The Grove

We’ve been living here for 4 months now and are current residents.
The apartment itself is excellent. It has modern fixtures, high quality appliances (it actually surprised us how good the kitchen equipment was for a rental), and a GREAT location. We moved here from suburbs outside of Boston, so the area is a bit louder than we are used to, but not generally noticeable. The one issue we have with noise is with the local bodega in the next building over, which for some reason we don’t understand plays outdoor music at all hours ²⁴⁄₇.
The building is well maintained and kept very clean. The woman who cleans the building is very thorough and does a great job.
As will happen with any new rental, we’ve had a few minor items that needed to be addressed in our unit (minor touch-​ups on paint, door not closing without the deadbolt due to some sound proofing etc…) that were dealt with quickly.
The management team has been very responsive. I have reached out regarding a few issues caused by other tenants (i.e. trash being piled in the middle of the trash room instead of the bins) and the minor repairs mentioned earlier. Their response was timely and appropriate. They do a weekly newsletter, which has great local and building updates. We really like that they go out of their way to decorate for the holidays and do little things like that, which make for a nice experience. They’re always friendly and professional when I’ve reached out.

To set the stage: this review is the the Grove Apartments themselves. Feel free to compare and continue with my other review of Shuster Management on their company Unilocal page. Also, I moved out of this building the minute I was able to so I am a previous tenant from Jan 2013-​May 2014.
I was looking for «affordable» housing in the downtown area of JC as close to the PATH as possible. This building was brand new when I moved in with no previous tenants and had been constructed 6 months prior. When looking here, at Trump, and at the other high-​rises within the same price range, my own realtor recommended I live somewhere else with more amenities. I liked the style and location the best so I ignored her. The only reason for the 2^nd star is because of the convenience to the PATH and the fact that I had 11 foot ceilings.
Pros:
— The units are gorgeous and modern. Nice floors, great appliances, and TONS of closets (a girl’s dream!).
— There is laundry in-​unit and the tenants are all great/​respectful/​friendly/​quiet.
Cons:
— The building is so poorly constructed there are HUGE issues every time there’s any sort of precipitation. I had my ceiling collapse from water leakage THREE TIMES within 1 year.
— The windows suck and there is no airflow or natural ventilation. When you look at the unit, open the window and imagine that is your only source of air during the fall/​spring.
— If your unit faces Columbus, forget about it. A– there are people in the buildings across the street at all hours of the night doing work. B– it’s unbearably loud so you can’t open the windows and hope to get any sort of sleep/​relaxation.
— Outside of the kitchen, the appliances don’t work all that great.
— Specifically the laundry units– they’re either on a low setting or they are just total crap because my clothes were never clean and the machines barely agitated the water during each load.
— The AC/​heating units are a total joke. I even had the manufacturer come to look at it and he told me there was no set temperature to turn them to, it’s just wherever you feel comfortable. So that meant, in the winter, when I hoped to leave it around 73, I had to turn it to 78+. In the summer, it hovered around 60 just to get some cool air in the place. The units are installed so poorly that regardless of the setting, you WILL have hot/​cold air drafts that will eff up your internal temperature. Your will feel the winter in your apartment and you will feel the summer heat as well. Then your bill will be upwards of $ 300 every month that you attempt comfort.
— There are zero amenities. There is a roof deck but you’re not allowed to do ANYTHING on it but sit in a chair (see Shuster review for more details). Literally. Legally.
— The virtual doorman is fine enough, but all that means is that packages are left in a room and that room can be unlocked by tenants and postal workers only. That’s really all they do.
— The garbage room is INSIDE the building, specifically in the LOBBY right next to the elevator. I find this disgusting on many levels. A– it always smells therefore, your nice, shiny apartment building where friends wait for the elevator to see you, always smells. I don’t even want to know the infestation potential.
— Management made the garbage room bigger to deal with the smell which means the bike storage room is basically non-​existent. It’s also the package room and the room where the cleaning people house their materials so if you want to store your bike, you have to keep it in your apartment which isn’t very big.
— As far as I can tell, this is the only building with an open lobby vestibule to the street. There are homeless people that sleep in there or stand in there and it’s a massive problem that management refused to deal with. Even when the man got into the apartment and slept in the lobby and stairwells!
— There are additional elements that are complete crap or just not active. Like the fire alarm system which somehow was never activated. Or the fact that the elevator barely functioned upon move-​in and I had to complain for 3 months to get it «turned up». Also, the water NEVER gets hot within a reasonable amount of time. I’ve timed it and it’s taken 2 – 3 minutes to get lukewarm water in the kitchen/​bathroom faucets and that’s all you get. It’s never hot enough unless you take a shower.
— For any current tenants– you should know that the shower water temp is ADJUSTABLE. you just have to get a plumber to come take off the on/​off plate and turn it up! I had to take cold showers for 3 months and deal with Shuster telling me I was wrong before I cornered a plumber who told me they just didn’t want to pay for more heated water but it was actually possible to set the max temp higher. Imagine that! A HOT SHOWER in a $ 2400/​month apartment!
Stay away from this property. It’s got a bad vibe, and it’s not worth the rent and hassle.

