59 Kent – The Landmark Pencil Factory

This was the worst living experience I have ever had, for the short time I lived there. The building is beautiful but was constructed poorly (walls are paper thin, nothing was sealed off so drafts came from everywhere — I could even see into my neighbors apartment.
The real estate company for the building lied to me about the amenities of the building (storage available for a fee, terrace, more washers/​dryers than actually installed). I was even told the approximate amount it would be per month for each size storage unit that would never exist. Come to find out from the building manager (after moving in), there were no plans for storage units in the building — EVER. I figure this information might be important, should someone find themselves looking to rent at 59 Kent. I was also told the building was wired for Verizon FiOs which is also false. When I tried setting up my cable when I moved in — Verizon confirmed they were not scheduled to set up FiOs in that building.
I agree 100% from first hand experience that the issues noted in the previous comment posted by «W.A» were everyday issues for me too.
There was NO soundproofing at the apartment. I could tell you that the neighbors above me liked to eat pancakes with fruit on the weekends and used the bathroom several times in the middle of the night and the neighbor who I shared a wall with (in my bedroom) — well, lets just say they had «company» over a few times a week at 2:30 am and then she’d leave around 3:30 am and it was LOUD! Don’t get me started on the other neighbors who lived in the apartment across from me. The weed smoke and loud parties until 3:00 — 4:00 am during the week were what finally drove me out of the apartment. I would wake up coughing with my eyes bloodshot almost every night. The common hallway on the floor stunk of smoke and was actually smokey at times (come to find out that is a legal issue with the health dept). I know it’s New York and you are going to hear your neighbors fairly often but to not be able to be in your own home without being hotboxed is unbelievable.
After repeatedly notifying the management company about the smoke issue and noise, they did attempt to fill in some of the holes in the beams on the shared wall with the weed smoke neighbors but that didn’t solve the problem. — I should make note that the head of the management company, Lamba, was very nice and straight forward and tried his best to rectify the situation but was at the mercy of others to do so. I was offered to move into an apartment downstairs until they were able to «evict» the neighbors causing the health problems. However, it was possible I’d have to move all my belongings down to the new apartment and then move them back up in as little as a month or so when the eviction was complete and the idea of dealing with that after I just moved into the building was less than appealing. As an aside — the apartment downstairs offered as a temporary fix was continuously unlocked and had keys to all units in the building (neatly labeled) inside. Am i crazy or does that does not seem like a safe way to store keys to all of the occupied units in the building?
I have been very happy since I moved out of 59 Kent. I was upset that the real estate team felt it was right to keep their broker fee after lying about so many amenities of the building but what can you do — some people are crooks.
Bottom line — don’t move here, unless of course, you are hard of hearing and have no sense of smell. That is the best advice I could give.