21 West — Local services in New York

I am sharing facts about my living experience here. There are roaches in the apartments. Every floor is riddled with loud neighbors - ask the leasing agents what they do about loud neighbors! (Here's a hint, they wont do anything!)

There is a group of homeless people who live outside the building and pick out of the trash.

There are literal mountains of trash piled up outside this building and it makes the whole area smell whenever it's even mildly warm out.

They raised their rents by over $1,000!!

There are 0 free amenities.

Management is horrible.

The leasing office staff are rude and confrontational. There is constant turnover for leasing office staff because the job must be miserable dealing with such terrible management.

The hallways frequently smell like sewage

You can hear every single conversation your neighbors have in the hallways.

Sounds echo throughout the hallways from everyone's apartment.

The trash rooms are frequently left in disarray from other tenants just leaving garbage all over.

The laundry machines on my floor are broken what feels like once a month

The street outside the building constantly floods making it impossible to cross the street during even the slightest rains

All in all, this was the worst apartment experience I've had and for the price of the apartment, you're better off elsewhere.

Anyone who posts a 5 star review is more than likely fake because if you talk to any residents here, none of them are happy and long term tenants that I've come to know over my time here are moving out due to the changes in how the...

High ceilings, sun filled airy and spacious rooms, brick and mortar traditional look, not a single noisy hallway, regular hardworking decent friendly folks with their young families and dogs, a club to hangout, always smiling and greeting concierge, responsive handymen and an in-resident super. A well stocked deli that can be accessed through the building.

Cross the west street and you are by the mighty Hudson. Gorgeous sunsets, beautiful boats by marina, fine wining and dining @ Brookfield place and Le District. Go jogging by the river, walk your dog take it to the dog park. Pick and choose the color of the subway you want to use. Red, Yellow or Green. It's exactly 3 minutes walk. Car Rental or parking needs?30 seconds across the road.

Well try find something even close in Gotham. You won't. Being a believer in destiny I think it's a blessing to be able to lead this quality of life. Everybody should be so lucky. So personally my tweets are #gratitude #blessing #lucky.

Now, do I think I may be paying a little more considering it's not adjacent to the river? Maybe. Do I think I get great value for money? You bet'ya.

The single and the only thing, that could be different. I would buy my my place in a heart beat. It's a little disheartening to see all this money go towards rent without a single penny back in tax savings. Hopefully one of these days the big ol' building management company will have a little empathy and offer purchase options. We do work hard for our money too :-)

Cheers !!

PS - I am in my 8th year renting...

I lived here from right after 9/11 (Apt 17M: Wyclif Jean was the previous leaseholder) until 2006. My rent started at $2680 (with a 2-month signing bonus) for a 1350 sqft 1 BR, 2 bath w/6.5 ft high windows, a huge just-renovated kitchen w/window, 2 large alcoves and incredible views of the Hudson from the 23’ living room and 23’ BR suite. 21 West had a 90% vacancy rate when I signed (the lowest in lower Manhattan), and the staff looked the other way when I added 2 walls and converted it to a 3-bedroom. The night front-desk guy recommended a contractor who specialized in this, and I think it cost me under $2,000 for the whole conversion. Officially you weren’t allowed to build walls, but you could “add doors”, which of course requires adding a wall. I gave the concierge most of my swag bag from the Grammys one year, after which she treated me and my guests amazingly. Despite my having had a rooftop party w/over 300 guests one night, after which the building changed its policy, and the continuous smell of pot from my apt (You could smell it from the elevators sometimes.), we were always treated respectfully. 21 West has the most convenient location in Manhattan, w/the 1/2/3, 4/5/6 and N/R lines less than a block away. Highly recommended (esp if you go back in time to Feb...