750 columbus has great layouts, a great location and a terrific staff. John, Princeton, Jeff, Ayo, Ivette, Kadion, Al, Pablo, Q, Herry are especially outstanding. The leasing office is also very helpful. read more

Never rent from Equity; renewals are (despite what they say) not at market value. Equity asks you to pay a minimum $150 more of your current rent, after you decline it goes to on the market for $100 less than current rent. YES, $250 swing in rental payments just by saying NO!. After I recently moved out, I did an inspection with one of the service members, who did not report any problems that were "beyond normal wear and tear". Equity charged me $300 for painting and cleaning services; they will nickel and dime you for anything they can. DO NOT LIVE HERE!!! read more

I rented the rooftop space for a 30th Birthday Celebration for my grandson. The management representative was nothing but polite and professional from my initial outreach to follow up when closing out the event. My deposit was returned promptly on the next business day. The space was nicely maintained and maintenance personnel was quick to respond when requested. I highly recommend this location for any small occasion. Peggie W. read more

The apartments are decent but overpriced and small. The building's amenities are what you're really paying for, but if you don't use their gym or the children's playroom, it's not worth the price. Beware their leases, though. Breaking one is difficult and expensive. I was told that I could either pay full rent (and then some) until they find a new tenant or pay two months rent up front. Since it took over three months and several favorite for me to take the apartment before, the settlement was the obvious (if exorbitant) option. Once I agreed to take it, though, I was told that oops, never mind, they couldn't offer a settlement at all even though it specifically allows for it in my lease. The worst thing is that it's STILL cheaper for me to move to a better apartment than to stay. Stay far away from this and other equity properties. read more

I like living here! Anytime we have a problem , the maintenance team are very quick to respond. It makes our lives so much easier. The manager, Dar is really great, and since he came , there several improvements to the gym and the rooftop which definitely increase the quality of life in this building. read more

I have only been living here for a couple of weeks, but so far, it has been a great experience! The concierges are very friendly and helpful. The super has been super helpful and responsive. As I am finding little things that need to be fixed (minor things), the super attends to them right away. The apartment is bright and sunny. The amenities are great - laundry room, gym, rooftop sundeck. The neighborhood is amazing! Birch coffee next door, Whole Foods across the street, Trader Joe's 3 blocks down, CVS one block away, Central Park one block away, subways close by, tons of restaurants! My only concern at this point, and I will have to wait and see, is that people have posted that there are huge rent increases with lease renewals. I am hoping that when it comes time to renew, I can renew at market value, whether that is more or less than my current rent. After all, if they relist the apt, they will lose some rent and have to list at a lower rate! So, I won't know that for about 11 months! But I am hoping that the rent will be market value, because I would love to stay for years to come! And icon parking is under the building. The monthly rate for parking is exorbitant, but the convenience is worth it, to me. There is an entrance from the parking garage directly into the basement of the building, with no stairs, so it makes unloading the car and coming home in bad weather so easy. Highly recommended! read more

Awaful managment, I just move out after 4 years of leasing which they raised the rent every year. Took all the deposit with no reason. Not just me a lot of other are deserting that sinking ship. The other property the are managing 96 Westmont has bed bugs. Stay away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! read more

This is the worst building I have ever lived in. Roach infested to the point that I found a cockroach ON my bed!! And, when we moved out, they kept part of our deposit even if we returned the apartment cleaner and in better condition than we found it in (which we had pictures to prove). The management team of the building is unresponsive and noone cares. Do NOT live there - not worth your money. read more

