Vinty Apartments — Attraction in Elizabeth

I've lived in the Vinty Apartments almost 2 years now. It is a nice place to live (and I enjoy living here), but also has many opportunities for improvement. I'll list and detail the cons first since that's what I usually look for before choosing a place -- but please read through the pros too because there are some really great things about this place. I plan to renew my lease (particularly because of the location and friendly/responsive staff), but I wish I had known the cons before I'd moved in.

Cons: You are only permitted 2 guests to be able to visit with you in the common areas. Vinty gives you 3 wristbands, one color coded for tenants and the other 2 color coded for your guests. Although I don't really use the common spaces (except the gym), it feels patronizing to have to wear wristbands - as a rent paying grown adult - to identify myself and my guests to staff this way. I've seen this policy most enforced at the pool and sauna, although it isn't always consistent.

In the summer, the pool/outdoor area can get extremely loud and populated, on a daily basis, almost from the time the pool opens to the time it closes. If you have a pool facing apartment like I do, you can hear almost everything outside, like people's music, loud conversations, parties, and kids playing. If you work remotely or hybrid, this can be really annoying since you can't realistically ask people to quiet down outside.

The walls/doors are quite thin as far as noise goes. While I have pretty good/quiet neighbors on my floor, I can regularly hear people's in-apartment conversations, music, babies, animals, or TVs while walking down the hall, passing each of their doors. I don't hear as much when I am inside my own apartment, but every now and again, I can hear that my neighbors are on the phone which has kept me up once or twice at night. As a loud talker/laugher, I've learned to try to have more private conversations away from my living room door and try to be conscious about how loudly I play music or watch TV as not to disturb others.

The address itself (100 Union St) can be confusing for Ubers/deliveries depending on what side of the building you live on. For my first 3 months, when I'd order cars or food, they would almost always get lost and I would have to instruct them how to find me on the other side of the building. (I now use a side door address - but that isn't always available depending on the delivery app/service you're using).

You can't choose your own WiFi service (it comes through Vinty @ $90) and can be spotty sometimes - which is annoying and a critical issue if you WFH.

You should expect to pay an additional $75+ on top of your rent and parking/utilities each month IF paying with a debit or credit card. The business Vinty uses to process rent payments, Real Page, charges you a "convenience fee" to use your credit or debit to pay. If using your checking account there is no fee, but the payment will take longer to process. I don't think anyone told me that in advance - I only recently found out after my wallet was stolen and I needed to pay my rent from my account (with no cards).

Pros: I love my apartment and layout, particularly the open concept, and ability to control my thermostat and door locks with an app on my phone.

Location is VERY convenient (5 min walk to train station, 25 min ride to NY Penn Station).

Management staff is friendly and personable (Sheyla is great!), and staff often puts on social events for tenants.

Maintenance issues are typically resolved quickly and without issue (in my experience).

The common spaces of the building are pretty well kept and I see cleaning staff maintaining the building on a daily basis.

There is a food hall/bar connected to the building, which has pretty great options for all times of day and also has a friendly staff. 10% discount on bar drinks for residents. They also have fun events and play good music.

Again, I enjoy it here, but want to give the heads up for those looking to be new neighbors. Happy...

My wife and I lived here for 15 months. Did not renew my initial lease and here are my thoughts:

Before I begin, the leasing agent Shayla was a gem and the reason we decided to move in. She left midway between our lease term and her absence was felt immediately. Cant review without expressing our gratitude for her!

General areas: NASTY! At least 1-2 times per month, we were met with either animal waste in the hallways and elevators. Management will send emails reminding residents to clean behind their pets, but that did not work. There is no cameras in the hallways. That does not feel too safe providing how long and extensive the hallways are. My main suggestion would be to place cameras in the hallways.

Location: Downtown Elizabeth. Parking for guests are non existence. Street parking was available on weekends and later in the evening, but expect your guests to pay for parking if visiting during business hours. The train station adjacent to the complex. This is ideal for those who commute into NYC. This is NOT ideal if your apartment is facing the train as the horn from the train WILL WAKE YOU UP! Our child was born while we were here and had a hard time remaining asleep when the trains passed. If your apartment is facing the courtyard, they do enforce a 10pm shutdown for residence out there. This has pros and cons. Pro being that you will consume all the noise from the courtyard in your apartment so after 10pm you can finally rest. Con being that if you actually enjoy being out there, you will be asked to leave at 10pm.

