The Art House — Local services in Jersey City

I've been living in the Art House for for three months now, and here are my thoughts now that I'm a quarter way through my lease.

The good: The location is ideal and quiet, despite two bars on the corner of the block. Super close to the PATH train and Light Rail, so getting into the city is a breeze. Many close restaurants. There's an amazing coffee shop downstairs that's perfect to work from.

The building itself is clean and modern, and the staff (especially Cesar and Glenda) are kind, warm, and always helpful. The pool on the roof is tiny, but nice to have. The gym has the basic equipment you would need, plus two Peloton bikes for use. DVORA also plans community activities that I've really enjoyed like an end-of-summer pool party, and a Paint & Sip night. We also get a complimentary weekly "refresh" where someone comes in to do light housekeeping.

When we moved into our unit, it was spotless and in great condition. Units in the back of the building don't get a lot of sunlight due to surrounding buildings, but the floor to ceiling windows don't make the apartment feel like it's too dark. Appliances and fixtures are beautiful and feel new, and I always get so many compliments when friends visit.

The bad: The DVORA app that is used to reserve the gym, pool, etc... is clunky and the ticketing system chat functionality is poor. When we moved in, our washing machine was broken, and it took close to three weeks for it to be replaced which I think is unacceptable given that it was simply replaced with the washing machine from an unoccupied unit. When I followed up on the status in the ticket in-app, I often wouldn't receive a response for days, and would receive conflicting responses from what the Super would say.

The ugly: Although we pay a $50 a month amenity fee, there are many hidden fees that we have to pay. If we bring a guest and they want to go to where any of the amenities are (the pool, gym, rooftop), we have to pay $20 per person per day. There's a bike storage room which used to be included in the fee, but now costs an additional $10 a month.

The worst of it— DVORA has recently implemented a mandatory package delivery system called CARGO where all packages must be shipped to the sister building at 175 2nd St where it will then be sorted and delivered inside your unit Monday-Saturday from 3-5PM. Any package delivered after 2 PM will be delivered the next delivery day. Get a package delivered at 2:30 PM on Saturday? Tough luck since you won't be able to receive the package until Monday. This is extremely inconvenient for those who pay for expedited shipping or receive time-sensitive packages such as medication or groceries/food. As of right now, CARGO is free until the end of our lease. So anyone planning to renew or anyone moving in would be required to pay $30 PER PERSON per month, plus an additional $30 fee for any package over 30 pounds, PLUS $1/package for any additional packages over the allotted 30 per month. The deliveries happen from 3-5 PM and if you don't answer when they knock, they physically come inside your unit to leave your packages. Personally, I don't feel like my home is a place of relaxation and safety when someone can come into my apartment while I'm in meetings, in the bathroom, sleeping etc... There's no way to opt out of this service.

A lot of tenants are extremely upset that we will eventually be charged for a service that is undeniably worse than the previous system. Having to wait up to 48 hours to receive our mail is extremely upsetting, on top of being charged $60 a month (since I live with my boyfriend) to receive our mail that we already pay shipping fees for.

I really have loved living in the Art House so far. I think it's a beautiful building with great staff. However, these recent nickel and dime-ing measures are making me and many our my neighbors reconsider renewing our leases once they expire. I really hope that DVORA reconsiders...

I just moved into the art house about a month ago, and now feel I can give a full review. after reading all the reviews, I have to say I was a bit worried about how it was all going to go - but the negative reviews seem geared to slow service and amenity fees. I’ll break down my ranking and why it’s four stars here.

Finding the place & moving in: Five stars here for me. I worked with Tina Fasheh as my leasing agent, and she was amazing. Responsive, helpful, interested, she was everything you’d look for in a leasing agent without any of the sneaky tricks that you often run into. Highly recommend working with Tina. The move in process was overall simple, just had to schedule through the app an elevator and handle any insurance - very basic requirements. This was, all told, very smooth.