THINK TWICE BEFORE RENTING IN ANY EQUITY RESIDENTIAL APARTMENT BUILDING IF YOU PLAN TO MAKE ONE OF THEIR BUILDINGS YOUR HOME FOR MORE THAN A YEAR. My husband and I were forced not to renew after four years in the building. Every year it's a long drawn out renewal process where we receive a renewal asking us to pay at least $200 (if not more) a month on our unit, they come back to us with a great " deal" that they not only guarantee is a fair price but "under market value" and "lower than they'd rent the unit for if it went on the market", we resign and then see multiple units in the building (all comparable to ours) listed online for less. Expect to pay at LEAST around $100 more/month if you plan to renew, if not more. We cannot financially continue to justify staying in a totally overpriced unit (after having watched many neighbors be out priced over the years and move) and have made the decision to move. LESS THAN 48 HOURS after we gave notice, our unit was listed not only for less than both our initial renewal offer and Equity's counter but for less than we are CURRENTLY paying on our lease by almost a $100/month. As renters, we all have such little protection in NYC, but having lived in buildings with management companies that will negotiate and are interested in keeping units rented and good standing tenants in the building, we can definitively say Equity Residential is NOT one of those companies, and does not have current tenants best interest in mind. Such a shame given the building is in such a great location. Absolutely think twice or be prepared to overpay if you plan to stay for more than your initial lease. *UPDATED 7/5/19: We come home to find standing water in our bedroom from a leaking A/C unit. Have to throw out two pillows due to water damage, not to mention dry several electrical wires next to the unit. We call the emergency service line (after hours on a Saturday) as the parquet floors are spongy and the leak is significantly worse when we turn the A/C off. When the tech arrives, he has a WetVac machine that will not fit under the A/C. Then tells us, after speaking to the super, we should turn it off and wait until the morning. After explaining it is worse when off, he suggests we take our towels and put them underneath the unit to soak up the water overnight. We explain that we'd rather not use our own towels that we'll then have to throw away from rusty water damage, so he says we should use paper towels...that the building has nothing...not a single towel or rag we can use... read more

Recently moved into this building, with Vanessa's help. She was really easy to work with, answered my questions in a timely manner, and was very patient with all my questions. I would definitely recommend working with her if you are thinking about moving into the building or any other building that she works with. In terms mid the building itself - it's nice and in a good location. The staff so far has been very helpful read more

I've been living in this building since I was 4 and I'm now turning 21. Not only is this place extremely expensive but the management doesn't seem to care about the people in it. A few years ago mold was growing in my guest bathroom. We've complained multiple times especially since I had a infant nephew there. It took 4 months for someone to come and finally fix it or at least act like they fixed it. I go in my bathroom and noticed all they did was paint over it. This year it got WORSE! I live with my nephews who are under the age of 5 and I'm pretty sure paint isn't the way to get rid of mold. Also my guest toilet. My nephews are very young and tend to flush things down the toilet. It ended up getting clogged and we asked for them to fix it. Thank God we have another bathroom because it was going on a week and we kept getting the "someone will be there" line. We have to go down to the management office and basically cause a scene for someone to actually come upstairs and fix my toilet. It's like you have to ask multiple times a day to ever get any response from management. I've basically grew up in this building and witnessed different management companies but the one we currently have is by far the worse. There are many things I can say about this building but I rather end my rant now. Anyways before you go about posting how lovely the lobby is (which it is) please make sure you ask tenants how the service is. read more

I have not lived in the archstone but i did take a tour as a potential tenant. First of all their leasing agent had completely forgot about the appointment and showed up 15 minutes late after the front desk called her. When she arrived she had no clue what my name was or what kind of apt I was looking for (we had spoken for 20 min on the phone two days earlier). Secondly, in my 15 minute wait time, I had the opportunity to scout out the tenants coming and going. They did not seem like the kind of people that are paying 3k+ a month for a 1br. Most people in building pay much less due to rent control. Lastly, at the end of the tour the agent slipped in the fact that starting june1 all new tenants pay for heat, water, AND PLUMING. When i told this to agents at other buildings they laughed and thought i was joking. BEWARE the red brick exterior is just a facade. Also a $500 annual fee to use the facilities like the gym. The only positive was the front desk people are very nice and courteous read more

