Center Ithaca — Local services in City of Ithaca

Ithaca in general is going downhill fast with no signs of stopping but this place is decent. It is in the commons where crime has been on the rise. I feel safer walking alone in NYC at night than I do in the parking garage for this building. The parking garage attached to the building (which is owned by the city) is disgusting. It is constantly full of human waste (literally every form you can imagine) and needles which will maybe get cleaned up 2x a year, no matter how many times you complain to the booth workers or city. Even once they clean it, it’s quickly replaced by more needles and human waste. I personally had to call 911 MULTIPLE times after finding someone ODing in the staircase.

As far as the apartment building itself goes, the tenants are nuts. My first year in the building I had an ongoing issue with my neighbor who would constantly bang on the shared wall, file noise complaints against me and call the cops on me. There were multiple occasion where the cops were called about the noise coming from my apartment and I wasn’t even home (I lived alone and had no pets).

This past winter we lost heat for multiple weeks in February, the coldest month of the year. Management did their best to rectify the issue but it was not enough. The space heater they provide was insufficient for the size of the apartment and I did everything I could not to be home. They did not provide a discount in rent or offer a hotel room until the problem was fixed. The apartment got so cold the thermostat (which was super old and dated) was unable to even read how cold the apartment was, the needle was as far as it could be to the cold side.

Once it got hot again the central air would not work. My apartment was 95° for 2 weeks before they even offered me a portable AC for my apartment. Again not sufficient for the size of the apartment. It was another 2 weeks before that issue was resolved and at that point my lease was up and I had no intention of renewing it.

I would say avoid at all cost but hey it’s Ithaca, that’s 5⭐️s for that...

Very good apartment, I think the price is a great value for the location. Awesome design for a two bedroom (except for having two doors to the same bedroom lol). I wish the buzzer system worked to let guests in without having to go all the way to the back door or downstairs, but I overall have had a great experience.

The main thing I would complain about would be that they don't have guaranteed parking passes to the parking garage connected to the building. I had to park my car in a garage down the street for the first 5 months of my lease because the city ran out of passes, even though there were multiple floors with mostly empty spaces. I wish they would make a deal to reserve a certain number of spots for residents like the Marriott does.

The only other thing that can be a pain is non-urgent maintenance. It generally takes 2-3 maintenance requests to get something fixed/replaced when it is not...

A nice place to meet your friends for coffee or grab some food from one of the many establishments on the commons. Center Ithaca has public restrooms and a few food vendors. They have changed since I have ate here so I can't speak to the food there at this moment. Definitely a nice spot especially in this cold weather when you can't be on the commons...