Pros:
Good location, though very loud street. Building is cleaned weekly, though poorly. Big, shared courtyard that is full of broken ACs/furniture/trash. Spacious apartments. Management company is constantly changing.
I recommend the building at the current prices, but think post-covid prices will be too much, as pre-covid prices were.
Cons:
Very crooked landlords. ConEd threatened to turn off electricity because of non-payment. Landlords allow elderly people to live illegally in an empty storefront on the first floor.
Loud street. Garbage is stored inside and is smelly and often overflowing. Sometimes the upper levels start to smell because of the trash too. Noise travels in the stairs.
Landlord’s family lives in the building and are very, very loud, talking and yelling to one another in the hallway and stairs, and use the empty storefront on the lower level as a gym, makeshift daycare, and illegal apartment for elderly people. Not a single other tenant makes any noticeable noise in the hallway, but for some reason the landlord’s family thinks it’s appropriate to yell. Their noise makes it hard to work from home and it feels like a conflict to report them since they own the building.
Not all units are renovated equally, some are nice, some are outdated and scummy.
Courtyard is not nice and needs to be cleaned. There’s a ton of random discarded items like old mirrors and broken chairs thrown back there, trash and broken glass too. Could be made much nicer with better chairs and tables, maybe a shaded area. Overpriced building.
Advice to owner:
Move the trash outside. Clean the common area better. Keep the courtyard clean, it’s a waste of space right now. This building is a business, not your family playground.
STOP ALLOWING PEOPLE TO LIVE IN THE EMPTY STOREFRONT. IT'S DANGEROUS AND ILLEGAL.