Avalon North Bergen

Ahh, where to begin.
Let’s start with the location.
Based on a TON of research before moving in, the area is safe, and I have not had any concerns in regards to security living here. Everything is close by, and Meson Espanol across the street has amazing food.
The building:
It’s 3 years old, and they make sure it looks clean, aesthetically speaking, its perfect.
The hallways:
Clean, no weird smells or noises. In fact it is pretty quiet all day.
The office staff:
Michelle and Mary in the front office have always been super pleasant and professional. They are happy to address any concerns my wife and I may have no matter how ridiculous. A few months ago, our kitten found it’s way under the kitchen cabinet, and Kevin was at our door not even 10 minutes after I put in the complaint. (We got him out btw)
Amenities:
The lounge is great and the view makes for some pretty awesome sunsets. The gym is great for quick workouts. If you are looking for heavier weights (dumbbells only go to 50 lbs), there is a Retro 3ish blocks away.
Garage:
It’s clean, and I have never had an issue with my car (I left for about 3 weeks and my trunk was open, and everything was there)
Elevators:
They work and get you to the floor you need to get to :)
Misc:
They usually hold events once a month, and the one I decided to go to was great, met a lot of people!
There’s a Subway, 7 – 11, nail salon, and a liquor store (they have a cigar room!)
Commute:
My wife works in Midtown, and it takes her about 30 minutes to get to PA. It’s also great that the stop is right in front of the building.
In conclusion:
I love it here, in the future if we move we are definitely moving to another Avalon. Best decision ever.

This place was kind of a mess. We stayed on the top floor, so I can’t speak to how loud upstairs neighbors can be, but we could hear our next door neighbor very well. Some thoughts:
CONS
–Not dog-​friendly: For the dog-​fees Avalon collects (a one-​time $ 500 non-​refundable pet fee, plus $ 50/​month = net $ 1100 pet fee for a one-​year lease), the property is not very dog-​friendly. The «dog area» is frequently flooded (gross for dog or human to step through) and littered with poo that does not get cleaned by the property (super un-​sanitary). We told the management but it wasn’t improved in the 1.5 years we were there. There is a park about a block away that doesn’t allow dog-​walking, but lots of owners are forced to use that park since it difficult to walk dogs immediately around the apartment. The biggest issue for me is that collecting fees creates the expectation that renters will receive a correlating benefit, but I never really saw the small poorly maintained area as adequate compensation for our $ paid.
–Noise: The property is on a busy thorough street with lots of buses and trucks rolling by, and a block away from a fire station. Great in case (knock on wood) we had a fire, but annoying at 3am when you wake up to the sirens. We lived on the top floor and still heard the squeaking buses, the sirens — everything
–The walls scratch on first touch: Avalon uses an inexpensive matte paint that scratches too too easily– its like a chalkboard. Anytime something hard came into contact with the white paint, it left a black scratch mark: if you want to maintain clean walls you will be doing touch-​up paint jobs frequently.
–Materials used are cheap: the floors look like wood but are plastic, the black stove top gets streaky no matter what we use (fantastik, water, water+vinegar, windex…), the bathroom medicine cabinet window is flimsy.
–Cheap appliances: dishwasher doesn’t work well: doesn’t clean dishes well, etc. Our machine in our previous apartment worked great, and even without using Finish. Our dishes sometimes had to run through twice, or get hand-​washed!!! ;) but seriously it gets annoying when it’s a problem every day. Washing machine: the plastic edge of the drum is ragged, clothes get caught. Not sure if my washer was defective or it is a common problem throughout the building.
–No chalk for the pool sticks in the lounge: like the prior complaint, this sounds like a first world problem but seriously if you’re going to offer a pool table do it so we can actually play.
–I would not recommend walking around the neighborhood alone at night.
–A drug dealer lived across the hall from us.
–The insane frequency of fire alam drills. Avalon uses cheap materials constructing the building. They’ve had more than one building catch on fire and spread (most recently Avalon Edgewater).
–The maintenance head while I was there, John, was unprofessionally rude. Always talked down to us, never took a helpful tone, and generally acted like he was doing us a favor by doing his job.
PRO
+If you work in midtown Manhattan, public transportation is easy: the 154 bus stops in front of the apartment and goes to port authority in about 30 – 40 minutes. No service on Sundays, though.
+That’s it.

I’ve had a great experience living in Avalon North Bergen for almost 2 years. The staff has always gone above and beyond and they’re extremely accommodating. If I have an issue in my apartment it is serviced immediately. If I want a package delivered it’s at my door that evening. The workout balls in the gym were becoming deflated and once reported they were fixed that day.
The complex itself is beautiful. The rooms, closets, and bathrooms are spacious. There is a 711 and Subway right downstairs. They are also opening a liquor store and nail salon. There is an express bus to NYC right in front of the complex and it’s just minutes from Hoboken and Jersey City. I highly recommend this apartment!

