All 27 tenant reviews.

“Unit 5C Pros: Management is responsive. Very clean and management team is very friendly. Cons: Amenities could use some work. Gym has outdated equipment that’s really starting to wear and not a lot of seating in the common area. Rooftop is pretty basic. Advice to landlord: Update and expand gym- at least a full dumbbell rack or add station with a bench press and barbell”

“Pros: Great building. Always felt safe with the 24/7 doormen. Doormen/staff are so nice and helpful. Cons: Service off the WiFi was bad in my unit. Advice to landlord: Love this building.”

“If you want to sleep to loud buzzing noises, feel permanently parched, and surrounded in dust, 85 John street is for you. No ventilation in the bathroom whatsoever, windows are hard to open, dust collects so fast I can't even explain it. The ac/heater makes a loud buzzing noise whenever it is turned on, and there were no resolutions to this issue whatsoever. Sure the lobby was renovated, but there was no way I could live here long term.”

“Pros: Great staff, updated common spaces Cons: Interior of apartment could use some updating”

“Pros: Staff keeps the building in great condition. Never saw a pest. Relatively quiet and respectful neighbors Cons: Walls are thin and you can hear neighbors normal conversations through the vents”

“Pros: General cleanliness and comfort. Cons: To be honest there isn’t much I don’t like. Landlord sometimes takes a while to respond but they always help eventually”

“Pros: Large space with decent maintenance and amenities Cons: Loud, dirty, smell surrounding streets”

“Pros: The ceilings are super high, the walls are very sound proof, the landlord is incredibly responsive, there is laundry on every floor, I have never seen a pest here, and the location can’t be best. Cons: The door people don’t really help you, if you have a lot of bags, they’re not going to open the door for you / get up / notice”

“Pros: Quietest NYC apartment ever Friendly and competent doormen Great with handling mail and packages Laundry and trash rooms are always clean Controllable air conditioning and heat Pets allowed Ample space Well located to the Fulton Street station Cons: Air conditioning often doesn’t work as well as it should Maintenance takes a few days to show up after putting in a request Super is not kind or pleasant Limited sunlight due to buildings around it Neighbors throw cigarettes on private terraces”

“Pros: Friendly doorman, porters, and maintenance staff. All very responsive. Hallways just recently updated. Very clean, laundry on every floor, great building Cons: Gym is small, and furniture on the roof is old Advice to landlord: Nothing, building is great”

“I love it at 85 John Street. I feel very safe and the doormen are great and know everyone that lives in the building so I feel very secure. The residents are mostly working professionals or families and maybe a few college students. The building is quiet, however, there is street noise right now due to construction. The studio apartment is spacious and more than enough room for one person with high ceilings and big windows. Hallways are nice and lit well and very secure. Laundry is on each floor which is convenient. The management (Kibel - Lee specifically) has been wonderful, friendly, and responsive. Move-in was smooth and easy. The monthly rent is average for the area, but was actually the lowest of comparable buildings. I would highly recommend 85 John Street and will be happy to renew my lease.”

“Kibel turned out to be the worst landlord I have every had - Rude family owned company, constant rent increases that were astronomical : ( The trees on the main communal terrace are dead, they remove the outdoor furniture in the Fall, so there is no place to sit until the late Spring. When you call Kibel to complain they are arrogant, smug and mean. I am moving on as wife and I do not feel there is good value here. Oh, and there are no amenities and no building improvements other than a very small, crappy gym with a few machines, many are broken, and an empty terrace about 7 months out of the year. Many of my neighbors have had it with Kibel too.”

“I've lived here for almost a year and I don't have many complaints. The building is quiet , small but clean and has everything you need in it. Modern kitchen and good size rooms. Only down fall is the bathroom could be nicer.The staff is nice and very helpful.”

