TF Cornerstone

I don’t understand why this building has any negative reviews. I lived here for 4 years and I am very sad to be leaving. The ONLY reason why I am leaving is because we need more space so we are moving out of Manhattan. Otherwise I would definitely continue to live here. The doormen are great, maintenance staff is extremely responsive and does a great job fixing things, management is very helpful. Amenities are great (TWO gyms, roof deck, lounge, basketball court, etc.), location is a few steps to the ²⁄₃ and ⁴⁄₅. As long as you are a respectful tenant, you will have no issues and love the building. And NO, I do not work for TF Cornerstone.

I’ve lived at two TF Cornerstone buildings over the course of the last 5 years: 2 Gold St & 45 Wall St. Both of them have amazing amenities, attentive service staff and unbeatable locations. There are NO OTHER buildings you want to look at in the Financial District!

staff sucks, tf cornerstone sucks if you want to move into a frat house this place is for you

I recently looked at a shared apartment at 45 Wall Street. This was organized through a roommate matching service that is a bit pushy, but not awful as far as real estate agents go.
I decided not to rent at the building for several reasons:
1) The leasing office manager was unprofessional and extremely rude. Since I had not met the people through the roommate matching service, I wasn’t about to provide TF Cornerstone my $ 75 application fee until I had made sure it would be a good fit for me. I had filled out most of the application and provided most of my documents. I was harrassed to provide my documents and application fee in private in the office of the leasing manager. As someone who used to be a real estate agent, this is EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL and RUDE.
2) The building is fine… the facilities are subpar for the money you are paying. Has a doorman. In general, the apartments are choppy and fine… allows partial walls (due to code in NYC). Great for shares, but the prices are overpriced as everything in the city.
Needless to say, I was able to find something that better suited my needs, however, I wanted to forewarn people about the unprofessionalism within the leasing office on the part of the manager. The other leasing agents who worked in the office were very pleasant.

My fiancé lived at 2 Gold when hurricane Sandy hit. She had to leave the building and with very little help from TF Cornerstone ended up at another one of their buildings, 45 Wall Street. They are currently involved in countless lawsuits involving their negligence during Sandy but that’s beside the point of this review. My main complaint is with TF Cornerstone and not 45 Wall. We decided we would explore resigning the lease so we spoke to Donika over at TFC leasing. Initially she was fairly friendly but very robotic, it was clear she was following a script of things to say. We indicated to Donika that we qualify financially to sign and she said that previous tenancy was always taken into account. It’s important to note that we’d already been living at the building for almost two years, my fiancé was on the original lease with another woman. The woman moved out and we decided we would stay and start a new lease together. We got all of our financial paperwork in order, my fiancé is self employed and I’m an actor but we more than qualified for the apartment and could prove it. We submitted and this is where the nightmare began. Donika decided on her own that our pay stubs, CPA letters, bank records weren’t good enough and we’d have to provide more. I then provided her two more pay stubs and an account summary (my bank statement for September wasn’t ready yet so my bank couldn’t give it to me, Donika already had my august statement so instead I gave her what I could which was an account summary) and my fiancé asked her CPA to give her a second letter that showed even more detail. The local leasing agent at 45 wall, Tony said that this was unusual and from what he’s seen of our paperwork we shouldn’t have this much trouble. ESPECIALLY since we were former tenants. Donika took our new paperwork and came back to us saying that we qualify but they would need two security deposits. We were shocked. Tony told us he was shocked as well and had never seen anything like this. My fiancé talked to Donika and tried to get her to give us a reason why two deposits were required, she’s been with the company for years and always paid rent on time, and we more than qualified for the apartment. With our rent being 3500, tf cornerstone requires you to qualify for 45 times that amount. Our paperwork showed this. But with two deposits and first months rent now due, they wanted over 10,000 upfront! And here is the best part, this was 2 days before the first of October. We would be homeless in two days if we didn’t pay them this money. We had enough money to do this at the time, but it really was the principle. Donika complained that I gave her an account summary, even though it was explained to her that my bank couldn’t give me a new bank statement for 4 more days. She also already had a statement for August. She wouldn’t budge. My fiancé asked Donika if there was anyone above her that we could speak to, a manager perhaps, her response was priceless: «no.» She asked her «so you are completely in charge over there» Donika: «no not necessarily.» «So who is your boss??» Donika: «I don’t have one.» This is a key point with tf cornerstone, do not expect to be able to talk to ANYONE in management. If you have a complaint about the way you are being treated, you are out of luck. They do not care, I repeat they do not care about you. Luckily that day we found a last minute listing for an absolute gorgeous apartment on Water street. And get this, the rent is 350 dollars more than what we were going to be paying at 45 wall. We showed our paperwork, instantly qualified for it, paid one deposit and we are moving in on Tuesday. No hassle, nothing. If you are self employed or have a job that is not typical 9 to 5, expect to be hassled by 45 wall. They do not take previous tenancy and rent payment and great credit scores into account. It’s a shame really, we would have stayed if they hadn’t asked for two deposits. They lost our business and we got to keep our money because the next place only asked for one simple deposit. I want to be clear, the building is okay, the amenities are fine, the doormen are nice and fairly helpful, Tony in the building leasing office is nice and again indicated that he was shocked and disappointed at our treatment and that he was sorry to lose us. This is not the way a management company should treat people who have been with the company for years, paid rent on time and qualify to resign. I’m sure there will be a response message to this from some poor person whose job it is to respond to negative reviews and say you can voice your complaints to the main office but I assure you that is not the case. TF Cornerstone is the most faceless, inhuman, company I have ever come across in my time in New York. Avoid them at all costs.

