Sable Jersey City Apartments — Local services in Jersey City

Overall I'm really enjoying living here. To all of those interested, it definitely feels like a dorm. The tenants are mostly younger professionals & the common spaces look like someone vomited Urban Outfitters all over it. I begrudgingly love it.

Everyone on staff is great. Anthony, James, Miguel, Leo, Becca, & Eric are who I see most frequently at the concierge desk. They've been welcoming and helpful from when I first came to view the building, through my move in, and now 4ish months into my lease. James in particular makes you feel like you're among friends. They've helped me find street parking, get acclimated to the building processes, and made sure oversize deliveries are accepted on my behalf.

Rashawn & Sandro are usually the ones giving me my packages - which has been so convenient. I threw out all of my run down furniture before moving, so I've been ordering lots of large packages. They shoot you an email (it's always been within an hour or so of delivery) & you can grab it from the package room or lockers, depending on the situation.

Jezenia has been my point of contact with management - she's always ready to answer questions and was great with helping us setup the app & portal.

Damon & Sandro from maintenance have come to help fix minor things like a running toilet & broken outlet. They've always come within 24 hours. UPDATE: There was a minor window leak during those heavy storms in March. I was very pleased that they had it fixed within the week, before the next one hit.

I've been to two different community events: water color cards & game night. I didn't struggle to get tickets - I just signed up literally as soon as the invite went out. I'm sure with more popular events it'll be more difficult (I didn't bother with the super bowl, for example). They were both nice - got to meet other residents. I'm hoping to organize some informal events, but haven't gotten around to asking management if there's a preferred way to do that. UPDATE: They've been holding weekend BBQ on the communal deck which have been really fun. The salt water pool is everything. Definitely ruined me for normal pools forever. I go at least once a week & have been attending the workout classes they hold in it on Saturdays.

The units are on the smaller side - but I knew that going in. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I've been able to tuck away without getting a lot of extra furniture. The only items I bought exclusively for storage were under-bed drawers. Personally, I love the simplicity of the units - makes it easy to match whatever design aesthetic you like. I'd say the cabinets & other finishes are closest to an Ikea look.

The only complaints I have are:

One of the closets is too shallow to store clothes without them getting snagged in the door. Not anything management can do about that and there just was no way of knowing before I moved in. I'm storing smaller clothes & items I don't care as much about in that one.

I got stuck next door to someone who smokes in their unit. I can tolerate the occasional smell of weed coming from them, but the cigarette smoke is awful. I've worked in customer service enough to know there's not a whole lot management can do to stop a**holes, so that's just the luck of the draw with any apartment building. UPDATE: Mgmt said they'd address this and I haven't smelled anything since!

They used an odd paint that command strips don't seem to want to adhere to. I prefer the strips to actually mounting into the wall, but they did give permission to install stuff, so I might just go ahead with that strategy. UPDATE: I doubled up on strips & made sure to prep the wall with alcohol wipes before mounting. This was successful for a few weighty frames & several wall mirrors.

At the end of the day, I'm thrilled with the situation. I have friends spending a lot more for older buildings and management with no interest in taking care of them. Glad to be here!

UPDATE OCT 2020: Management has done a great job of balancing COVID safety while carefully letting tenants use...

It’s a combination of great and cheap (in a sense of cheaply done) which results into my 4 star review. We’ve lived here since September 2017. Here is the drill down.

The good:

Views: you can’t beat them. If your apartment is facing north, east or south. For those looking west - it’s boring New Jersey warehouses you’ll be seeing. Amenities: pool, grills, 9th floor in general. Gym is ok, it’s better than average one room gyms in rental buildings around Jersey City, but when all the “gym rats” descend to lift with only one bench press and two benches next to weights rack it’s getting really busy. And yes for 600+ apartment building it’s quite common. If you a real gym rat, you should spend $37 and join Harbourside NYSC - they have all the gear for real meatheads, but if you’re into fitness the building gym will do. The Airbnb assistance process: yes, you can sublet your apartment on Airbnb for the max of 30 days per year, which helps offset the rent. Concierge can meet the guests and help them with Check-in process. That’s a plus. Energy-efficient appliances and apartment lights: they do save electric bills for a building where heat, air conditioning and cooking is all electric. Software: remote apartment unlock and package pickup via automated locker in the lobby. Apartment layout design: was done by European firm, thus sizing of the space is not American - be prepared for that. However combination of smart layout design and storage spaces results into those studios not feeling as small as their Manhattan counterparts. Concierge and maintenance: guys and girls, we really like how you handle everything - we may not smile all the time, but we value your service a lot!

