115 East 82nd Street - Beware! Big Problems

This building, while in a good location for Upper East Side families, has BIG problems with its infrastructure and I would strongly caution you before you rent an apartment in this building. The management company - ABRO - charges market rate rent for new rentals - yet elevators and boiler break down frequently. And the building contact - Mr. Hill, never returns phone calls and is, conveniently,... [more]

This building, while in a good location for Upper East Side families, has BIG problems with its infrastructure and I would strongly caution you before you rent an apartment in this building. The management company - ABRO - charges market rate rent for new rentals - yet elevators and boiler break down frequently. And the building contact - Mr. Hill, never returns phone calls and is, conveniently, never in his office, so impossible to reach. I have lived here for 5+ years and I can attest that there is often no working elevator, frequently no hot water and there are many winter mornings I have woken with no heat because the boiler is out. The elevator is the original elevator for the building - dating back to the early 1940's and chronically breaks down. For example. as of today - 10/3/11 - it has been out for 5 days - with the service elevator also down for a day this past weekend, so no elevator service at all - a problem for families with strollers, the elderly or anyone coming in and out with groceries, bags etc - which is pretty much everyone here! There is no ventilation in the elevator, so if you get stuck in there in the summer, it can be sweltering. I have personally witnessed a panicking older woman, overheating in the stuck elevator, desperate to get out on a 90 degree day. And since there is no doorman in the building, and only an alarm bell in the elevator - no phone or intercom - you have to hope that the super or neighbor will hear the bell and come help you. The management company claims they are planning to install a new elevator, but have said this since they took over the building in 2008. In addition, the boiler also breaks down, so there are far too many mornings with either no hot water, or no heat in the winter. These are basic services that the building has an obligation to provide reliably and certainly in a building where the rents for 2.5 BR's tops $6500/month. Since the location has its advantages I would highly recommend strenuously negotiating down your rent to reflect the abysmal quality of services provided - or better yet, steering clear and renting elsewhere. [less]