Tenant Reviews for 235 W 56TH ST

Symphony House is one of the worst buildings in NYC to live. The owner is a trust fund kid who inherited the business from his father and does not care about his tenants. I have lived in the building for a long time and it used to be very high class with primarily professional tenants. Now it has become worse than a college dormitory. If you want to work from home you can forget about it at the Symphony House. The noise from the constant building renovations during the day and inconsiderate neighbors blaring stereo music makes it impossible to concentrate on your work. There is a non-smoking policy in the building but it is not enforced so you can constantly smell cigarette smoke in the hallways. If you complain to management about the noise they just ignore your concerns, even though they have a noise clause in the lease agreement prohibiting disturbances by fellow tenants. In fact, management has an office in the building that is locked and tenants have no access. The only acceptable means of communication with management is through e-mail. They don't like to personally interact with the tenants. The owners like to spend money to improve the cosmetics of the building, but there is no interest in improving the quality of life for the tenants. There are buildings in the area that are more expensive to live but it is worth the extra money to live some place else.

Do not live here!!! The management team are a bunch of liars who will do anything to make your life miserable. They refuse to put anything in writing, tell you things over the phone and then pretend like it didn't happen. They won't return your full security deposit, and they'll lose your packages. The doormen are lazy and incompetent, and the staff are rude to guests.

Listen to me when I say don’t move here. In 5 months the staff “lost” about $3,000 worth of packages (mostly what I sent back). It was always the nice things like an Hermes bracelet that never made it back. When I repeatedly complained to the property manager he sent me a notice for eviction saying if I didn't abide by certain conditions I would be kicked out…basically if I wasn’t “good”. The staff is rude and worthless. They do nothing yet continuously screw up. I ended my lease early bc it was so bad. I lived at Anagram in Nomad for 3 years and never had 1 issue with staff. At this building I found myself in shouting matches every week because they were taking what I bought and basically telling me too bad. One time I had food delivered and I couldn't come down to pick it up immediately bc I was on a work call.. 10 min later I go down to pick up my food and the doorman had thrown it away. And the lobby is dated and gaudy but they pretend like it is fancy.

I would not recommend living here. 1. I'd estimate that 20% of the apartments are corporate - that is, transient tenants staying for a short time. That causes security issues, not to mention the lobby often looks like a messy hotel lobby. 2. The doormen are, for the most part, pretty rude. Some of them (I won't name them, but I probably should) are the rudest I have ever dealt with. With the exception of Senad, who is a fantastic human being, the others just couldn't care less. 3. They won't let delivery folks come up to your apartment. This is just a deal breaker for me. 4. They won't accept fresh direct deliveries. That is another deal breaker for me. 5. The gym/pool (which costs over $1,000 per year) has ridiculous hours, that is, they close at 3pm on Fridays, which is the only day folks generally get off work at a more decent hour. They also close the pool during your lunch break. 6. There are other buildings in the area which are newer and are better managed that cost between 3-6% less. Do your homework.

This building has to be the worst run building in the city of New York, They even fired the only person willing to take on the outrageously lazy, disrespectful, and downright ornery staff that I have ever come in contact with. This building is a transients paradise with the doormen and concierges allowing ANYONE to enter without question. The owner Managers don't give a hoot about the lease holding residents all they care about is collecting the massive corporate rents from the over 200 corporately leased units. They rule the roost at the SYMPHONEY HOUSE what a DUMP flop house!

We just moved in a few months ago and are in love with Symphony House! We love being in the center of everything in NYC and jogging in Central Park! No deliveries to our unit is a downer but we understand it's for our own safety. Neighbors on our floor were welcoming, warm and friendly. The lobby is awesome and the staff is always attentive and helpful.

Symphony House has gone downhill badly since some years ago. Many permanent tenants who had to qualify with incomes 40x monthly rent have left, to be replaced by Corporate Apartments. 140-160 of the 400 apartments are corporate - meaning transient tenants staying for a week to months who do not have to, and probably could not, qualify on their own for a one year lease. Resident quality has not only declined for this reason, but security now is poor - the staff has no idea who lives in the building, the lobby often looking like a hotel lobby filled with luggage loaded carts of the temps coming and going. The tales the staff tell of women of questionable repute coming and going at all hours are dusgusting. Corporate maid services monopolize the 2 washers and dryers on each floor - whose cost is now $3.25/load! Most of the staff are great - with the execption of the doorman Chris who is never at the door when you need him but is hiding in the dark behind the columns or plumping pillows in the lobby, and Senad, who can be surly and uncooperative. I feel bad for the other staff because they do a lot for the temps and never get a tip, nor a Christmas check. Their incomes have fallen with the current resident structure. The water is constantly being shut off "for repairs". No fault of the building, but the noise from 8th Avenue, 57th Street and Broadway is unbearable. Every emergency vehicle crossing town uses 57th, and they get stopped by traffic - their sirens blaring and the fire trucks especially, laying on their air horns as well. Add to that the weekly jackhammers and digging up of 57th street, and you can only imagine the din. The construction of the new Nordstrom at 57th and Broadway should add nicely to the cacophony of sound for people overlooking 57th Street. We could not watch television on a very high floor with our windows open - the noise was deafening, and the terrace useless. It ia all a shame really because the apartments themselves are nice with our rarely hearing any sound from apartment to apartment, and the rooms large.

