Tenant Reviews for 33 WEST END AVENUE

I have lived here for over 3 years. They have jacked their prices up to complete with the nice luxury rentals in the area, but this is not a nice luxury rental. The heat and hot water constantly goes out, the laundry room is constantly out of order, the elevators are slow and frequently there is only one working, and it's generally dirty in the common areas. The location is also not convenient. It's not close to the subway or restaurants and you can't even get to Riverside park without going blocks out of the way. Management is the worst I've ever seen in a landlord. They NEVER call you back, they refuse to discuss any issue you have or negotiate, and they had some "glitch" in their system that applied a late fee to my account for months on end even though I always pay my rent early. Not to mention when I moved in they said the construction zone surrounding the building would be done in 4 months when it actually took over 2.5 years, so basically they lied. They also refuse to let you sublet even though the leases say you can with their approval (i.e., they disapprove for no reason at all and refuse to talk about it). The only good thing is that the doormen (and women) are super nice and maintenance requests are promptly taken care of.

This is what you would be getting with 33 WEA: Construction all around. If you have children or have any concern for your health, ask for or conduct an independent environmental evaluation to test for hazardous chemicals and heavy metals. The unsiglhtly abandoned grounds directly in front of the building with the train underpass. The area is freequented by homeless people and smells like urine, especially in the summer. The super who is a complete idiot: Nothing ever gets fixed, including the laundry and the elevators. Excellent concierge staff. Gestapo management. The noise level inside apartments is utterly unacceptable: whatever is happening in the hallways may as well be happening inside the apartment. As soon as my lease is up in 2012, I'm out.

The one positive about living in this building is the staff. The concierge at the front desk are wonderful and very accommodating. Everything else, not worth the price. You can find much nicer apartments on the UWS that are in a more convenient location. The location is on West End Avenue next to a large parking lot and huge construction zone. With this, you get very high winds and occasionally mice. There is new construction across the street, so there is constant noise. The building is also over train tracks, so you will constantly hear the train. You are also a 1/2 mile away from all trains and have to walk up a hill to get to them. In the winter, this is a nightmare. All of the fixtures and appliances are low end. There are no fans in the bathrooms and the building locks in humidity so you will end up with a very damp bathroom. The bathtub caulking continuously needs to be replaced no matter how often you clean. There are only 2 elevators and oftentimes one of them is not working. The same goes for the treadmills in the gym. The gym is convenient, but nothing special. The washers/dryers are terrible and have ruined many of my clothes, plus they are filthy and have mold/algae growing in them.

I read most of the posts here and here's my take. I've lived here for the past 2 years and let me tell yah, its been more rough than not. Yes, the train is 4-5 blocks away, but let s not forget that you have to go up a GIANT hill, across avenue blocks! Yes, there's a shuttle, but you have to go on its schedule every 30 minutes is the deal, but say if you need an extra 5 minutes then you would need an extra 10 minutes to walk to the train. Doesn t sound too bad until its raining / snowing. By the west side there isn t much there so the wind picks up more speed. We haven t had to fuss much with our living situations but from talking to other people who ve lived in the building - if you need to make any adjustments goooooood luck. 99% of the time, you will not have the management team s support / accommodation. It s a business and they run it like the streets. It s not civilized. I will say that the staff on site is pretty darn good. The front desk staff is consistent and they are friendly, pleasant and super cool. I ve seen tenants that just hang out and talk -- if you need something fix, they are very responsive too. The super is on site so that is handy. The gym and laundry room is always clean so no complaints there all in all, the building is comfortable just the location is a bit off.

I am moving in the building in mid October but I am having second thoughts after reading all the horrible reviews. However, it seems that all the reviews are pretty dated so I was wondering if things have changed in regards to the noise, management company, sound insulation, heating, building manager, etc... Are the people who complain about the construction noise living in the lower floors of the building or do the higher floors have the same noise issues? When I visited the building, everything seemed as I expected so I was really surprised when I read all the negative reviews. If you read this by October 1st, then please reply, as that is the date at which I can't back out of the lease any longer. Thanks in advance to all those who reply.

Building is generally well maintained. Residents are friendly. Great for younger professionals. Staff is helpful and professional. Management is cooperative; they understand the all the difficulties that can arise when into moving into a new apartment and are willing to go the extra mile to make the experience less stressful.

I did recently move in, and found that the gravely important protections of laws that require a proper lease, a proper rent receipt,a proper limit on payments to the landlord, are actually in very alarming disuse. I can very easily cite and quote these very plain and simple laws, but no one appears to ever have a clue as to what these laws are. The government paid nearly a billion dollars to a charity in order to get this landlord and many others out of an otherwise plunging housing market. This is another secret. Nevertheless, the poor senior citizens and other tenants will eventually face a boundlessly powerful Rent Stabilization Association alone. They will have none of the gravely important aforesaid documents nor copies of them. They will have no lawyer, government or otherwise, as the governments involved do not dare displease the aforesaid landlord lobby organization. These matters are not nearly limited to this building. I will, therefore, avoid mentioning the usual concerns. Indeed, they are of far less importance.

I moved into this building at the end of November. The staff could not have been more courteous and the management made move in a pleasure. Two months later I love living in this building. The staff is responsive and wonderful. For example, I wanted a shower bar installed and emailed the building manager Rudy, who explained the process. Once I bought the bar he came immediatly to my apartment and had it installed that day. On another occassion I noticed the compactor door was loose and called the front desk and it was repaired that afternoon. I would recommend this building to anyone R.Webster

My wife and I are relocating to NYC and came across this apartment building on the Internet. We read reviews, including ones from this very website, but figured we would give it a shot. Since we're out of town, we requested as much information via email as possible (application, credit release form, pictures, etc.). My wife called in first to request the info and it was never sent to her. We waited a week and then I called in and spoke to Mariam, the same leasing agent my wife talked to. She sent me the application and available apartments that evening. I asked for pictures and she said she would have the Super take them. Two days later, no pictures. I called in to ask if we should even expect pictures and she basically blew me off as if I was a waste of her time. My wife and I figured if it's this difficult to give them our money and rent a unit, we can only imagine what it will be like once they have us locked into a lease. Too many red flags before we even sign a lease.