Tenant Reviews for 1955 1 AVENUE

I lived at the Aspen for the first 5 years the building was built. Apparently (or rumour has it) the owners ran out of money and then quickly tried to fill it up. Needless to say, the apartments (while nice and roomy) had some "problems" in the beginning. On my third night, the shower head in the bathroom came off and almost fell on my head during my shower! Maintenance is quick, but the men are overworked. There are only 2 for a building that contains about 244 apartments! Re the office staff: currently, the secretary is really nice, but I was there when the first secretary was employed, Cathy, and she worked like a horse. She was quickly fired when the "current" manager (other one quit), fired her for getting sick and needing time off due to surgery. Nice guy right? (But the REAL scoop was that she found out he was secretly living in the building WITHOUT paying rent, and no, at that time the owners did not authorize this). The super is a complete a-hole. Racist to the extreme, thinks that all non-Croatians are "white trash". Don't get me started how he handles complaints from tenants who are minorities! And he treats the maintenance crew (all but 2), the front desk personnel like slaves, insulting them and constantly daring them to just "quit". Oh yeah, and as soon as they get a better paying job, they leave, so expect to see new faces often, especially at night. (Security? Hmmm, I've "woken" many poor underpaid front desk folks at 1:00 AM when coming home from dinners) The manager "hides" in his office daily, letting the poor current secretary deal with tenant problems. Every month you hear a different tenant complaint when paying your rent at the office. The manager is NEVER to be found, yet seems to magically "come out" when the complaining tenant leaves. There is a concierge/front desk personnel that rotate on shifts. They are employed through a third-party company. They are underpaid, overworked and treated badly by both the management and some of the tenants who for $4,000 per month seem to feel they should "open the door, answer the phone, get their packages, make sure that people do not come in without checking at the front door, - while keeping a smile on their faces!) Usually there is only 1 person at the desk so obviously in a building this large they cannot do all things at once. They are there only to accept packages, assist those at the front desk, thats' it!!! Ok, to the building itself. It is nice looking with roomy apartments, and different layouts. The problem is that the area is still surrounded by rough-necks, lots of drugs, lots of screaming, obscene fist-fights at 3:00 AM. Oh yeah, and don't be shocked when police trucks (plural) round-up all the drug dealers at the Metro North Apartments located at 1960-1966 First Avenue (across the street from the entrance of the Aspen). This is why all the exits remain closed after 6PM and to about 8 AM - not safe at all!!! Then there are the freaking garbage trucks that roll out at 4/5:00 AM and it is so noisy! Every single neighbor that moved in around the same time I did has moved, I think I was the last one to do so. (I hate moving) All in all, this building is nice, BUT the prices are too high for the neighborhood, the Manager and Super as complete a-holes (but the current secretary, and front desk staff are nice - give them a break, they are not paid to be doorman or doormats!) The few tenants that I knew from when I first moved in are those with government subsidized rents (from $400 to $700 in about 40 apartments). And some of them moved out to better places!!! Do yourself a favor, do not move here, you will regret it! P.S. Parking is leased by another company not run by the owners and they are snotty, could care less about the tenants and its' all about the Benjamins!