“I lived here for a year in a 1 bedroom convertible. Room was good size and furnishings were ok, although kitchen is small. The place itself was ok. However, the problem with this place is that the management can be unresponsive and sometimes downright rude. Some of the doormen are great, but others aren't very nice (watch out for George, he was always rude to my roommate and I). I don't need to be stared down every time I come in and out of my apt. Gym is pretty small and they don't really maintain it well. Kibel as a mgmt company is the worst I have dealt with and they made moving in and out a HUGE hassle. Be aware that they will not make anything easy for you.”

“Good Points: Everything has been spotless in common rooms as far as I've seen. All of the staff members have been very pleasant and helpful. The gym is small but has enough in it for anyone who just wants to use it to keep fit and not for bodybuilding or serious fitness. We rarely hear our neighbors and when we do it's not anything unacceptable- the regular noises you'd expect to hear from living in an apartment setting. The apartment we have is a bit on the small side- I don't know what the other apartments look like but they could be bigger as this was originally an office building ( however on the positive, the ceilings are high because of it). There is a grocery store a few hundred feet away, though it is overpriced. There are laundry rooms on each floor. Bad Points: We don't have a car, but considering the road running in front of it is always full of parked cars I think it'd be rather difficult to get parking spaces. The roof garden isn't worth going on- with some old patio furniture and a couple potted trees. The hallways lighting are dim which makes it look a bit gloomy inside.”

“Romeo is absolutlely adorable. Alfredo is so gracious and friendly. Noel is charming and courteous. Alan is very kind and genuinely cares about the tenants. George, on the other hand, is abrasive and rude. He constantly makes inappropriate comments to me and badmouths Alan behind his back in front of tenants. He needs to polish up his act a bit. More than a bit, actually. If they're thinking about replacing staff, this guy should get the boot. My neighbors are very nice, don't make any noise that I can hear and say 'Hello' in the hallway. There is a group of young guys down the hall who entertain a lot, but they are very respectful and don't seem to bother anyone. The hallways are painted a depressing dirty butter color. The doors are covered in a foreboding black coat of paint. But the common spaces are generally kept clean and well-maintained. The lobby looks nice. The gym is a bit of a bad excuse, but at least they don't charge extra for it.”

“I mean for god sakes just take one extra second to gently close the door! It's not that difficult. These doors are very heavy, so when someone slams it (intentionally or not), it causes things to vibrate. So not only is the sound of the door slamming really loud, but it also causes my door and the furniture in my apartment to shake. This is really irritating, especially in the middle of the night when I'm sleeping! And why the heck are these neighbors slamming the door almost every night and all night long? What's with all the coming and going? The only thing I can think of is that they're running some sort of brothel inside their apartment.”

“Load noisy brats living in dorms. Multiple college kids from Pace living together. Average age in this builing must be 22. Parties and load conversation conducted in the hallways at all hours. Thin walls. Overall huge waste of money.”

“On my floor the trash room is clean, the laundry room is always empty and there is literally no noise or partying going on. There is however someone who likes to call the doorman when my roommate and I decide to listen to our music at a very reasonable volume which is a huge pain in the a@@ - I would prefer they knock on our door and we can find a suitable volume or at least find out when they are going on vacation so we can have a party.”

“There's no frat boys, there's no loud music, its called thin walls and there's never really parties. There's no garbage lying around because we are not animals. The door slams not because we are trying to slam it but the hinges on the door aren't evened up and we have tried fixing it but we can't. So evertytime we close the door, we make sure you don't hear it but a few times, a few. Mommy and Daddy are there but we live there, we pay. If the door has slammed, then it's by mistake or by forgetting that we have a problem with the door which we try not to do. The building is great for what we pay except the walls are thin. You might have a neighbor who may write a review about you so be careful. Other than that 85 John is fine. By the way, we are going to 2 Gold so cry about it.”

“<br>Too many college kids,load & Noisey.<br>Thin walls,dirty trashrooms.<br>Too much money to live in a place like this one.<br>Sorry but the truth shall set you free.<br><br>Im leaving soon anyway.<br>Sleeping with ear plugs,especially on the weekends. <br><br>CANT SLEEP!”

