Tenant Reviews for 650 W 42ND ST

The apartments themselves are clean, large, and well maintained. The lobby is awesome. The door men/staff mostly don't recognize you, but this means your guests can come without hassle. The apartments aren't so expensive considering their size and quality. The location is terrible, but you can know that already, there is no way they can hide it from you. Everything else is wonderful. Moving into a new apartment is always uncertain. Of all those uncertainties that could have screwed me, none of them happened. The staff/maintenance is great. We had a problem with our toilet, called management, and it's fixed in less than 10 minutes. Awesome! But you'll spend 11-13 minutes everyday walking to 8th ave to get to the subway, which really sucks, and makes it not so much like living in Manhattan. IMO, civilization doesn't really begin until 10th ave, and you are basically living on 12th when you are here. When I moved out, they gave me my full security deposit, even though I scuffed up the walls in both the living room and bedroom. (These are apartment ratings for Manhattan, why does parking even matter?)

We moved on the 26th floor almost a year ago. I suppose one experiences life differently. I found the staff extremely polite and helpful. In a world where one expect things to be done immediately, the issues that arose (elevators etc) were dealt with in a timely manner. The building and its surroundings are safe and well garded (hence no public access to the tennis courts which would jeopardize the safety of the building). The gym (sauna, steam room and pool) is efficient and clean, again with a very friendly staff. The kitchen is not a gourmet's kitchen and is proportionate to the size of the apartment. The closet space is well thought out and plenty. The views are spectacular, especialy sunsets. The free shuttle compensates for the long walk to the nearest subway, but in exchange the Hudson River parks are right at our doorstep.

Great building. Great staff. Amazing recreation facilities with pool, gym, tennis, basketball, billiards, sauna, etc. great to sit outside by the tables or restaurant and very safe

I have lived at 1 Riv for 3 years, and being a 7 year renter in NYC, this is far and away the best apt i have lived in. Moving out has been very sad and looking at what the other places on the market are offering, it is not even comparable to what 1 Riv has to offer. I wish i could stay for much longer if the opportunity presented itself. The staff is amazing, the ammenities are even better. You will not get better value for an apt than at 1 Riv. Spiro is the man!

Despite the poor reviews, I've had a great experience living here. My apartment is super quiet, a bit too hot in the summer perhaps because I have direct western sun in the afternoon, but it's warm enough in the winter that you don't really need to turn on the heat. I'm right next to the washing machine room but I don't hear anything in my apartment... maybe I'm lucky and have quiet neighbors. My hallways don't smell at all, except for the occasional dinner meal, but be conscious when you choose an apartment to live in. Pay attention to whether or not the halls smell... If they do when you're looking, they will when you move in too. As for the building, it's in a great location with an easy shuttle at rush hours across 42nd street. The new management office has been a bit of a challenge but it's getting better as they get settled. I've never had a problem with maintenance and I feel like you get a lot of space for your money here. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an apartment.

I couldn't believe that "River Place parking garage" was so expensive in the building but I find a indoor parking at the front building called "Atelier" cross street which THE PARKING is under a new management called "Park Right" they reduce the price for anyone who is a resident in Silver Towers or River Place, cool, I like that, for 250 a month, almost half a price I really recommand you to go there. Garage entrance is on 43rd Street. chears

Which do not clean clothes properly even though it costs an arm and a leg. You have to BUY a laundry card, which you then have to fill with money (minimum being 10.00 and then, should you need more the same day, you have to pick one of the other amounts - 25.00 or 50.00 (it won't let you choose the same amount the same day)). May as well call an organic cleaner across town that will wash and dry on delicate in small loads... because you'll still save money and, as has been the case each and every time I've washed clothes here -big loads and small- maybe they'll come out not smelling or actually resembling clean.

