hole. That would happen over and over again and it got tiring. The problem supposedly is the wall is too frail and just too easily chewed into. Also had to discard the caught mice as again, no real super to do it. Also you can hear them chew and it wakes you up throughout the night along with sometimes hiring them scurry across your apartment Communication: through portal app. Improved over the years. There was a leak in the beginning and said they would come the next day. Stayed home to wait for them. They never showed and then never followed up after I messaged. It did improve but always has to be in business hours. Walk up. No laundry (but was on block)- this wasn’t a big problem for us. Pricing: it was still fair but continued to raise despite being good tenants and being there for a while. Didn’t care about previous pricing/stated whatever they wanted as reason to raise.
Advice to the owners
Invest in fixing the walls.
Out of control mice problem
Pros
Great location, beautiful prewar brownstone building.
Cons
I have had an incessant mouse and roach problem most of my time living here. I've been here for almost 4 years because I moved in with a covid price so when they raised the rent every year, it was still ok given the size and location of the apartment. Plus, there have been some times when there were less mice than usual so I would convince myself it was solved. Then it kept getting worse - they just kept coming back year-round. I've lost count of how many mice I killed in traps and there are far more that don't get trapped. The landlord is extremely rude and tries to gaslight me that this is simply to be expected living in nyc. I have been living in nyc since 2017 (in two different prewar building) and i would get a mouse here an there, but that was nothing compared to this situation. This building is horribly maintained, which is extra unacceptable given its age. The landlord could easily invest in better maintaining the building to limit the amount of rodents but chooses not to. You could only send so many exterminators before it's time to tackle the underlying issue of the building. Not only do I regularly see mice with my own eyes, I also see tons of droppings everywhere, including on top of my dresser, bed, and under my couch cushions. I temporarily put a bunch of clothes in a garbage bag due to droppings in the closet, and giant holes were gnawed into the bag from the rodents. The roaches and waterbugs (including the ones climbing on my kitchen counter and walls/ceiling) are a whole issue on their own, but the mice are the reason why I'm moving. It has become unbearable. There is also a bee problem. The large window in the living room has some type of bee colony that is impossible to reach from the inside and there is no fire escape or balcony to access it on the outside. I would upload videos of the sounds they make but there is no video upload option on this website. They once sent a special bee exterminator over but it didn't help. Once it gets warmer and they stop hibernating, there is an incessant scratching noise by the window and they frequently make their way into the apartment. Very large bees. Have probably killed around 100 of them. There have also been some pretty intense leaks from the ceiling during storms. I will upload a video I took of the worst one, but there was another one that actually ruined my laptop because it was coincidentally placed where the leak was (obviously place there before it started leaking). Also worth mention: I am a neat and tidy person. I don't live in squalor so none of the blame can be put on me.
Advice to the owners
Stop being cheap and selfish and invest in building maintenance. Stop patronizing your tenants. You know there's a problem and you choose not to do anything to the building.
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