“This building is like a frat house. It is filled with selfish college brats living off of mommy and daddy's money. They loiter in the hallways, leave filthy trash all over the garbage room rather than send it down the shoot, blast their music at all hours, and slam the doors such that your entire apartment shakes. When you complain, they just do it longer and louder. Don't waste your money on this place. It's not worth all the headaches you're going to get.”

“My fiancee and I moved in last April and we love it. The over 11' ceilings make the place feel twice the size. The walls are thin, very true, and that is annoying. We're lucky with our neighbors for the most part and only occasionally hear noise at unacceptable levels or times. The staff is amazing and the three repairs I needed were done the day after I entered the work order on the biulding website.<br><br>The laundry on every floor and super fast and reliable elevators are big s. The unit doesn't get much light. Overall, this is one of the best buildings in the district and the rents are good now but going up fast.”

“I moved in right after 9/11 and have lived since. The super, doormen and porters are the BEST. They are friendly and polite and in general, all good guys. Jubilee market is open 24/7. The downsides: The walls are very thin and the college students that live here are pretty obnoxious. Our apartment is near the elevator so we get a lot of loud and drunken stumbling from 12-5am on any given night....including during the week. Sounds from the vent are also pretty loud. We have upstairs neighbors who play video games and watch TV while cackling like school girls until 4am sometimes. Kibel management is slow to deal with it but eventually will after many, many complaints. Two tenants have not had leases renewed because of this but we had to live through a whole year of 'Animal House' behavior. <br>If you are a self centered college student then this place is perfect for you.<br>If you need to sleep at night and work in the morning, keep looking.”

“In the end, this is a decent building with a great staff. Tony (Super) and Alfredo (Asst. Super) are the best I've had in the city, and most of the doormen and porters are solid as well. The Kibel management folks are strange and eccentric, but ultimately they get the job done.<br><br>The building itself is not without it's shortcomings. The problem of thin walls, as mentioned in other posts, is absolutely true. Also, the building's circulation leaves much to be desired: if the tenant below you smokes, sometimes the smell can waft through the internal airshafts. Neither of these problems has been a dealbreaker to date.<br><br>Unfortunately, as with most of the financial district, rents are starting to go up -- a lot -- and the good residents are being replaced by the wealthy and their spoiled college kids. Not much that can be done about that, though...”

“I moved here three years ago right after 9/11. The bulding itself and the apartments are great. however, the walls are extremely thin and you can hear everything. The other tenants are rude and uncooperative when it comes to lowering their music or other disturbances. The management company ignores your complaints. Also there are younger tenants (college students) moving in by the dozen so there are alot of late night disturbances. If you want to live in a dorm like atmosphere then this is the place for you.”

“Overall, my experience here has been good - the staff is usually helpful and repair things on time and keep the place clean.<br> <br>The management company, while not always the most courteous on the phone, is willing to negotiate rent renewals and lowered rent by 15% after 9/11. Current rent is still not at pre-9/11 level. FYI, electric is added to the rent rather than a seperate bill from ConEd.<br><br>On the con side - the HVAC units are not the best quality and need maintenance (constant filter cleaning) and the windows tend to be hard to open or don't stay in position. The walls are thin. If your neighbor smokes or plays loud music, the disturbance level is bad. You must invest in a HEPA filter or open windows to get rid of the smell.<br><br>One side of the building doesn't get much light at all. My side happens to get a decent amount of light (eastern exposure). There is also a lot of construction in the neighborhood and you will hear the noise, even on a higher floor.<br><br>Also, the building rents short term stays to people who may not respect their neighbors by smoking or playing loud music at all hours. <br><br>The location is great - Jubilee grocery store is across the street (yes, they're overpriced, but will do in a pinch and the produce isn't expensive). Multiple subway lines are around the corner.”