How bad is this place? Let me count the ways: 1. River Place is a magnet for smokers, not sure if it's due to the 80/20 thing or what, but every other corridor reeks of active or stale cigarette smoke 2. The fixtures (i.e. refrigerators, stoves, counters) are dated and cheap looking, The counter tops are some tawdry-looking plastic/formica material. The cabinets are all white particle board, many of which are chipped, scratched, or otherwise maimed. 3. There are lots of shady looking characters here - a surfeit of undesirable types from noisy kids to n'er do well layabouts. More than a handful of dwellings seem to house more than the number they're intended to. Moreover, some of the units seemed to have a frequently changing cast of residents (like it was a vacation rental business, shared among many different families, or some such thing). 4. The gym is ancient and reeks of chlorine ALL THE TIME. The treadmills do not have any televisions attached, and the 1 or two tvs in the room are wall-mounted, tiny, and have channels that only the front desk can change. 5. It's soooo far from the subway. That would be less of a problem if it weren't such a difficult walk. From wind to cold to construction, it's a REALLY onerous trek, esp. if you're in work clothes. Once you cross 8th avenue, the winds pick up to gale-force. Not kidding. I thought this would be a seasonal thing, but it's almost all the time. There is a free shuttle in the morning, but there are no shuttles in the evening, so you're basically forced to walk back from 7th/8th ave, wait in the cold/wind/rain for the bus that almost never comes (and is standing room only when it does), or take a cab EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. 6. I suffered from a pesticide over-exposure here and had to move out in very short order. This likely due to the huge number of residences in this place as well as the 80/20 issue. Some lower income families tend to cram more junk and people into their apartments (hoarding), thereby increasing risk of bed bugs, cockroaches, and the like. Lest you roll you eyes and think I'm just "complaining", hear this- in late April 2010, I started smelling (even tasting) a terrible bitter substance in my apartment and the adjoing hallway. My husband did as well, so we investigated. An apartment catty-corner to mine was all taped up with a kind of blue masking tape (like it was a crime scene or a hazard zone). IN the matter of a few hours, I had become very dizzy, disoriented, and nauseous. By the next daym it had progressed to a stomach ache so disabling that I was doubled over in pain and had to go to the hospital. Turns out that it was an attack of acute pancreatitis. A test by my doctor later found that I had levels of an organochlorine pesticide in my blood at a level that was 6x the upper limit of normal. 7. We won't clean it; we'll spray it! When I called maintenance to see what the story was with the pesticide applications, they at first denied that anything was applied in the building. I later learned that they actually have been forced to hire a pesticide service to come WEEKLY (i believe it's every thursday) to keep the bugs and vermin at bay. Any place that has to spread neuro-toxic and carcinogenic substances around to keep the bug population under control is not a place where I want my kids, my pets, or myself living. *In sum, if you enjoy cruddy fixtures, long, treacherous, and windy walks, cigarette smoke, bedbugs, and/or being poisoned, this is the place for you! Caveat, rent"o"r.

Just sent some security guy (who says he's the "head of security") up to my door to make vague threats ("you know what I mean" is apparently something that's supposed to scare me when repeated) because I've been complaining about the smoker next door. Tried to keep my door open when I was shutting it. I'd like him to try that again...

I moved into this building in September last year. At first I thought it would be great. They gave me a free gym membership for a year and one month free. As months passed by, however, problems started to emerge. As soon as the winter started, my heaters started to make a horrible "whistling" and "pounding" and "crackling" sounds that kept me awake almost every night. I kept submitting maintenance requests, but they kept postponing and pretending to try to fix the issue but never did anything about it. Management refused to move me into another unit, saying that none are available (probably a lie). The agent who was supposed to help me with the issue tried to cheat me and never even taklked to his supervisor about it. They have 1 person dealing with all lease issues for both Silver Towers and River Place (100s of apartments) so all they do is try to get rid of you and get you to sign the lease. The walls are paper thin and throughout my stay I kept hearing my neighbor upstairs getting it on, just as if he was in my own bed, and the neighbor's dog barking whenever she left him home alone (too often! animal cruelty in my opinion). Everything in the building is low quality from appliances to floor and the walls as this building is just a money churning machine. Corridors always smell bad and noise levels are extremely high on 42nd street 24/7. I am extremely disappointed and will not be staying here. In short, I would think twice before moving into this building in your place!