West 96th is the worst building I have ever lived in. While the staff and maintenance were nice, I have never seen more incompetent or disorganized management. Unless you want to spend most of your time fighting unnecessary fees, or paying those fees when you get tired of fighting, I would not waste your time here. During my first month in the apartment they added a $400 charge to my and my roommates account a few days before rent was due. When I inquired about why we had this charge they would not give me an answer. I finally went into the office in person and the answer they gave me was not correct. They gave me four different reasons for this charge, all of which were incorrect but told me that, although the charge was incorrect, if I did not pay the charge they would add a $50 late fee that I would not be able to fight. I wish I could say that my problems stopped there but it got so much worse. The management continued to take rent out of my bank account for TWO MONTHS after I left. They would not respond to my to stop taking the money so I blocked them from my bank account. The also would not respond to my requests for them to return the money they had stolen until my bank threatened to start a lawsuit against them. They then returned the wrong amount of money and added a $1358 charge to my previous roommates' account (the account of the apartment I had moved out of). It has taken me hours on the phone with them for 8 weeks after I have left the building and the problem is still not sorted out. I have been told that this is not their problem, that I should figure it out myself (even though they were holding money they stole from me), that they do not know what to do and one woman in the leasing office even hung up on me while I was explaining the problem. In addition, every time I have expressed concern about my missing money, another $20 charge appears on my previous roommates account. They are told that if they don't pay these charges by the end of the month, they will have late fees added to their account. However, the management will not respond to any requests to explain these charges. This type of blackmail is a disgusting abuse of power and shows disregard for renter's rights. The management is extremely poor at responding to emails and phone calls. They promise to return calls within 24 hours and I have yet to get one returned call from them ever. They rarely answer the phone and they require 2-3 emails over 5-6 days to ever get a response. I would like to give the management the benefit of the doubt and believe that these faults are due to poor communication and lack of any sense of corporate structure. I do not want to believe that they purposely steal money from their residents but either way their mismanagement and disregard for decency and respect for their tenants results in time and money lost for their residents. I recently moved across the street to Park West Village and I am extremely happy with my choice. For anyone looking into the West 96th, I would recommend looking at any other building on the UWS (except for the Westmont, which has the same management company) as it really cannot get much worse than their management. EDIT: In response to the business's reply below "Establishing or cancelling autopay is managed by the resident on the payment servicer's website. We had advised to connect with the payment servicer and regret it had resulted in a bank dispute instead". When I my lease was over, I was never told to cancel autopay but later on was told that it was my fault for not doing so myself and the management could therefore not help me. In addition, I contacted the payment servicer who told me this was a problem with the management company. Then, I specifically spoke to Jon in the leasing office who told me that the management could do nothing about the automatic debits and my only solution was to dispute this with my bank. Jennifer, I am unsure why you "regret it has resulted in a bank dispute" when I was explicitly told by your colleague to do this. This is a perfect example of the ineffective and disconnected communication from the management and is exactly why I would advise anyone not to live there. read more

Do not contract with this building unless you're ready to lose money and time. We were super excited about this building and really wanted to move into a unit. We went to see it and were told that it was already rented. Then we were told that the only way to see the unit was to put down an application, pay an application fee, and pay a $500 deposit. I've lived in NYC since 2003 and never heard of of needing to pay that much money to see an apartment. Because we were gullible, we paid the fees and put down the application. We were then told that the current residents of the unit had full rights not to let us enter and that we couldn't see the unit. Absurd. We cancelled the application within the 24 hour period where we were supposed to get our money back - surprise, we never got our money back. It is absurd to tell people that they can only see a unit if they put down a $500 deposit. I imagine because of the building's location, they are able to engage in shady practices like this and still get tenants. Horrible horrible experience. I would never deal with this management company again. read more

RE: Alessa M. Apartments look great in this building if you don't mind spending no less than $3000 for a 1 bedroom. What a waste of money. You can mortgage a place for that price. If you don't care about money, than go for yours. I think it's a rip off. read more

Great staff, location is a must, 100% recommended. There is a whole foods cross the street, Pharmacies, coffee shops, restaurants. Central Park 2 min walk. Great for parents and of course, kids. read more

The staff at West 96th, especially Nzingha, Ayo, Edward, and Dar have been helpful from the leasing to moving in to day to day living. The building is clean, nice, and in a perfect location right by Whole Foods. The rooftop is a perfect space to unwind. An amazing location and so grateful to be here in our new home. read more

Management is deaf to resident concerns and the building is aging and not updated. Overcharge for subpar amenties and the response to COVID has been haphazard, inconsistent, and self-serving. read more

