BLVD 475 — Local services in Jersey City

Added two stars back for their efforts. Added one more star for their extra care during pandemic. (Rated 1 star initially)

This building has bad insulation and inefficient electricity system (over 300 bills for 2b), but it is OK overall, there are worse buildings and better ones, Monaco is amazing in direct Manhattan view, floor plan for master bedroom, huge windows, constantly improvement in management and unbeatable welcoming offer for new residents.

If you are good at dealing landlord-tenant issue, you will avoid most of the bad reviews, for example, smoking smell (this is super common as this is not a smoking free building). (If you are not good at how to negotiate on such issue, you’d better move to a building not managed by rose land)

Below are details of bad construction quality:

Poor insulation of wall. I put this bullet as first because this is directly related to your fundamental needs from a good ‘Quiet Enjoyment’ right from any rental lease. Poor insulation means: I could HEAR whatever my neighbors are doing. I could SMELL whatever my neighbors are doing, are they smoking? (YES THIS IS NOT A SMOKING FREE BUILDING IN 2019 IN HUDSON COUNTY) are they cooking? What are they cooking?

But - if you are good at negotiating and have a good landlord-tenant attorney, you are still gonna be OK with any neighbors you may have. Rose land is extremely coordinated if you take urself srsly enough. Another way is to check your neighbor floor plan before moving in, for example, do not put your bed head next to the TV wall of your neighbor. That would avoid any issue from the beginning.

High electricity bill and poor A/C The second bullet is not resolvable even if you choose a refurbished unit. So I would say try to select an East and South facing corner unit. My bedroom facing south but I still feel cold during winter even when having AC at 80 degree (bcs the AC is not efficiently working, the maintaining team was very coordinated, but this kind of old A/C is really not something they can help with... you cannot say it’s working, and you cannot say it’s not working.. it just consumes lots of electricity when reaching a human comfortable level...) My living room facing both East and South is much warmer during winter time.

Why I gave 4 stars? I commented in Jan. Things have been getting better, especially for front desk and door man. Saying hello to me, open doors for me and etc, feel like more like a real home.

During the quarantine phase, they have been trying really hard to make the life easier for tenants. For example, they set up virtual HIIT classes, virtual cooking classes, delivering package to your apt door to avoid crowd and etc. they also collaborated with small local business and gifted you mugs and small presents for being tenants.

When getting my deposit back after finishing my lease (I just got bad luck in having smoking neighbor who share a TV wall with my bed head...kinda have to move really), I did not encounter any inconvenience and unreasonable charges. The deposits were credited back timely and friendly. I have to say the whole moving out process was super smooth and even enjoyable.

I also noticed they have been continuing to refurbish the units with better appliances. For example, they are using BOSCH appliances to replace the old ones. Updates like these really kinda selling point to make Monaco get back into one of the top tier lux buildings again.

Conclusion: Monaco is indeed the ONLY close-to-Newport path lux building with unblocked Manhattan direct view and with generous floor plan. As of 2020, no matter how you check nearby lux buildings, they either do not have same level amenity, or do not have such view, or just a little bit further from the NP path station.

The bottom line is, check ur neighbors floor plan before moving in. Select a refurbished unit. And remember to select south/ East facing unit to save electricity. If you stick to the rules, you will be ending up with unbeatable welcoming offer + decent lux apartment...

Update 02/16/2022, Monaco change its name to Veris BTW.

Have to change from 3 stars to 2 stars due to many life concerns recently:

1. Electrical fire with explosions. Happens at 2am and explosion sounds last for around 20 minutes. Management office failed to explain more details and everyone lives here feels concerned.
2. People get locked in elevators, and still the issue with elevator happens almost everyday. Management office send email every other day to shutdown elevator and still no way to totally fix it.
3. Security is not good around this area anymore.