We really love Symphony House and its wonderful location. Also the building ownership is continually making upgrades to the property both interior apartments and exterior amenities. The new green roof is spectacular as well as the childrens playroom! And having on site staff is really helpful. Looking forward to life on our balcony!

I've lived here for a few years and love the location and convenient commute to my office. Many staff members here are good but there are a number of really horrible ones. The daytime concierge and doormen are good for the most part with the exception of the doorman with the mustache (Steve). He generally has a grumpy demeanor. There is another doorman who's name I don't know. He sometimes works the front desk. He's the rotund doorman with grey hair and is a bit oaf-ish. He is useless and lazy. Their electronic mail system was down one day and he refused to give me my package because he saaid he would need to manually log it by hand. He asked that I return later. There have been times when I needed to use the luggage cart to haul groceries to my apt. He would stand there and not think to open the door for me with the cart. Someone else had to open the door for me or I've had to open it myself with one hand while struggling to move the cart in with the other. He's also refused to accept deliveries (not postal) left for me because he didn't want to be responsible if anything was wrong with it. His words. I don't know why he thinks what the content of my deliveries have anything to do with him. As for the maintenance staff, some are good, some are horrific. There are faulty smoke alarms in the building. I've complained and the maintenance guy who came to check it out chalked it up to old batteries. I should also mention that his attitude is atrocious and unprofessional. I dont call maintenance often but whenever he responds to a fix request, he is extremely unpleasant to deal with. He supposedly replaced the batteries in my smoke alarm but a month later, the alarm went off for no apparent reason. Soon after that I had burnt popcorn that filled the apt with smoke. The alarm never went off. Real safe. The rentals in this building are expensive. With all the increases in rent every year, I expect service to be top notch from everyone but unfortunately, this isn't so. To be fair, there are some really great staffers (Josh, Fidel, Senad, Jeremiah, and some others). It's just a shame that there are some really bad seeds that tarnish the overall service experience. The gym is ok but the hours are limited. Other buildings in the area have much longer gym hours which is more accommodating for people who need to work late. Cigarette smoke is prevalent in the stairwells. I generally don't have a problem with the security staff but perhaps they don't check the stairwells during their walks around the building. The staff is huge. Be prepared to shell out an arm and a leg during the end of the year for tips. When I first moved in, there was a roach problem that I had to remedy myself. The building sent an exterminator but all they did was use a gel-like pesticide around the apt. The "water bugs" aka giant roaches were coming through crevices from the medicine cabinet. The problem was resolved after we sealed all the cracks and crevices in the bathroom. We also had a mold problem in the bathroom. After complaining a couple of times, the maintenance guys finally realized there was a leak behind the wall. We had to have the bathroom cabinet replaced because it was rotted from the water and mold covered the back wall. We also needed the a/c / heat unit replaced. It was likely old and we did get a new one but the maintenance guy who installed it (the one with the bad attitude) did not install it properly. He had the a/c working but when winter came along, the heat did not work. The apt was freezing and there was a draft coming from the unit. When we had another maintenance guy come to take a look, he told us that the unit was never installed correctly and it was misaligned so there was a large gap that was allowing cold air to come indoors. Laundry in the building is insanely expensive. Loads are small and cost $3.25 per load to wash and another $3.25 to dry. Paying $6.50 for a small load is ridiculous. All in all, this building is in a great location but it's too expensive. The good staffers are a pleasure but I dread having to deal with the bad ones. They are THAT bad and for the amount paid in rent, I expect service to be top notch all around.

I've lived here for 2 years, and there are several things that people considering living here need to know: - The management is horrendous. They are rude, indifferent, and generally unhelpful. - The rules to the gym / rooftop are ridiculous - you cannot have friends (not even 1 or 2) there unless they pay an all day visitor fee, the rooftop closes at like 6 pm, the gym is small, dirty, and closes early. None of these amenities are included in the exhorbitant rent. - Deliveries. This is a MAJOR problem with this building. No delivery men are allowed up the apartments, so if you order food, etc. you have to go downstairs yourself each time to get it. For larger packages like Fresh Direct, the doormen will routinely turn away deliveries - I've had to yell, beg, plead, and threaten management many, many times in order for them to accept my Fresh Direct deliveries. It takes an act of God to get your packages and groceries delivered to this "24 hour luxury doorman building." Truly sad and pathetic. - Rent. They routinely raise the rent $200 - $250 EVERY SINGLE year. I have been here 2.5 years and my rent is $500 more than when I moved in. Thus, I am happy to be moving out of this place! - Noise - it is incredibly noisy at ALL hours, especially with the ambulances on 57th street, construction, etc. You learn to drown it out, but guests I've had ALWAYS notice and comment on the noise. Overall, although the location is great, this place feels more like temporary housing than a friendly, residential building for long term renters (like more than 6 months). Don't let the beautiful lobby fool you - if only they kept up the whole place like they do that lobby - it's all for show!!!