The Standard at New Brunswick — Attraction in New Brunswick

Current Resident as of March 2021. Generally, I do not post bad reviews but this is PSA for anyone considering this location. Don't do it. Look through the reviews and pay attention to who has lived here, not who wants to live here, and which reviews are most liked. This place deals in bad faith. My experience with the building follows.

The basics:

Amenities were underdelivered and given far too late. Im pretty sure that NJ tenant law provides a case where if the promised features of the building are not delivered, the contract can be broken. Idk how many people signed on and couldnt break their contract, but maybe someone take this to a law firm? Potential class action suit. None of the promised amenities (gym, comp lounge, roof, study rooms, etc.) were opened until November. There is an email from the office to prove this date. The staff handled covid so poorly, it's despicable. I get it, this is a business and you need to make money but they wouldn't let people out of their contracts even though the building was still under construction for four months after the leases began.

Furthermore, roof access was highly restricted at one point, the gym has limited hours even though its a decent facility (just go to the gyms at rut, if you're a student), and you need to bring your own copy paper if you want to print (??? How does that make sense).

Utilities are super high. For a building that was just built, I thought the building would be energy efficient. We were explicitly told that each apartment has its own meters and that we would be charged based off our individual meters. My roommate and I turned off our heating in February, with the temp staying around 67 deg F, but the bill hardly changed from January. I am suspicious of their billing practice and believe that the cost of electricity and heating for the rest of the building (lights, elevator, high out put heaters at the entrances, and so forth) are split amongst all the occupied units.

The elevators are a hazard. Elevator #1 (out of three) has been down for 7 months now and there have been almost 10 weekends where at least 2, but most of the time all 3, of the elevators were out. I hope you like the view from the floor you're on bc I promise, anything after the 10th flight of stairs is a lot. They would be down all weekend before someone from the office came in and fixed it. I walk the stairs now even though two (ONLY 2) elevators are working. I've seen people trapped in elevators on two separate occasions and they make squeeking/screeching noises sometimes. At least my quads are looking okay.

Never leave your door unbolted. I had a random guy walk into my apartment with a staff key, unannounced, while i was in class (zoom) sometime in late january/february. My roommate and I had a little fight in october bc someone had left the lights on over the weekend. I was going camping for four days and he was going home so i explicitly told him to shut off the lights. When I came back, the main hallway light was on. I told him he didnt shut it off and he told me he 1000% made sure he did. Obviously I didnt believe him, but after that incident of the guy just opening my door and walking in, I believe him now and think that the same thing happened then and the guy just forgot to turn off the lights.

This is not the place for you if you have a car. Im nearing my character limit now, so I dont have the space to fully explain, but 1) the construction is horrible, 2) they randomly assign you a spot even if you come to them with spots prepared (i was one of the first to move in - maybe 15 cars in the garage) but they wouldnt give it to me, 3) they are really disorganized w the regsitration and parking tag/system. I fought for a week to get it changed and they canceld my contract and reuploaded it for me to sign, AGAIN, but my account was charged a late fee for parking that month bc it happened so haphazardly and I havent been able to get them to give me back the $50 from that. They still ask me for my car info all the freaking time and Im done...

I have never experienced such horrible treatment and profound negligence in my life.

I don’t believe for a second that The Standard has a true rating above 3 stars. I’ve seen them run promotions to get people to leave positive reviews. You’ll notice the good reviews come in batches; that is when they run there promotions. The building probably has a real rating of about 2 stars. I'd like to tell you what it's truly like to live here.

Complaints, questions, and requests will go unanswered for as long as they can get away with it. If your room has a maintenance issue they refuse to properly pay a building manager so you may wait your entire lease for a fix. You will likely have to arrange an in-person meeting and the manager with legal action before they do anything to help you with a problem. Think about having a broken washer, dryer, or refrigerator or maybe all three for months.

For nearly a year they did not have functioning elevators and repeatedly promised they were being fixed. The utility bills are sometimes $200 even when you’re out of town. If you want to push back on anything The Standard team references their abusive lease and will refuse any claim to prorating or reimbursement for losses or damages they’re responsible for. They have no good will at the front office and will not try to make right any inconveniences caused by their building. Why should they? You're the one who signed up with them. As far as they're concerned, it's YOUR fault for being dumb enough to think they wouldn’t take advantage of you.

