523 West 173 Street,

Manhattan, NY 10032

Nothing at all

Do not live here! From the very beginning there were red flags I wish I paid attention to. The brokers told me I could pay rent electronically and that was a lie, had to order checks and use them every month. When I saw the building, I saw an apartment that I did not end up leasing. I leased a different unit and when I moved in the unit was in terrible condition. It was not cleaned or turned over at all. The previous tenant left and they literally gave me the keys the next day. The unit was disgusting, I wanted to throw up. Dirt and grime everywhere. I had to spend a lot of money hiring professional cleaners to make the apartment livable. The tub was the most disgusting and I have a picture attached to show. There was mold in my walls (picture attached). The super was never around however for the most part if I contacted him about something he would show up eventually. Whoever “cleaned” the building just cleaned the ground floor and maybe the first floor. The stairwell and my floor were never cleaned. Building is “newer” but poorly maintained. Virtually no maintenance. I had multiple leaks from the roof. On multiple occasions the handle on the front door of the building would break. One time it broke in such a way the door couldn’t open. I called the super and he didn’t seem concerned and I told him that his is a fire hazard because there’s no way to get out the building and his response was “well call the fire department”. There was no way to buzz people in to the first door of the building. If it was locked, you would have to physically go down and let guests in. However, the door needed to be locked because there were homeless crackheads who roam the block who would get into the building. I encountered multiple of them walking the hallways. The most offensive part about living in this building was the manager and the people and the block. I contacted her many many times throughout my time there informing her about issues in my unit and the building. She never seemed to care and would barely do anything. The entire summer and a part of fall there would be people blasting ear shattering loud music right in the front of the building all day and night (literally they would be out there until 5am). If your unit faces the front of the building then you’ll get no sleep. Overall this was the worst building and living experience I’ve ever had.

Get out of property owning and management, it's not for you

-very little/no pests! The perks of a new-ish building (built 2016). Occasionally see ants or a centipede or water bugs in basement, but really other than that it's nothing! Which is a relief after some of the places I've lived in!
-SOME neighbors in the building are nice and quiet and we all talk to each other.
-nice proximity to train at 168
-each apt has its own water heater! Great water heat but pressure can be not as good because of fire hydrants on in the neighborhood reducing the pressure. When it's good, it's great.
-Washer dryer in basement is a nice perk
-Very fair and worth an affordable price around or under $1800 (I think worth less for higher floors). More than that is not worth it for these apartments, you can find much larger nearby with quieter neighbors.

-You pay for your own heat AND air conditioning, and the units tend to malfunction and be extremely expensive to run/don't work that well at heating especially.
-Super noisy inconsiderate people living on the second floor ruins the whole vibe of this building. They party to all hours sometimes so loud you can't even hear your TV or you'll be jolted awake at 4am. Random kids come over (but don't live there) and run around screaming. They smoke as they walk through the building sometimes too. Nothing to be done about it, landlord won't kick them out.
-Basement leaks are frequent, just bandaid fixed over and over. A lot of mold down there.
-Kitchens are super small for the most part and the stairs are narrow and somewhat uneven
-Occasional homeless around/outside building
-No super on site.
-The guy cleaning does a terrible job so in general the floors just have dirt rubbed around.

Fix it right once, it will be cheaper than bandaid smaller fixes.

It’s not too big and not too many people live here.

Only one washer and dryer for the whole building

Keep it up