Tenant Reviews for 33 WEST END AVENUE

The building itself is great. The apartments are beautiful, the gym is clean and large, and the management and concierges are nice and very friendly. The only downside is location wise to the subway- a little far... but luckily the building's van service that goes to and from Columbus Circle daily aids convenience. Rent is typical NYC rent. Overall great building itself, yet not greatest building location wise.

We've been here for four years. Started with a good Super and manager, and an amazing and friendly staff. Soon after the Super left and Mike, the head of maintenance, became the Super. I consider these the glory days. Mike was an incredibly generous, caring, thoughtful guy. Genuinely close to so many of us. Then something changed. I'm not sure if it was the management company or what, but the building came under new management and everything went downhill from there. Staff started disappearing one-by-one, all being fired or "transferred" to other shady buildings. They were instructed not to be too chummy. They were accused of ridiculous offenses and fired. The outside of the building is in a relative shambles, compared to when we came here. There are planters full of dead trees toppled over all around the front of the building. The front door and surrounding area is covered and caked with layers of dog pee that never gets cleaned off and smells. The common areas (hallways, elevators, public restrooms) are always dirty. We used to have several porters here that took care of trash, cleaning, and so much else. We now have one, and he is here all the time and overworked. On one of the rare occasions he wasn't here there was nobody else to move the trash from the basement to the curb, so the inside of the building wreaked of hot garbage for a full week. In the four years we've been here we've tried to leave every year, but have a difficult time as we own a very large dog and buildings that will allow her are hard to find. When we did find a place it was during our lease year. We tried to work out a deal with management, but they were deceitful, evasive and aggressive. They finally agreed to let us out if someone rented our place, and that they would show it. For five weeks it wasn't shown once, and they finally told us that they would only show it if there were no other apartments to show, and only if they had a walk-in (they would not advertise it). We can't wait to leave.

Avoid. This building has the potential to be pretty nice, however the management company and their employees are extremely disrespectful. The building upkeep is also very poor.

The management is horrible. Rates are unreasonable and there is MAJOR contruction going on all day. Stay far away. All good views are being lost and they are STILL raising lease renwals! Unbelievable! The super and staff are AMAZING. If it was not for them, this building would be one of the worst I've ever seen. Looking forward to my lease ending at the end of this year

Avoid. Rent is unreasonable for what you get and management and leasing office are questionable. Kitchen cupboards are popping off. Students are in this building and get loud. Staff are wonderful and make up for other problems. Overall, you can do better in today's market.

I have lived here for several years. I cannot say I have had anywhere near the same experiences as the other reviewers. I would recommend this building. The rents are on par with the rest of the Manhattan market for similar apartments.

One of the most mismanaged buildings in the area. One Elevator is out most of the time, The hallways are always dirty, appliances are very old, it takes months to repair and they never replace them, some apartments have bugs and they do nothing about them and you have to be ready to wait long time for the elevator almost every night when you get home. The management team is bunch of gate-keepers and never on your side nor they understand your issues. I could only give credit to the few good hard working people in the building. Unfortunately that is not enough to keep me living in the building. I can t wait to leave this damn place. The latest nightmare is the construction. In my opinion RUN!!!! DO NOT MOVE IN ..there are many better building and apartments in this area.

I am a resident at 33 West End Ave., been here three years. If you're thinking of renting here, here are some things to consider: 1) Pot smoke: you had better like it, because you'll be living with it. Almost two years ago, there was suddenly pot smoke permeating my apartment multiple times per day, including early morning and late at night. Enough so that I feel light-headed and if you walk out into the hallway you feel like you'll be knocked over by the stuff. I informed the management and have followed up with them multiple times since then; they claim they've taken various steps, but nothing has changed. I'm not the only person bothered by this; the resident bulletin board shows complaints from many people about it. 2) Waiting for elevators: you'd better enjoy that too. I have never lived anywhere where the elevators were out of order as often as they are here. A few times both have been broken at once; have fun getting to your high-floor apartment in that case. 3) So-so apartments: as other commenters have noted, the apartments are nice enough but not worth the price. Fixtures are middle of the road, sometimes cheap, nowhere near what they should be for the price. Example: early on, the folding/sliding door to one of my closets was constantly coming off its track, so I asked if it could be fixed. At a real luxury building, they would have replaced the door or otherwise made sure it worked smoothly and properly. Here, the "handyman" took a little piece of wood and stuck it underneath the roller at the top of the door to compensate for the fact that the door doesn't fit correctly. It works -- kind of; I still have to fix it manually every so often and I've gotten used to handling it carefully so it doesn't pop out as much. Similar thing with the door to my apartment: it started sticking and being difficult to open. The handyman worked on it for a while, and now it still sticks; just a little less than it did before. Apparently, that's fine. 4) Insane rent increases: expect them. At the expiration of my initial two-year lease, my rent went up by $1k. Now, that included an initial 4-months-free deal, so it's not as bad as it sounds, but the actual increase was still 8%, pretty steep. This year? I just got my renewal offer, and it's just under a 25% increase. I'm not kidding. 5) Construction Hell: you'll be in it. Look up "Riverside Center." The space behind this building as well the block on the downtown side are being torn apart and a five-tower residential complex is going in. This place will be the biggest construction war zone on the upper west side for at least the next year or two. The beautiful view of the river will be gone. They just broke ground a few weeks ago; the jackhammers and pile drivers run from 7am to 3pm (at least), and it's extremely loud; you will not be able to think, let alone sleep through it. Don't even think about living here if you're at home during the day. The best part? The city noise code states that construction is allowed only between 7am and 6pm Monday through Friday -- but today, Saturday 5 January 2013, the site is up and running with two pile drivers going simultaneously; I was woken up at 10am (after going to sleep late specifically because I knew that it would be quiet, finally, in the morning). No idea if they're just flouting the law or if they actually got an exemption to do this. Echoing what others have said: for the most part, the staff are great; very friendly and helpful. But this place wasn't quite worth the money when it started, and now they're jacking up the prices by ludicrous amounts, while the construction is making it unlivable and will continue to do so for quite some time. Stay away.

I am a prospective tenant looking into this building but the amsterdam housing projects a block away is a major concern, any residents that can shed light on the safety of the area especially at night? my wife sometimes comes home from work late at night by her self.

We visited the building twice and liked what we saw. The tenants we spoke to seemed happy. We're a bit concerned about how isolated that corner of the UWS is and now these reviews are freaking us out! Are there any current tenants who can weigh in as to whether there are still so many concerns. If the walls are thin, useless super, problems with heat and hot water...we definitely won't move in. FYI, we're applying for a rent-stabilized, middle income apt. Thanks.