A quick correction to my review in response to Jennifer's note: we rented under Equity, the current company (not Archstone), and our complaints all involve them. We never dealt with Archstone, the prior company. Stay away!!!! This is an overdue review - my husband and I moved here while I was pregnant for one year as a place to stay between buying and selling places. To be honest, we wanted a place that was safe, convenient and had amenities, and didn't really have the time or energy to look exhaustively, and Archstone seemed fine. I have to say, in the long run, we felt totally ripped off with this place. We had a bunch of issues, including: - We returned from vacation at night and shortly after we walked in, heard bubbling coming from one of the toilets, which had not been used since before we left. The toilet then began to fill up with human waste, which began to overflow onto the floor. We ran for the super, and when he got there, we were frantically using a bowl to pour everything into bathtub, and he told us that it wasn't his fault personally and added that he didn't want to be in the apartment since it was so late. The waste was apparently coming up through the pipes from the clinic below. Ultimately, they stopped the overflow, but not until our bathtub and bathroom floor were covered (and whatever was tracked in and out by the men working on the issue). When someone came by the next day to clean, they literally had paper towels and a spray bottle of disinfectant that you'd clean a kitchen with. The super came by and pointed to the word disinfectant and said that it would take care of everything. I really can't explain how upsetting and disgusting the whole situation was. I spoke with the then-manager in great detail about this, and her first response was that "things like this happen" in residential buildings. No, they really don't. I told her that we felt uncomfortable because of this (and other issues living in the building) and wanted to leave and was told that we could not terminate our lease early. After a great deal of back and forth, they agreed to comp us 1 or 2 days rent, which honestly meant nothing to us and was not the goal. We had a good deal of items that were ruined by the waste, so this just covered those costs. I was also told that the spray bottle was enough to thoroughly clean the area and when I still disagreed, was told that I could have someone clean and that it would be paid for. I asked to speak to someone at the next level, and Mike called me several days later. He explained that we had a binding contract and that we would need to go to court to get out of the lease. I'm an attorney, but to be honest, just did not have the time or energy to go through this. I then called the general Archstone number to speak to someone higher up, left a message and never heard back. Apparently, this issue was already happening on the floor, and for some reason, nothing was fixed until we spoke to all of these people. Our neighbors were apparently told by management that just water came out of their toilet when it happened to them (they had been on vacation). - There are fluorescent lights in many rooms and the cabinets, hardware, etc. are all very poor quality and things broke on several occasions. - The air conditioners and heating units do not work well at all. One unit provides forced air for both air conditioning and heat. The heat in particular was terrible - if you were near it, it was very hot, but if you stepped away, it was too cold. There was no heat in the bathrooms, which made showering in the winter miserable. It was definitely not an appropriate temperature to bathe an infant in. Right before moving out over the summer, during very hot weather, the AC in our child's room stopped working. No one was available and management later explained that they had 48 hours to fix it, but as a courtesy, they did it the next day. - The responsiveness to routine maintenance requests was spotty and often took repeated requests. The maintenance guys all seemed nice and hardworking; there seemed to be a poor system in place though. -We were repeatedly bullied to have our apartment shown before we had to. We repeatedly explained that we would like the apartment to be shown when we were there and that it needed to be within the 30 day period. We were then given no flexibility during the 30-day time frame because the people that wanted to see the apartment had been "accommodating" by waiting until they were actually supposed to start showing the apartment. They were much more accommodating to prospective tenants than current, paying ones. There's more, but the bottom line is that this place was overpriced and not pleasant to live in. I have never had issues like this anywhere else. read more

We toured W. 96th after looking at many other such rental bldgs and found this superior in professionalism, security, amenities and staff.