The Apartment: Four stars. When I first saw the apartment, I fell in love with it - and I still am in love with it! The layout and style was everything I was looking for and included the washer/dryer at no extra cost. Big fan of that. The only reason it isn’t five stars is there are a few annoying parts - like a big gash on the floor, some weird writing on the walls that’s been painted over but you can still somewhat see (haven’t figured out what it’s saying yet), and the sink drains slowly. Honestly, none of this is a big deal to me, and the handyman has noted all of it in my file so I have no concerns about a security deposit problem.

The amenities: Three Stars. Okay, these are crazy priced. 200+ a month for the full package is a bit ridiculous. But you don’t have to pay for it! And so I don’t. I have the basic package with Cargo and the upstairs areas for 30 a month and that is entirely reasonable to me. I don’t understand all the complaints people put on these - if it’s too much, don’t get the package. I’m thankful it’s a la carte and not all looped together, as you can pick and choose what you want - as in, I will likely loop in the pool package after the winter but I don’t have to pay for that now! Cargo seems to be a whole other issue, as it did take me over a week to get my package after it was delivered - but I haven’t used it enough yet to fully write a review.

The Service: Four stars. So far, outside of when I was working with Tina, responses have been a bit slow on the app and the phone calls just always drop if you try to call. That’s annoying - I want to use the phone to talk to a real human, not sit and wait for a response on the app. That’s my only issue though, as the people, when engaging with me, have been polite, understanding, and patient. Not to mention the concierge, who all seem like incredible humans in their own awesome ways.

All told, the negative reviews to me seem like people annoyed at having to spend a lot of money on the amenities or with slow service on facilities. I haven’t had a reason to call the Super yet, so I cannot comment, but you don’t have to get the amenities if they are overpriced - and, they are.

I’m very happy with my apartment so far, the people I’ve interacted with, and look forward to a great year+ in this building. If you hate my review and want to call me stupid or anything that’s fine, but know I will not be looking at...

EDIT: recently they were going to paint balconies as part of building improvement projects. I had agreed to have the workers enter my apartment on Friday, yet Danny (the mostly incompetent and unfriendly super) blatantly ignored the schedule and allowed the workers into my home on Thursday. This is unacceptable and has happened to other tenants as well with no comment or remedy from the owner of the building. For the amount they are charging in rent, they need to behave less like a mom & pop and more like an organized professional building. You’ll get more for your money looking elsewhere in Jersey City and won’t have to pay hidden fees for things like guests or lightbulb changes...PS - they wanted to raise my rent 14%... totally ridiculous and unconscionable.

I’ve lived at The Art House for the past 2 years, and I love living here, but there are a few things I’m a little disheartened by. First - when I moved in there was no mention of the fact that some apartments are rented out as hotel rooms. Now I know in the era of Air BnB having strangers in a place seems relatively commonplace, but it’s exceedingly frustrating when those “guests” have access to amenities that tenants pay for. Additionally, this building has a pretty close knit feel, but it doesn’t feel great to have strangers roaming the halls without background checks - especially when some of us don’t always lock our doors. I also see the hotel guests clog up elevators and lobby spaces with their suitcases. It’s annoying and it feels really deceitful to not know this bit of info upfront. Second - I’ve been hearing from friends of mine who are long standing residents that there has not been a ton of negotiation flexibility with rent price and they’ve been raising rent prices well above a standard 3-5% increase. This is disappointing because it ruins the community they’ve claimed to want to build. Additionally, it’s an “older” building by Jersey City standards now, so they really shouldn’t be charging what the newer buildings are. I think they should really evaluate what they want to be as a distinguishing factor - a rental company that cares for the community it seeks to build or one here to make money and not friends. I understand that there are things to pay for (maintenance, staff salaries, etc.), but it’s unclear how the rent raises coupled with the $600 amenity fee is truly getting used. The pool is open 3 months per year and most of the machines are rather old in the gym. I think it would be great if we could understand how our money flows back into the building (with the full understanding that there’s profit margins baked in). It would be great to have Eyal and Tal hold a resident town hall to hear about and brainstorm collectively around some of these...