This place is the worst, I would not tell anyone to live here. I have a friend that wants to live there and I had to give him the run down. First let's start off with the fat --- Brian that is all in your ----, he is the first one to talk about you and who was in your aptartment. Also, when he wants to get real noisy, he will ask the mailman to let him know, if you have mail coming your box for other people. Second the super is the worst (Amir) all he down is run behind Brian letting him know what is in your apartment when he goes into your apartment. Third, they charge you more for somethings, so that they can pocket the rest of the money, (What kind of business is that)? The doormen are lazy they do not want to work, they are just there for the checks. The doormen are hired from different companies not within the building, they are so damn check they do not want to get there own security company. I WILL TELL ANYONE TO RUN ANYWAY FAR AWAY!!! THE MONEY THEY WANT YOU TO PAY, FOR YOU TO LIVE ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE PROJECTS, IT IS NOT WORTH IT!!!! RUN AWAY FAR AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been at The Aspen for a little over a year. It's not that bad, but I guess if I could do it over again I wouldn't move here. You don't really get what you pay for, because the rent is pretty high and when I toured the building it was sold to me as a luxury building. I skimmed the other reviews and others have already commented on the crappy security so I won't bother, but yes, it does concern me even though I am a man. I didn't realize these weren't union workers/regular doormen when I moved in and it does make a difference in terms of the pride they take in the job and how closely they pay attention to who comes in, your packages, etc. To me the real problem staff are the super and the manager, who appear to be lovers. That's fine and it doesn't bother me, except that the super (Imer) is hard to get a hold of and is pretty ignorant to the tenants. I think it wouldn't be tolerated if they weren't sleeping together. The location is ok. I moved here from the village and it's quite a different scene, in that there isn't one here. That's ok, because there is a shuttle bus that will take you to the subway during rush hour for free. If I'm out late, I have a buddy bring me home or take a taxi. So it's true, there aren't many restaurants or things to do here, but this is Manhattan, so you can easily find whatever you want a hop, skip and a jump away. My apartment itself is very nice, the building is pretty new so it has all new appliances and no insects. There are a few problem neighbors (we are in the projects after all), but you get used to dogs barking at all hours if you live in NY (at least I got used to it in my old apartment). Overall, I'd say if you can afford the rent here, you are better off going somewhere else. For the people coming in on low income apartment specials, this is a good deal.

I have lived at the Aspen going on 3 years now. I started out in a one bedroom and now I am in a 2 bedroom. I have been very happy here. The rents are very fair for this type of building. Yes there might be some unhappy workers at the front desk sometimes late night or evenings, but who can blame them? They do not make very good money, however they do their job. I have never had any security issues. I am a single female with a 5 year old child and we never feel unsafe. The building staff keeps the building clean and they have new washing machines.There are dogs in the building and the staff makes sure you would never know it. I never see any dog messes out front. The shuttle service is great. Runs 7 days a week. Sure you can go to the Glenwood and pay more money and have your butt kissed a little more, or save some money and get a nice apartment in a good building. If you look a few blocks south of the Aspen you would pay double and get the same kind of building. Nothing is perfect but I find the Aspen to be a nice home with friendly neighbors and staff. The people complaining are just mad cause they can not afford to live downtown!

hi all. i read some of the reviews on here and having lived in the aspen for a year now i have to agree - i would have gone elsewhere had i known about the problems. i'm kind of a factual guy, so bottom line: the building is pretty nicely constructed. there is a gym and a laundry room - washers never work and they don't have hot water, but such is life. there are no real doormen - as someone else said, they do use an outsourced firm of minimum wage yo-yos (some don't want to get up - one guy told me this weekend he was too tired - to get a package, they let strangers in without calling you, etc.). this is probably the worst part of the building, it impacts everything: i can't even get a newspaper delivered to my door (if you're thinking of renting here, ask brian the property manager if it is possible to even have a newspaper delivered to your doorstep and see what he says). if there's a problem in the building - there often is given the mix that live here (more on that later) - the security will tell you 'i don't know what to do, why don't you just call the police?" even if it's not an emergency. i guess i'm not as worried about my own safety but if my sister lived here i would be. beyond that, there are dogs barking all the time, and since the building is whatever that term is where low, middle and high income people live together, you've got a lot of folks from the projects running around (babies in the gym, 4 people drunk in the gym, 6 mofos at once playing pool and yelling in the gym area, you name it). it gets ridiculous. you'll know the projects people right away (no, not by color or anything like that - just by behavior). shuttle to the subway runs only during rush hour on weekdays, besides all of the above. for $3,000 a month at the aspen...look, you can go one block up and pay the same to live in the glenwood building, hampton court (with real doormen and a shuttle that runs all day). i have 3 friends there and their (two) apartments are nicer, plus the staff is professional and they don't have folks from the projects. the neighborhood is what it is - it's ok, there's nothing to do, but you go out elsewhere, period.