Management has zero control over noise level and refuses to enforce its own lease terms regarding the noise. It really is a shame because the layouts of the apartments at 45 Wall are great with huge walk in closets. The doormen and the maintenance staff are really nice and very good at their jobs, but the building is basically a frat house on weeknights and weekends and people with actual jobs can’t get a peaceful nights sleep. It is also often noisy during the day on the weekends when presumably you might catch up on some of the sleep you lost during the week with people coming home loudly in the hallways drunk at 3 o’clock in the morning and the Friday and Saturday night ragers. However, since they allow shares where 3 – 4 people can cram into a studio apartment meant for one or two, the caliber of people that this «luxury» building attracts is not ideal. If you love a party atmosphere and hearing your neighbors party every night of the week, this is the building for you. However, if you have to ensure that you get a good night’s sleep at least some days of the week, look elsewhere.

This is the worst building I have ever lived in in NYC. Not only do the amenities not justify it’s high price tag (very very small gym (fits ~8 people MAX! at a time), but the staff and management are completely incapable of providing even the most basic level of service.
I was recently harassed by the entire building management over trivial matters. They don’t care about their residents well being at all. Very disappointing.
I would highly recommend you look at other buildings.

Ohh, 45 Wall. I will be generous in the 3 stars — management are not friendly, as it is with most of TF Cornerstone staff. Also, a couple door men were nice but some of them were straight up dicks. When you have an issue, they are good about coming and fixing it though within the next day. That should be expected though when you’re paying as much as you are for an apartment though. Ha. Also, if you are a student, expect them to be up your ass with paperwork to prove that you can afford the apartment.

Its always fun at 45 Wall. Apartment 1521 is the popping spot. On nights I check in there, you know its going to get crazy. Sorry neighbors.

I moved into 45 Wall on a hasty note. I was desperate for an apartment, and had found a shared apartment in 45 Wall that had all the qualities I was looking for (doorman, gym, easy access to subways, close to work). I actually didn’t think my apartment at 45 Wall was too bad, until I moved out of 45 Wall and into a another building in the same area. Wow, I really wished I had taken more time to look around the first time. So, let this be a warning to those of you who are apartment searching in the financial district. Yes, the apartments at 45 Wall may be a bit cheaper, but they’re cheaper for a reason: they suck in comparison.
Here’s a list of the bad:
1. I was up on the 9^th floor and could FEEL the rumble of the 2,3 train below me. Definitely took a month of sleepless nights to get used to.
2. The maintenance is relatively timely, but some of those guys are VERY VERY rude!
3. With the exception of Vasco, none of the doormen are very helpful. The doormen can be sweet, but it’s sweet like saccharin.
4a. Lease negotiation is a nightmare. All the time. Every time.
4b. They guy who handles the leases is also a nightmare. Always frantic, rude, anal, huge ego. Sure, he gets the job done… but there’s more than one way to skin a cat. (sorry, rough image)
5. Yeah, there’s a gym… but it’s always SUPER crowded during peak hours. There are only three treadmills, and usually one of the treadmills will be out of order.
Some of these may seem like common apartment issues, but trust me. there are plenty of other places downtown that are much much better than this. If you can afford to pay a couple more dollars per month, I suggest you go somewhere else.
Note: It looks like Rockrose Development Corp recently split up, and now 45 Wall is managed by TF Cornerstone. I lived there while it was solely under Rockrose, so perhaps things are different now. …Though, I kinda doubt it: P