Tenant Reviews for 10 LIBERTY STREET

After living in the Upper West Side for several years and a couple of different buildings, we decided to move downtown. After asking advice from friends about the neighbourhood and the management company, we settled on Liberty Plaza. After living here for a year, I can tell you that this one of the worst so-called luxury buildings in Manhattan: 1. Heating in Winter The apartment is like a fridge. You either sleep under a heavy duvet wearing thick thermal pyjamas, or you must run the heating system all night. If you run the heating, it has not controlled by a thermostat, so your heating bills will be horrendous. 2. Noise at Night The trash trucks pick up at 1am, 3am and sometimes 5am too. The delivery trucks for Financier and Koyzina start to arrive at 6am, all beeping at high volume as they reverse into parking places. It doesn't matter if you live on 5th or the 40th floor, the noise is unbelievable. We've complained to the management, phoned 311 and even tried to break out lease. The only solution is to sleep wearing ear plugs everynight. I've lived in several cities and in NY for 10 years. Nothing will prepare you for the external noise in this neighbourhood. God help you if you have young children. 3. Noise during Day The buildings own realtors are very careful to ensure they don't show vacant apartments on the hour. Why you may ask? Well, the church next door rings bells on the hour every hour from 8am to 9pm everyday. Yes, they're not content with just the sabbath. And it's not even real bells, but a PA system on the roof that sounds these tones to the entire neighbourhood. It's especially bad at weekends, when the organ music is also broadcast across the same system. Don't bother complaining, nothing will change this. If you work non-US hours or have young children, you're out of luck again. 4. Staff Attitude Many of the staff in the building are as professional as other building in the city. However, several have a very poor attitude towards holding mail and allowing food deliveries into the building. I think it may be a lack of training. Though if you come back to the building late at night, it is often impossible to get in as tenants do not have front door keys. You have to rely on a doorman who is often on break (asleep). Good luck if you are being pursued by a mugger and assume you can seek safety in your own home. 5. Rent Increases Glenwood tries to increase the rent 3-5% every year. Some of the staff have already raised the issue about the number of vacancies. They even tried to increase the rent again this year, when most other rental buildings are offering 2-3 free and often other incentives like a reduced gross rent. I raised these points and was simply advised about the rent increase. Though I'm sure you can guess from 1-4 above I would not want to renew the lease. In fact I think the noise and temperature problems are due to HVAC systems that are directly open to the outside air, with no baffles to limit the flow of cold air or external noise. While Glenwood usually offers a good service, this building must be by far the weakest in their NY portfolio. Seriously, do not sign a lease for Liberty Plaza unless you're sure you can cope with very large heating bills (or sleeping in several layers) and sleeping with ear-plugs every (I really do mean every) night.

We have lived at 10 Liberty for almost a year. There have been bugs in our pantry (and I am a neat freak), the management has lost our rent check, our mail has been stolen numerous times, there has been no hot water in the morning on at least three occasions, the apartment is extremely hot even in the wintertime (which the super has told me is a common complaint but the building refuses to do anything about it), and I can hear our neighbors through the walls often. Definitely not worth the extra money we are paying in rent because we thought this would be a stress free "luxury" apartment. Also, the downtown area is really boring on nights and weekends.

Great quiet and relatively new apartment building for New York, but expensive and rents always go up 3-5% a year. Maintenance requests are done quickly and accurately. Gym and pool are not overcrowded and sufficient for most people. Roof access during the summer is nice. Party room charge is too high in my opinion, should be about $50 instead of $400 but probably the norm for NY. Outdoor noise can easily be heard through the windows, but cannot hear neighbors through the walls.

After looking at nearly every no-fee building south of 14th street, I decided on Liberty Plaza and could not be happier - the building and apartments are beautiful, the maintenance/management team is incredibly helpful, and the doormen could not be friendlier. Every unit has a washer and dryer, and the pool and gym are very nice. Considering all the amenities and the great construction (the kitchens and bathrooms are beautiful, and I never hear my neighbors through the walls), the price is really quite reasonable. Plus, almost every subway line is within a few blocks, making the location incredibly convenient to almost anywhere in the city, despite its downtown location.

We feel spoiled living here. The construction quality is high, with marble bathrooms and kitchen. Bedrooms are large and there is a washer and dryer inside the units. The staff is fantastic, there is a kid's playroom, great gym, pool, sauna and party and conference room. The financial background check was worse than a rectal exam, but once you're in they take care of you. They even replace broken light bulbs and batteries in the smoke alarms. It's no effort living here, which is great when you have kids. I've never heard noise from a neighbor although the heating system makes loud noises. There is a Financiere downstairs which is great on the weekends and Zeytuna and Gristedes within 1 block. I highly recommend this building.

We've lived in this building for a year and find all the staff wonderfully warm and willing to help. We have great views, love our washer/dryer (in a one bedroom!), and appreciate the quality of the construction (we've never heard a neighbor). The lobby and hallways are always extremely clean the building is well ventilated (you don't smell your neighbor's cooking). It is like applying to the CIA in terms of required background checks, but I guess the upside of this is that it means that anyone who ends up in the building wants to be there. All the building tenants have been friendly and we like the diverse mix. Occasionally, the management rules are a bit much, but if this is what leads to the quality we've experienced, we'll deal with it.

The doormen and valets are poorly trained and at times unprofessional. On several occasions, I've called looking for deliveries that I received confirmation had arrived only to be told that they hadn't, then on closer inspection found them to be in the delivery room -- and the valet simply overlooked them. Twice the doorman failed to let our housekeeper in even though she was on the "authorized entry" list that we filled out. The building management prides itself on having numerous "rules" to keep order in the building but different valets and doormen all have a different understanding of these "rules", i.e., one valet told us we need to fill out a form for "perishables" for them to receive food deliveries on our behalf -- later the manager told us that that's incorrect. Some of the valets/doormen are outright unhelpful. In a luxury building they are typically trained to go out of their way to be helpful to the tenants -- not in this building though. The apartments are well laid out with good appliances, but the frustrating lack of service and poorly trained staff makes this building not worth the rent. You can find an equally well laid out building with good amenities where the staff and management are extremely well trained and helpful and the level of service is significantly higher.

I've lived here since its opening two years ago. It is a lovely building. The units are beautiful and well appointed (full size washer dryer in most, high end applicances), beautiful common areas... The views are great as well. Everyone who visits me is overwhelmingly impressed. The staff are terrific and act upon things in an expeditious manner. Glenwood (Mgmt Company) does a great job of training their people. I can't think of a thing I am disappointed in since living here. (Oh, okay, my neighbors have little ones that like to shriek in the hallways.) There is a lot of diversity in terms of age level in the building, singles, young families, retired. But, pretty much everyone is upper income. (Glenwood puts you through the financial ringer to ensure your good credit. Seriously, it was harder than getting a mortgage!) With that said, residents are polite and friendly. It's a nice place to live. But, if you're a wild 20 something, (like 2 Gold St. nearby) this isn't the place for you.

We've lived here for over two years. The apartment has a nice view of midtown. <br><br>Nice and quiet downtown for sleeping at night.