The building itself is lovely. Apartments are well maintained and the playroom, roof deck and gym are certainly selling points. OK location: close to Whole Foods and Central Park, but you will need to travel at least 10 blocks south for decent restaurants (which has been a huge disappointment for us!). The doormen and maintenance staff are also very nice and helpful. The issue with this place is entirely due to the price and management. Apartments start out averagely priced. However rate increases have ranged from 8-15% in any given year. There are also numerous surprise fees -- out of nowhere, Equity Residential decided to charge us a $75/month and $500/annual pet fee. A pet fee was stated nowhere in our original contract with Archstone, but they insisted on slamming us with a $1,400 random charge mid-contract!! I'm wondering when we will start being charged for our children... They also decided (mid-contract) to charge residents monthly for heat and water, which was currently covered under rent. Since the meters were set for the overall building, they -of course- charged us $500 to readjust the meter for individual unit measurements. Then are the general gym/convenience fees, etc etc etc. You are also not allowed to have more than 1 guest (one nanny/parent and one child) in the playroom. It is a very large playroom and we have never seen more than ~6 children at any given day/time, but management's directive is that any more than one guest will be turned away. Forget play dates for your kids. (or maybe they'll start charging extra fees per guest??) Lastly, a large portion of the building is subsidized. This is a sensitive and (politically) contentious matter, but it has become increasingly frustrating and unfair to be assessed fee after fee, and rent increase after incessant rent increase, when none of these fees are shared by the subsidized units. We can hardly afford these 'market' rents and live in an apartment that is way too small for our family; however you see subsidized tenants living in 2-3 bedroom apartments at 1/4 of the price we are paying for a 1 bed. We share the same amenities; however the market apartments pay the lion's share of the fees and rent and yet live in worse conditions. As a result, we see market tenants moving out every day, including ourselves. Agree with previous reviews that the building was much friendlier and better maintained/run while under Archstone management. Equity is bottom-line driven and cuts corners at every chance to save a $. You will also find that most of its commercial tenants have moved out due to significant rent hikes. The spaces remain vacant until some big paying bank moves in. read more

For 9 years, I have lived in West 96th and could not have asked for a better home on the UWS. The members of the management team are very professional. The doormen and doorwoman are amongst the best in NYC and exceptionally pleasant. The maintenance team is outstanding, efficient, and detailed oriented. For the location, the space, and upkeep of the property, the entire team at West 96th has much to be proud about. read more

CONS: Archstone increased our rent 20% for next year. I understand that approx. $4K for a 1 bed may be the "market rate," but what is DISGUSTING is that management wants you to tell them 60 days in advance as to whether you are moving out or you get charged fees. There is no place in Manhattan that will rent to you 90 days in advance, so you are pretty much screwed. Management "fixes" maintenance issues but they are never 100% resolved. We still have a maintenance issue that was handled poorly. Laundry is expensive in the building. Send it out - it costs about the same. EVERYONE IS MOVING OUT - ELEVATORS ARE SLLLLLOOOOWWW to arrive!!!! If you want to wait 10 minutes to get an elevator, live here. PROS: The location and neighborhood are good (Whole Foods, TJ Maxx), but for this kind of cash I would want to be in the W70's/80's. The apartments are pretty big, but this is not Columbus Square Apartments (luxury apts on W98th) and this building shouldn't pretend it is. Pet friendly/kid friendly building with a playroom, gym and terrace. read more

Plus Points: Location to Central Park, Subways, B,C,1,2,3, Great Staff (Morning Doorman David, is a great building asset, as is the handymen), Close to Whole Foods ($$$) and Columbus Square, so you have a mini mall one block away. Nice Hallways, good clean modern lobby. Nice roof deck! The stainless steel kitchen works The gym is acceptable. Minus Points: The apartments have electric heat which is very inefficient and you pay for , its like putting 4x space heaters side by side. Overall, the heat does not work well here in winter, the heating unit produces a very dry arid heat which if I stand next too for too long , feel I cannot breath. The apartment is chilly even with all the electric heater blasting on, the bathroom is always cold in winter. I have had more than one tenant say living in a unit facing the street (Columbus Avenue) is very noisy, we live in the back, in the summertime you hear a very notice-able (loud) humming from various collective air conditioners units from other buildings which is why the beautiful back yard 750 Columbus Avenue has is not used much in the summertime (again, we face the back yard so we do look at the view, our view being a plus point). The laundry is small and is complete chaos in the morning, evenings are good, right now there are 2x broker dryers and 3x broker washers (and they have been this way for months). Oh yes, the floor we live on lightly shakes from time to time, and this I have checked out with other tenants on our floor, they experience the same thing. Management is not aware of the problem nor is the buildings maintenance. You are right next to major traffic coming from cross town 96th Street, Columbus Avenue and 97th Street which has incoming traffic coming from the Upper East Side, so the smog levels are higher here, in my opinion than other places I have lived in the last 40x years. We bought air purifiers, humidifiers and it helps! read more