Pros:

1. The square feet. As I live in 2b2b with my roommate, Monaco has the largest 2b2b as far as I know compared with all other apartments around this area. Most other apartments will fit a queen size bed only.
2. The city skyline view. Again, the view depends on which side you live. For my side it faces NYC. Most friends who come to visit me notice the view first and really like it. For those of you who work from home, you will love this view. (However it is super hot in summer, you wont be able to work from living room without AC + big fan)
3. Location. 5 minutes walk to Newport PATH station. 3 minutes walk to Shoprite market. 3 minutes walk to Newport mall and NJ light rail.
4. Amenity. Pool with gym. Kind of ok.
5. In unit laundry. For the most time if you have any issue with any appliance, they will get it fixed within 1 day.

Cons:

1. Elevator issue. Monaco has 50 floors, with 3 elevators for south building and 3 for north (south and north only connected through 11 and 12th floor). For the south building, 2 small elevators fit 5-6 people, the bigger one fits 6-8 people. One of the small elevators sometimes breaks every week or every other week. It has been a consistent issue for 2-3 years, and you can find google reviews about this. There have been a few times I wait for 20 minutes during peak time. 5 minutes wait are frequent. Also, Monaco does not allow new residents to move in over the weekend. So Friday afternoon you get back from work and realize the biggest elevator is reserved for new residents to move, one of the smaller elevators is broken, and there are 10 people in line before you for the only elevator left. Only thing I can suggest is make sure you have good mental health, and reserve time for elevators when planning. Honestly the elevators are fine recently when I am writing this review, but you never know… I don’t have confident on this anymore. Good excuse: this is an old building, and they have already tried their best to fix it.
2. Packages. Before COVID, there are delivery lockers for packages which I really like as it is easy and convenient. Since COVID not only the doorman was removed, those lockers also get removed. For all the packages for all residents, they rely on the concierge to organize, which has 1-2 people only, and they need to deal with other things for the residents. So, you might need to wait extra hours before you can pick up your packages. Amazon might deliver your package today, but occasionally you might have to wait for tomorrow to pick it up as the concierge doesn't have time to organize, and you can NOT look for your package by yourself. What’s even worse is, in rare cases, staff working at daytime might put your mail/package in one place, and staff working at night can’t find them. Nobody can find your mail or packages and you can't search by yourself. Good excuse: due to COVID they try to protect everyone
3. Noise. Monaco does not have requirements about quiet hours. From time to time some parties last until 1-2 am, although mostly over the weekend. No guarantee for your sleep. The other big problem is the bedroom for 2b is right next to the living room for 1b. If your neighbor likes music loudly in the living room, nothing can save you. You can also hear the microwave sound and dishes from the next living room in the quiet morning, maybe a good way to wake you up. Hopefully one day they can have a clear rule about quiet hours and ask residents to...

Update: Hi Justine,

Do you think I did not contact the leasing office? The very first time when the problem happens, I want to the leasing office, and was told to talk to the concierge to request a maintenance. I did. And the construction was not schedule until yesterday! I also wrote to a leasing member of your team(do not want to bring her name to the table, she has been the decent one in welcoming me) before I wrote this review! Guess what! Nobody has replied me yet! Evan my comment in google map get response quicker than my email complaining! But you know what, I am not surprised, because nobody can see our emails, but every single one do the research prior would want to see this particular review! As you guys were super nice before I moved in and treat resident like me as a second-class citizen when we became an actual resident. ————————————————————————.

I wish I can give negative ratings! And I cannot even stand to stay in this building for 10 seconds. This building is so terrible that I have to write such an angry review on google to warn all the possible customers! When you placed a maintenance, they will always delay your request. As I submitted a maintenance request last week, they sent some one to look over the condition in the following day. And they told me they will send a construction team to replace something in the next week. However, the construction team never show up until now!!!!! Amazing right? They use very cheap materials as the layer that divided between apartments. The wall between my master bedroom and other people's living room is not an exception. And when the wind gust, the wall is making constantly wood wall noise, which is so disturbing that I do not even experience this when I live in a building built in 1920 in uptown Manhattan! Unlike the sound of wind or other natural sounds, this sort of sounds have been proved to make you hard to stand for. Other than this, the wall is so soft that if you lean on it, the wall will bend and move several inches. Imagine this, your wall actually moves several inches when you pushed it. If you enjoy all of these! Monaco is your home of...