Parking: Expect to pay for each car parked and expect to pay a "premium" if you are assigned a park near the elevators. They initially told us that only one car can be allowed to park in the garage. With my wife being pregnant at the time, we declined solely based on this. We were called back and was offered a second park (as a courtesy). We agreed to move in based on this courtesy. There were about 3-4 parking garage incidence where police got involved in the 15 months we were there. Security would patrol the parking garage for a week after the incident and then disappeared. Kids play on bikes and skateboards in the garage. Ive personally witnessed damage to someone's car from kids playing in the garage.

Maintenance: I can honestly say that maintenance will respond within one business day to any request. We have had issues with washer and dishwasher and they did remedy the issues very quickly

Amenities: You are forced to pay for Wifi. The wifi has went down about 5 times that we rented here. One time, it was down for an entire week almost. The sauna was great. So was the indoor hot tub. The gym is okay and have enough equipment to maintain your needs. The courtyard had a grill that did not work. There were days we waited hours for a grill. Some days, we never got a space to use. The pool was the worst experience. Always filled with children (some of whom did not reside there). 8pm pool closure was strictly enforced. If you are an adult and enjoy pool time, this will not be the complex for you. Everything shuts down at 10pm so do not expect to be able to come out and relax in the courtyard or lobby beyond that time.

We moved out because we did not feel like this was an environment for our daughter to be raised and prefer somewhere more suburban. I needed a 6 month extension while shopping for an ideal living situation, but was denied. The rent they wanted me to renew at is $400 more than what my apartment is currently listed as (at the time of this writing of course). It is interesting that they rather take $400 less monthly (not to mention that the apartment has been sitting vacant for 2 months now) than to renew to a tenant that has been there. I also paid a deposit and was told upon moving out, "to expect most of that deposit to cover trash, water, and sewage which are usually billed a month later". I did receive a notice stating that I would get back about half of that deposit, but that notice did not include a check. Im wondering how long before I get the...

Well since I’m basically being harassed daily with emails and now text messages to do a review here you go. As a current resident here is my honesty.

Management has changed a few times since I moved in. And they are really lacking on follow up so if you move here make sure to have a paper trail because you will not receive follow up. I am still waiting on a reply about receiving information on who to contact over me getting a huge screw in my tire in the garage due to nails and things left especially around the garage doors as they are constantly being repaired. That was in February and was told first that it’s not the apartments fault their contractors left items and caused the tire issue that I needed to take it up with whoever they hired yet never told who that was. Even though I pay the apartment and have a contract with them not their hired contractors. I went in for a follow up with the manger and have not heard anything else about it. Even with pictures of things left throughout the garage area. Also the maintenance needs to get a little better I know it’s hard finding good people these days but after a leak you don’t just simply paint over the bubbled up ceiling and call it good and now the light that had water coming out of it and the switch to that area no longer work. We’ve had a few issues and ended up having to Google ways to fix the toilet leak and help the maintenance person out after coming back 3x in one day.

I worked in property management for over 5 years as a leasing agent then as an assistant manager and understand opening a new building can be challenging. I just hope it gets better. It’s also weird that you pay gas to the property and to the gas company so you’ll have 2 different gas bills. We also had a month with no water bill then a huge bill then we were told it’s sometimes billed every 2-3 months which confused me. Now it’s billed correctly….I think.

Now the Apartment is cute very large and good for the price. Love the heated garage and reasonable price for parking. Yet lack of guest parking 0 in fact.

Amenities are super cute but close at 8 pm daily. I really enjoy the resident events. Gym is pretty nice. They just had a grand opening for a little cafe downstairs. It’s really convenient and good food. Area is also good definitely up and coming it’s starting to change which is nice. The train right across the street is always a plus although if you’re on a street view unit you will hear it and cars which is just part of apartment living.

Over all I gave a 2 because the apartment it’s self and the amenities are nice location and access to the train are a plus for me at least. But my frustration with managements lack of follow up and assistance with issues as well as maintenance are the reason the property get a 2. Not everyone will have issues but I’ve talked to a few other residents at the residential community events some share my same concerns. However after sending me multiple emails and texts I guess they really wanted my review.

Had to adjust lighting on the ceiling picture so you could see the damage still there after the repair and paint...