The building is beautiful, and the neighbors in the building are usually very nice, however the staff and management in the building are dishonest and disrespectful. I have spoken to other tenants in the building who told me that the building manager Brian lied to them repeatedly, and in fact when I moved out he tried to force me to move out before my lease was up so he could show the apartment to prospective tenants. When I didn't comply (my legal right, by the way) he claimed that I had extensively damaged the apartment and he told the management company that I had not left before the end of the day (I left at 3pm, an legally you have until midnight), so they tried to charge me another months rent in addition to the security they withheld. I know this building seems like a dream come true, however be warned that you will be taken advantage of if you are naive, like I was. In addition, there were two drug related shootings across the street from the building while I lived there, and the corner of the block is a well known spot for crack dealers.

I read some of these things on here before moving on and now I am skeptical of wither the person reviewing it or whether the people are really tenants at all. Bottom line- the neighborhood is "up and coming". The point is you can't get a 1 of the same quality with gym and doorman for the price even 5 blocks south. You would be paying 5-600 dollars more a month easy. There is a shuttle in the mornings and evenings m-f that stops at 96th and 86th, it also runs on weekends 10-6. The gym is really more of an excercise room but serves its pupose and it's usually not crowded. Don't understand people's issue with the staff. The management is very accomadating and the super and his staff are helpful and repsonsive. Most of the doormen are nice as well. Nooise fomr other apartments is minimal, there is some street noise but where in NYC isn't there? Bottom line it's bang for your buck.

The Aspen is not for spoiled trust fund I moved to New York 10 years ago yet I am a New Yorker weenies. The development is on the cusp of The Projects. If you are intimidated by what you see, then don't move here. The best way to view a neighborhood is on weekend nights. The Aspen is your home destination. You are within close proximity of all the city has too offer. Rate the building by space, rent, amenities and of course how comfortable you will be. The neighborhood is not for window shopping! I believe East Harlem has the largest concentration of housing projects in NYC. I think Ymer the Super does a great job considering he has 234 apartments to service. The contract doorman situation is not the best. Some are good and some are just there. Could have stronger Management that's for sure.

Is the building really as loud as some people make it to be?

We moved into The Aspen despite the neighborhood for two main reasons: it has a doorman and they provide a shuttle to the subway. We've been here for about 2 years now, and the shuttle to the subway works just fine - it's all the other stuff that's the problem! First, the neighborhood. It's not that bad, but there's nothing to do - you do need that shuttle to get to the subway and the shuttle only runs weekdays in the morning and evening (not all day like some buildings). The main problem is noise. Blaring music at all hours of the night (especially, oddly, early mornings) - light sleepers, beware...know that even the heavy sleeper in our household gets woken up by car alarms almost daily - and we're on a higher floor! The building is nice, but it's a few years old now and the management doesn't keep it in good shape. They clean, but they don't fix things properly. You'll find broken washers, gym equipment, stained carpets, etc. I think it's the building manager being cheap, not any laziness on the part of the staff, but it does make a difference in how people treat the building (seeing sloppy stuff makes folks sloppier). The "doorman" we were told about is a bit of a bait and switch. They actually outsource as another reviewer mentioned. These are guys (and sometimes gals) who sign up for a low wage job at a security company and then get sent to our building. They have no investment in the building, often aren't able to exercise common sense (problems picking up packages, for example - basic function of a doorman!), and make us worried about safety. Sometimes you come home and they're dozing off or not at their desk - I hate to say this in case there are criminals reading this, but to be honest: it'd be so easy to break into this building. You wouldn't even have to "break" - just walk in. Outsourced people don't know who doesn't live there, so they never question anyone - we've had friends and delivery people show up at our door unannounced all the time. I'd say this is our main problem with the building. The building manager, a guy named Brian, is OK but he seems like he's in over his head. He's not really good at managing staff and getting things done. He doesn't address safety and other concerns. He basically collects rent and gossips about people, oddly enough. I wouldn't recommend this building, particularly for single women and families - the doorman situation is just too sketchy.