When we first moved in, the building was brand new and living here was great. We had an awesome deal on a new apartment and the management staff was exceptional. However, the last year or so we have seen a dramatic decline in building quality and an increase in rent, fire alarms, and other annoying things. The fire alarms go-​off about once a month. The past week alone they went off 3 different days, 2 of which were around 3am. The carpets in the hallways are coming up, the monitors on gym equipment barely work, and of all the promised retail space, only 3 stores have opened.
If you like watching fire trucks outside at 3am in January, move here!
We have lived here for 2.5 years so far, but definitely NOT renewing the lease again.

This is the worst place to live in total rip off for the area and totally not worth the buck .The Avalon management deals with no concern for the residents what so ever .The Fire alarms go out of the blue in the middle of the night as often as every month .We had to go through the traumatic situation of water flooding into our apartment and the way the management dealt with that situation is horrific .No compensation or any kind of moving assessment was provided and added to that they were not even willing to negotiate on the lease terms. They will be the first people to raise rents and amenity fees every year but will be the last people to address your concerns .Don’t be cheated by the looks and feel of the building .The construction quality is pathetic .I would never recommend this place to anyone and save yourself some trouble by renting a place here .It is a disaster to live here.

Great place to live! From the day I walked in and signed a lease on the spot, to any maintenance needs, the staff is super nice and always helpful. Location is very convenient for commuting into the city, and apartments are spacious.

I’ve lived here in a studio for close to 2 years. Paid all my rent in time, and also suffered through a huge rent increase (their argument was «market prices»). Don’t get suckered into their «introductory offers» as anyone will tell you that they will raise the rent on you regardless of «market prices.» This apartment keeps a nice exterior, you’ll love the people that work there, friendly, nice, with decent amenities but ultimately, have no concern for you as a tenant in the long run since everything is operated by a large corporation.
I was up for renewal, but the offer was insane, close to $ 1900 (initial rent was $ 1400 1.5 years ago), for a year long renewal. The 10 month option was $ 1700. This being too high, I went ahead and gave my notice to leave, but literally a week later, saw that they were marketing the unit (studio) for $ 1585 for a 10 month lease. NO CLIENT LOYALTY. Rather than keeping a good tenant on board, they’re now trying to price me out and get someone new in for cheaper (Again their reasoning is «the market price»)…and ultimately screw them over and churn them out like a factory. I even told them I’d renew for the $ 1585 option, but they said that offer was not open to me, and that if I wanted it, I’d have to move all my stuff out, and move back in with a new lease. Unbelievable.
I can go on and on about, but in summary, everything is enticing about avalon apartments (low deposits, low entry/​access for a «nice apt, amenities, friendly staff), but in the end, Avalon are thiefs and all they care about is making a profit. Again, yes a subjective opinion, but it seems as if I am not alone (a lot more other stuff online):
Yes, I should have done my HW before moving in and it’s my fault. But who would’ve known a nice looking community would be such a nightmare. If you’d like more detailed information, please direct message me, and I will give you more specifics.
But DO NOT MOVE TO THIS APARTMENT!

I lived here for 3 months and I happily paid penalty (1 month rent with 2 month ahead notice) to move out. The building looks really nice from outside but it didn’t take long to realize the poor built quality. I and my wife were woken up multiple times late night/​early morning (2~4am) from the balcony downstair where people were having parties. The answer I got from management was that people will not be outside when the weather gets colder, which wasn’t true at all. The sound proof between floor is horrible and you will hear constant rumble if you have a child living upstair.
The security deposit of $ 750, sounds charming. After 2 months of move-​out date, I still haven’t got mine back yet, of which I am getting only $ 50. I don’t know how much damage you can make in 3 month. I was charged $ 160 for «various reasons» which customer service refuses to tell me the reason. They replaced exterior of microwave and gas stove for over $ 400. Of course I haven’t got anything back from $ 500 move-​in fee.
It was too stressful to live so I had no choice other than moving out. I have never written a review of any kind, anywhere, but I feel obliged to make note of this.

do not move here. i repeat do not move here. probably the most irresponsble and worst customer service from the management team here. used to be a lot better, but the good staff has all gone elsewhere. security is a huge issue as well as some of my valuable ups packages went missing and the mgmt won’t even address it to the community. trust me on this guys, what looks good on the outside and clean apartments, do not make up for the rent hikes each year (mine was over 10%) and all the other issues above.

No AC in main corridor hallway for over ten days in a heat wave with no communication from the community.

I lived here for 1 year. I had wonderful experience at Avalon and highly recommend to everyone. Avalon has match up everything they provided till my expectation. The community office has provided wonderful service including delivery packages and answers all questions. I have no complains whatsoever and had no issue with the Community. Maintenance people provided wonderful service. Whenever i raised a maintenance request they have fixed issue in 1 day.