Let's move on to what you can expect when your lease ends. I hope you weren't expecting to see your security deposit again: every scuff, every mark, normal wear and tear, any fleck of dust will, will cost you hundreds of dollars. They never put on the final layer of paint, so even tap water can stain the walls, this is not a joke. Broken bed frame? Hundreds of dollars of your hard earned money. Broken wardrobe? Fifty bucks. Your lights never worked? That’s on you, better pay up. I hope you get the picture. You will be blamed and gouged for everything you got.

If at this point you're thinking, "I can stick up for myself, I could live here" and you're not worried about being abused. Please keep in mind how wrong they’ve done by so many students. Imagine the 500+ residents of a 21 floor building squishing into one very slow elevator for over half a year. They’ve collectively wasted weeks of their residents time, day in, day out, just attempting to get to their apartments AND this was during the peak of Covid ... not for a week, not for a month, but for over SIX MONTHS. They grotesquely put profit before the well-being and health of people and probably cost some residents their grandparents. All the while insisting concerns about Covid were their utmost priority, as students packed shoulder-to-shoulder into the one working elevator. It was common practice at The Standard for people to carry groceries over ten stories or have to use the stairs on crutches. Even worse, The Standard put out a notice instructing residents not to jump in the elevators as if to blame the residents for why they were breaking ... For six months. All three elevators constantly breaking down. Funny how all that jumping seemed to stop once they finally repaired the elevators.

The Standard also knowingly lacked security for months. They openly claimed not to know security wasn't showing up at night … for months. That's either severe incompetence or a lie; both are terrible. Please just do humanity a favor and let this place fail under the weight of its own...

I would not recommend this place to live. Amenities are nice, like having a gym, and rooftop with study rooms. Although there are only 3 study rooms and the outside section of the rooftop is tiny and does not even face the skyline of NYC. Which the skyline is very faint and you can only see it on a clear day. I requested an early move in date because I am an athlete and started pre season prior to the move in date they give. I was told they need to clean and will not be done in time therefore cannot make an exception. Leases end in July and move in is about halfway through August. That's 3/4 weeks to clean. But when I did move in my apartment was disgustingly dirty. Trash, dust, dirt were everywhere and long black hairs were in the drawers of the furniture. We called to request a cleaning service but instead they sent two teenage looking boys with a rag and spray. Not sure what they were doing during the 3/4 weeks of cleaning. This was frustrating since that was the excuse they gave me for early move in. They add a ridiculous amount of fees to the rent so it has been a different price for me each month. This place is also DIRTY. There is not a single trashcan on each floor therefore lots of residents leave trash on the floor that will sit there for months. Especially in the stairwell and parking garage. It is terrible. There is no maintenance. This place is lazy and cheap with no service workers. Which is absurd considering the price you pay. They have front desk workings which are usually students who from my experience have NO clue what they are talking about, just lots of B.S. Whenever you need something you have to speak to the manager which sometimes doesn't even help. Prior to my move in I requested a parking space(FYI you must request a space because they have limited spots available and its an extra 200 a month). I was sent an email back stating "Transportation would have to be handled on your own. We're close to RU bus stops. " Thats all. No explanation or anything meanwhile they had plenty of spots available. I called the manager and ended up receiving a parking spot but again- LAZY workers who have no intention to help residents. About the living space- It is okay/good. The couch is tiny and barely comfortable for two people which sucks. The kitchen has ZERO cabinet drawers which is a crazy design and annoying to organize appliances. The common space is overall small and not worth the money. I had my own bedroom and bathroom connected which was great. Only positive thing I will say, my bedroom size is lovely and bathroom size is also great. Although-- (of course there is a catch). My roommates room is pretty tiny. They said furniture comes with the apartment but when she moved in there was no bed in her room and they could not fit a bed frame in, thats how small her room was. She had to sleep on a mattress on the floor for awhile until she went out and bought a frame that fit with no help from the building. We pay the same rent for our room sizes to be drastically different- we did not choose rooms we were assigned at check in so I guess I got the luck of the drawl in that sense. Overall I would not recommend this place, they have terrible customer service, no credibility, and its expensive for not that great of a location. I am sharing all this because I wish I knew this and never signed my lease here. I scrolled through some of the reviews and I do not believe those who left a high star rating-- they must be payed to post that. 3.4 Star rating is better than they deserve. Nothing will be...