The “could be better”:

Finishes are cheap cheap cheap and cheap again. Wall paint easily comes off when you accidentally scratch it. Bathroom floors are left with construction dirt on them, which we still can’t completely remove. Walls seem to be ok so far, though we’re not sure if our neighbors are not the loud ones or walls indeed provide great insulation. Advice: call for paint and clean crew before you move in to make your apartment feel more of a home. Rent: is a bit high considering the above factor. But again, that’s takes away “the Indian software developer types” who consider it too expensive and rent towers in Newport, which is a good thing. Residents: there are a lot of “Asian students with their parents’ unlimited money” here. Some of those luck manners. And some of them have this “never happy attitude” (you can read their reviews below). Advice to you reading this piece: be polite when you ride the elevator by stepping aside to let more people in, smile and be friendly to your neighbors when you’re sharing amenities such as gym and BBQ grills. Being nice pays back, just like being annoying, rude and self absorbed. Building construction: it’s a concrete building - when the temperature outside drops below 45F you’ll be “walking on ice” unless you have rugs on your floor. It doesn’t matter if your window heater / ac unit is blowing high heat. Oh and those units, they let air in when off - so again, could’ve gone with better models for that, but it’s America thus only one company does window heater / ACs looks like. Elevators: sometimes the wait is instant, sometimes it’s 5 minutes or so. We can only wonder what will happen, if one day there will be a loss of power... Weird lobby construction: glass doors that separate elevators from the lobby create congestion points and I wonder how’s the door still intact with so much cargo/human traffic coming thru. There is no printer in the study/lounge area. For other buildings in the area it’s normal, but not for Urby.

And if you read till here wondering, if you should rent here - do rent, if you can afford. It’s by far the best building in Jersey City for the...

I will preface by saying that I don't write reviews, so this is a thoughtfully accurate summary. I encourage you to look at other reviews (the "Lowest rating" too) in order to capture the extent of an experience at Jersey City Urby. Excuse my English for any typos.

Lived at "Jersey City" Urby for a year and a half. After hearing the experiences from past residents of Jersey City that moved to the Harrison location, my roommate and I made the move to "Harrison." It was the right choice.

We left a unit in JC Urby that was on one of the highest floors with skyline views of Manhattan + New Jersey; but, comparing my experience to Harrison Urby where it's been over a year - the conclusion is that Harrison Urby is the better option - by far.

Pros:

A lot of interesting people live in the various Urby locations (Harrison, Jersey City, Long Island, etc.). So, you're bound to meet cool people.

It is conveniently located by restaurants and transportation.

Some members of management were absolutely fantastic. For prompt and succinct responses, I (along with other residents who have departed) recall the following as helpful: Michelle Yanoff, Alexandra N., Anais, and Jezenia. If they are still at the JC Urby, good on corporate for recognizing and retaining authentic, top talent.

Cons:

After experiencing an issue of property stolen by a former concierge member, I reported it to General Manager Brandy Plummer. My property was never recovered given Brandy having shed surreptitiously the responsibility of the former employee's action (who had a stint of an employment - but evidently not because of this issue as she was absent when I flagged this). My logged correspondence with Brandy hauntingly evidenced the sentiments of many former Urby residents at the time (some of which moved to Harrison Urby) of a poorly managed building from the top. Comparing the aura of the Jersey City main lobby to that of Harrison with the context the General Manager operating was both a relief and a misfortune. It was clear to many residents that various staff members (concierge, mail room, leasing, etc.) emanated a more pleasant (although sometimes seemingly forced) disposition compared to that of Plummer. If Jersey City Urby is still managed by Brandy Plummer, I do not recommend even entertaining.

Jersey City Urby elevators were appallingly slow, and sometimes inoperable. And given the building's narrow (albeit tall) stature, this means residents + guests can pile up, exacerbating the frustration and making the ride up sepulchrally dismal as if residents were mummy sardines.

Although there are cameras and phone-operated locks, the security is not enforced. As a resident, I could often see the elevator lobby's thresholds be traversed by delivery folk and guests given the high frequency of residents going in-and-out of a compact elevator lobby. Translation: You (or anyone - literally anyone - else) rarely need to unlock the doors to access the elevators. Comparing this security system to a similar one at the Harrison Urby building (3 floors, but immensely wide), I have witnessed the security features succeed consistently as people are spread out and there are various secured entry points.

My review wouldn't be complete without speaking to the fire alarm system. The alarm alerted too many times for comfort during my time, as walking down 50+ flights of stairs felt like a quarterly reminder to exercise. If a resident burns something or if the system glitches, chances are the alarm will sound; and, if you're on any floor above 20, you may want to consider a career as a CrossFit Trainer...