RENTERS BEWARE
When reviewing the lease, make sure you are aware that there is a clause that state that (1) tenants are responsible for any repair under $ 500; (2) the landlord can evict you on 3 days notice and can enter your apartment in 2 hours notice (3) tenants are responsible for all legal fees if there is a lawsuit.
SIGN AT YOUR RISK. The apartment is decent with laundry but we didn’t trust the management company after reading all the reviews here so we got out in time. It’s not worth the headache down the road.

The apartments are okay, but the management is terrible and completely unreliable. Your repair requests will go unanswered for months, and they give empty promises about fixing things.
In mine and the case of several other tenants it’s been the AC (heating and cooling) units, which are terrible. You’ll go months without heat, and Wendy would send people to check the unit after couple of weeks, and then tell you it’s working fine when it’s not.
Have any further doubts? Ping me back, and I’ll answer any questions you want. I can email you all the email threads I have had with the management to show you how frustrating they are.
Stay away.

The apartment is ultramodern with a ton of closet space and, since it is well-​insulated and gas is included, you do not have any outrageous heating bills — something I heard is a concern with some of the other buildings.
Nonetheless, after looking at other buildings with theaters, pools, doormen, gyms and a host of other amenities, this becomes a hard sell in terms of value. You do not realize what a big difference those things make until you don’t have them or, until its summer and you see all the other downtown residents popping in Starbucks for an iced coffee after spending the afternoon at their rooftop pool. The building uses a virtual doorman system. Meaning, the vestibule has to be open to public. Sometimes homeless people use it for shelter and, at times, delivery men leave packages in it which have been stolen.
The complaints made here about the management company are justified and are not just whiny tenants. The management company was probably the worst part of living here and, ultimately, my decision not to renew my lease came down to that as opposed to the 9% — 12% rent increases offered on lease renewals. Just to give a few concrete examples, they called me 24 hours before I was due to move in and demanded I either come inspect the apartment the following day (on a work day) during office hours, or sign an agreement saying the apartment was in good condition when I received it and I would be responsible for any existing damages to the apartment. They called 48 hours before my move-​in date (a date I chose and management had expressly agreed to a couple weeks earlier) and told me I had to change the date because the office would not be open. They sent out emails threatening to rummage through the tenants’ garbage and impose fines on anyone who is not recycling. When stains appeared on the hallway carpet, they threatened to inspect garbage bags for holes and impose a carpet cleaning fee on any apartment with damaged bags.
After expressing certain safety concerns to management, and not getting results, the tenants jointly complained to the City. It is my understanding that that complaint resulted in a number of code violations. It’s just a lot of drama and who needs that at home.
All-​in-​all, I think the area is great — close to NYC and public transportation, but I think 50Columbus, Grove Pointe and Liberty Towers Apartments are all better options.