Lived here for a year. Management is overall extremely unresponsive, but what bothers me most is they don't seem to understand the law/contract very well. For example, they made me fill in PRE-move in inspection form after I had been living in the apartment for 8 months. Two months before moving out, they asked if they could show my apartment to potential renter on a Saturday, while the contract specified I was only obligated to provide entry at regular business hours during the last month of my lease. I was required to pay $500 a year for common facilities but they never set me up for gym access. I finally could use the gym when the fingerprint thing stopped working and everyone could go in and they were too busy with other things to have it fixed. read more

The apartment house is well equipped, spacious, has a gym, and probably one of the largest playrooms in the UWS, the staff is super friendly, and helpful, any issue we ever had was resolved at once, the super (Dar Finkelstein) is quite exceptional read more

I was a resident at this building for 7yrs. It's like living in a hotel! Very well maintained, safe building, great amenities, great neighborhood, and near the park; excellent on-site management - friendly, attentive, responsive, and accessible A wonderful place to live. I've been a resident for many years and in the neighborhood for thirty, since before the building was built.. On a side note, the building is owned by one of the largest national operators of rental real estate in the U.S. Corporate management, in contrast to on-site management, seems removed and less caring and respectful for the needs of tenants. Leases range from three months to no more than 12 months, which creates a somewhat transient building population with many move ins and move outs, and creates some difficulty for budgeting one's annual cost of rent. Corporate management is now charging tenants for a portion of the building's utilities, which is less than forthright, as the building is a free market rental and the utilities were already factored into the rent. read more

People working in the building are super nice. However, the management company is horrible and unprofessional. Watch out for your rent increases. When I tried to address the situation with the management company, they simply dismissed my concern and treated me unprofessionally and rudely. I was their tenant for 5 year. Horrible! read more

I moved into West 96th an Equity Residential community in April, in my first few months the experience has been wonderful. The concierge team is phenomenal, they are very attentive and go above and beyond. They always have my dry cleaning waiting for me when I return home from work, I don't even have to ask for it. My wife bikes to work and when she returns home, the concierge always has the door open making it easier for her to get her bike back in the building. The community is situated across the street from Whole Foods and one avenue away from Central Park. Its a short 5 minute walk to Riverside Park, so we have the best of both worlds. My daughter is a student at a local public school and got accepted into a dual language program, we are able to walk her to school due its close proximity. We moved to the Upper West Side from New Jersey and gave up owning a vehicle, the access to public transportation is exceptional with the 1, 2, 3, C trains within a 5 minute walk. The M96, M7 and M11 buses are right in front of the community. The building is kept very clean, the service and leasing teams are very professional. I also enjoy being able to pay rent online and submit service requests through the resident portal. My family and I are very happy we chose to live at West 96th and hope to live here for a very long time. read more

Do not move into this building. Since Equity bought it from Archstone, the upkeep is lacking. What they seem to do especially well is add on additional costs to your rent. You pay $500 a year for a small and poorly maintained "gym" whether you use it or not. You pay for sewage and other add-ons which increase your rent significantly, all on top of an over- priced basic rent. The building is noisy because you are on the corner of 96, 97 and Columbus where it seems every ambulance, fire engine (just 3 blocks away) and police car has its siren blasting 24/7. Trucks are forever blowing their air horns due to the congestion on Columbus Avenue. The noise drowns out conversations even in apartments on the higher floors and facing away from the street. Cabs are hard to come by because Whole Foods customers (on the next block uptown) get just about all of them. There is often a long wait for elevators as tenants are frequently moving out and in. There is no dedicated freight elevator. One and sometimes two of the four elevators are designated for moving. The in house staff is exceptionally pleasant and always helpful. The problem with this building seems to be with the ownership and the overall management. There are too many negatives with this building to justify the high rent cost. Pass it by. read more

Truly amazing building. Great service. Staff is amazing. Rents are getting higher because our neighborhood has seen so much growth with Whole foods, DR, Chase etc ... Great place for kids. read more

Make sure you read the "Filtered" reviews. The management finds a way to bury those. All the negative and truthful reviews are made hard to find. read more