Windsor at Liberty House Apartments — Local services in Jersey City

My wife and I moved here for work in 2018, and only recently moved due to a job opportunity in a different state.

PROS:

1. a close commute to Downtown New York City (25 minutes to World Trade Center via PATH),
2. a clean, welcoming home with great amenities (and pet friendly community!)
3. the BEST maintenance/leasing office staff we've experienced renting. Maintenance always came within 24 hours of requests and were professional and very helpful. Also, Caroline and the leasing office staff were always available and prompt in responding to any question/concern we had.
4. Parking! This building is one of the only "luxury" ones of which does NOT charge you an extra $200-300 for parking (you may be told by the leasing office it's "included" in the price of rent, but from what I understand, it was a concession to Jersey City government when it was built in the early 2000s).
5. The area is gorgeous, safe, and great for walking, biking. There are many great eateries (that we will miss!) within walking distance and parks right off the Hudson, with breathtaking views of lower Manhattan. Target is within a 10 minute drive, CVS is a quick walk, and there are small markets/grocery stores nearby if something is quickly needed (though they are more expensive).

CONS:

1. While I am considering it a 'con', it's a con more towards Downtown Jersey City as a whole. Rent is INSANE for the space you get and if you are looking in Jersey City, any community that includes amenities (gym, pool, etc.) is going to be priced similarly. It's getting to the point of being on-par with Manhattan. At Liberty House, just note that the rent price would have 1 parking space included (which is a pro in Downtown JC).

2. Small con: occasional outside noise. Yes we are in the "City," and we realize that it will not be as quiet as the burbs. However, it's worth to note that while you are in a quieter part of Jersey City (compared to Grove Street), there are more than the occasional car honking/beeping that occurred for us.

We rented an apartment facing Morris Street (I am unable to speak about the noise of the light rail since we did not face it, though it is definitely not as loud as a commuter train) and more often than not cars would double park the already-crowded street, blocking all traffic for what seemed to be, extended periods of time (5 minutes at least). People who were stuck behind would, of course, slam on their horn. This happened pretty often (at least once a day or every 2 days) and while entertaining to watch from afar, it was disruptive as the windows are not soundproofed. This wasn't an issue for us, but I could imagine some instances where it could be for some residents. Overall, we couldn't have been happier leasing here for 2+ years and if it weren't for an out-of-state job opportunity, we were set to stay until at...

I have rented in the NYC area for 10 years and have never experienced a worse property management team or company. Steer clear of Windsor Communities at any cost. Do not rent here if you have even one other option.

The building management company at Windsor at Liberty house is unresponsive, impossible to reach, and deeply apathetic towards the people who live in the building. When there is an issue, they are not present, available, or helpful, regardless of the severity of the situation. For emergencies, they will route you to the maintenance team, the leasing office, or a call center. There is no direct email address or phone number to contact Windsor Communities or the management team for 100 Dudley Street. In the event you do make contact with them, they will not help, or assist you in addressing whatever issue may have arisen. The "management" provided by Windsor Communities is either (A) non-existent, or (B) actively harmful.

A short list of issues we encountered in our 1 year tenure in this building: (1) the fire alarms are repeatedly faulty (usually going off late at night); (2) the parking garage in the south building does not reliably shut/lock, and is constantly breaking down, risking vehicle theft and damage; (3) several of the key elevators used by residents are regularly broken/out of use for maintenance; (4) there is no secure package system. Packages are routinely left outside the building, inside the front entrance, in the common area at the 100 Dudley entrance, or otherwise unsecured; (5) the management team has routinely completely disregarded communications regarding ordinary course payment disputes; (6) we were charged amenity fees for a gym that was largely unavailable; (7) we were also routine double-charged and erroneously charged for parking; and (8) even though we were only here for one year, we had multiple significant appliances break and need whole-sale replacing (fridge/freezer and dishwasher).

To be clear: some of the apartments themselves are nice, and the building maintenance staff are fast and responsive for true maintenance issues. Even the leasing office personnel try to be helpful (though candidly, they are rarely ever physically present or available by phone). However, none of that even slightly compensates for the complete failures of Windsor Communities to properly manage this building and attend to the welfare of its residents.

Do....

My boyfriend and I were looking to move to JC from Manhattan, and we came across Windsor. We had spent weeks before touring other places in JC such as the Vantage Collection, Hudson Street apartments, Quin/Lenox, pretty much every single luxury high rise .. when we walked up the quaint and gorgeous brownstone block where the main entrance is, I knew that this was going to be different from the tiny and over-priced high rises we spent weeks looking at. We met with John, who was absolutely kind, welcoming, informative, charismatic, and honest (rare in real estate). After touring Windsor, we crossed off every single luxury building we were willing to settle for. We looked at a 2 bedroom and was considering one of their duplex 3 bedrooms. Open kitchen, updated appliances, good water pressure, deep kitchen sink (no splash back), open concept living area, fireplace, massive bedrooms, a designated dining area, well-equipped fitness center, and a non-overcrowded pool, and oh how could I forget - it came with a parking spot at no additional charge. My mind was made up halfway through the tour. All of the other apartments in JC that we saw had tiny living rooms that could not fit our West Elm sectional and dining table that seats 6 (it could barely fit just the sectional), kitchens that had new appliances, but completely non-functional for people who actually cook and use the kitchen, and bedrooms that had no reasonable configuration. Touring Windsor was literally a huge relief because I was hopeless that we'd find an apartment that could fit our furniture. Unfortunately right after touring Windsor, we did find a unit in a high-rise luxury building that had a living room + real dining room, and we chose that over Windsor. However, it is almost twice the cost, we are stuck with paying an additional fee for parking, and the bedrooms are not as spacious. For a working couple in their mid to late 20's, we wanted to keep the Manhattan-luxe lifestyle, and Windsor was not the best match for the aesthetic that we wanted to keep. Even now as we are going through the leasing process with our new management, I know that John and the management at Windsor would be frankly less of a headache and prompt. It goes without saying that when we are ready to upgrade to a 3 bedroom or want to get away from this lifestyle, we hope Windsor...