Great Location, Good Enough Building
Pros
Units are relatively well-priced, especially the ones with laundry. Street is quiet and tree-lined. Location is great. East Village to the one side and Alphabet City on the other. Many gardens and parks nearby, including a garden right next door. They have the appropriate contractors come if you have issues with the laundry machine, plumbing etc. instead of having the super try to fix something he doesn't know about.
Cons
No hot water about 5-7 days during my 1-year lease (each outage 1 day at a time). All were during winter. It was fixed within 24 hours each time but still annoying. Has not happened in 3+ months so maybe issue is resolved permanently but doubt it. Trash management was initially horrible (bags thrown in the backyard and no one taking it out for weeks) but new trash people were brought in and it's fine now. Trash gets put in bins and taken out frequently - but it's outdoors so still expect rats at night. There are rats in the next door garden so you will see rats almost every time you come home at night. They sometimes cross from the sidewalk planter into the garden right across the entrance where you have to walk. Superintendent is responsive, but he's not live-in so could take a while for him to come if not already in the area. Also means less cleaning of the building. More of an East Village problem but if trash gets spilled on the street from a homeless person or bags otherwise rip then the trash is left outside the entrance for a while until someone cleans it. Fake security cameras - they don't actually get used. The heat radiators aren't adjustable as far as I know. They run way too hot when activated and take way too long to cycle (will be extremely hot for the 15-30 minutes its on/ immediately after then turn off for hours to the point where its freezing again). I turned off the radiators and used a space heater instead.
Advice to the owners
Please put more effort into regularly cleaning the inside of the building and the sidewalk area.
Cozy and decent if you put the work in
Pros
The location and neighborhood are great, we love all the local businesses. Apartments are pretty generously sized for the area. Active tenants' coalition!
Cons
Management is difficult to reason with. Repairs are often short lived or half measures. The building needs major restorative work that the owner refuses to pay for. Some units are far less problematic than others. Staying on top of making maintenance requests plus 311 complaints tends to yield passable results, but it takes a lot of effort to stay on top of it all.
Advice to the owners
Sugar Hill Capital, stop being cheap soulless ghosts! If you want to make money off of withholding housing (a human right) you are legally an morally obligated to maintain it! Get it together, or just cut the losses and drop the building.
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