Urban American

Do not live in this building. I repeat. Stay away from this place.
I am a current resident at The Miles and I can not wait for my lease to be up.
The building did not have gas from April 2^nd until May 15. In that time, there was also a two week span in which there was no water. The laundry room was also out of service this entire time, although during the last two weeks the washers have been working (but no dryers). To top that off, repair men literally banged holes through the walls, leaving my apartment with gaping holes leading out into the hallway.
The building is filthy. It is infested with mice. I have literally seen shit in the stair well, in addition to the usual piss perfume.
After all of the inconveniences of not having gas, nor hot water, the management company informed residents that they would receive a $ 100 rent credit. Considering that my rent is $ 2000, this is absurd. $ 100 for subjecting us to no gas and no hot water for a very extended period of time.

Overall, I really like living here. The apartment is brand new, huge, with tons of closet space, a balcony and amazing views. The elevators are often slow during rush hours, but fine otherwise. As for the people, it’s a mix of everything. Be nice and they will reciprocate in most instances. Occasionally you will get a rude person in the elevator, but you reap what you sow. The area by 125^th around the 4÷5÷6 train stop is a little rough, but even in the middle of the night if you walk with a purpose and act like you belong, no one will bother you. The rest of the neighborhood has really nice spots. I have been to many restaurants that have outdoor/​sidewalk seating, live music and great food. It just takes a while to find them, but they are there. As for some of the more negative reviews that I read — they are all older. I was a little worried about moving into the Miles but once I realized the newer reviews were more positive I went for it. This is an «up and coming» area of Manhattan, so you will get huge bang for your buck and still be able to take a cab home easily if you are out late. I pay less for my brand new 2 bedroom here than I did for the rundown studio I had in the West Village. As one of my downtown friends said «your neighborhood still has flavor, mine doesn’t anymore». If you are used to living in NYC, you won’t have any problems in this building and you will love your apartment.

I will second and third what most are saying. I am a grad student who needed a place relatively quickly last December, and moved in with a fellow student. As far as I can tell, this building was a project that was bought by a private company. From what I hear, actual NYC projects are now run much better than this place.
Cons first, because they are more immediately apparent:
–The walk to the125th stop is depressing and dirty. I call it the «Avenue of Tragedy» because of how many chronic alcoholics and drug addicts are on the street ²⁴⁄₇ (sometimes passed out in their wheelchairs). I have never felt unsafe, though, and honestly no one has ever gotten in my face. The worst that has happened is daily catcalls. But even those are relatively tame.
–Stairwells are disgusting. There is some type of urine in them almost daily– be it human, dog, or cat. I’ve seen condoms, Hennessy bottles (specifically), the emptied out contents of cigars (for blunt making), and drug bags.
–There are, at best, 2 elevators working for 33 floors. Luckily I live on the 3^rd floor, so I take the gross stairs most of the time.
–The apartments are superficially nice. Nice appliances, etc, but terrible insulation and the cheapest possible fixes and construction.
–The laundry room in the building often has ¹⁰⁄₁₅ broken machines. They actually ‘renovated’ the laundry room in June and it was closed for days. When it was done, there was fresh paint and still broken machines.
–Dangerous, possibly illegal living conditions. There was a fire in the unit below and one over from me last week. It was gutted, our hallway was filled with smoke, but no fire alarm went off on our floor. I only woke up because a heroic security guard pounded on our door. Which leads me to…
Pros
–The number one pro is the security guards. These guys deal with such complete shit, all the time, and are sweet and helpful and regularly go above and beyond the all of duty.
–The apartments are indeed big, and the stove and fridge are nice.
–it was one of the only places we could find an affordable two bedroom.
–Target and Costco are walking distance away.
–Much safer and well-​taken care of areas of SPAHA are close. It’s mostly just Lex from 121^st to 125^th that makes you want to shower and slit your wrists.
–24 hour Pathmark grocery store so close. This was vital to us since we are often in school or rehearsal all hours of the day.

The Miles is a total crap shoot but it has more positives than negatives. Let me divulge a bit. I was honest to god scared to move here, but my roommate convinced me due to the super cheap rent with utilities included and the gorgeous view of downtown Manhattan. Ya… the drugs on 125^th are scary and I am pretty small girl but I keep my head up and look forward like any New Yorker. The area has culture and can be very depressing but it is what you make of it.
The plus:
1. Cheap rent with all utilities included, dishwasher, fridge, microwave, heat, water, electric. Washers and dryers are downstairs.
2. Huge space in apts
3. Downtown view and balcony
4. Central park is 12 blocks away, so you can go running in the park or out for a nice walk.
5. No one bothers you and people are generally friendly because its a mixture of old tenants and new people. Very eclectic.
6. It’s SPAHA baby, very up and coming and more gentrified than ever.
7. Target is on 117^th and the stores around us are super cheap! 125^th is teeming with action and cops are around ²⁴⁄₇ during the summer.
8. Cool to be in a different culture from regular Manhattan hoity toity, and everything slows down a bit.
9. You have transportation to everywhere, the 4,5,6, crosstown to Westside and Columbia University, metro north, done and done. Takes about 30 min to get around. It takes you over an hour commuting from Brooklyn and even east to west and vice versa sometimes!
10. Good Spanish food on 116^th.
The negatives:
1. Yup… the elevators suck and sometimes I have to allot 15 minutes extra so I can be on time… Only 2 work, it’s true but on off peak hours you get one pretty fast.
2. The stairs do reek of urine. People are so gross… and this is not pleasant if you have to walk up or live by them.
3. Ignorant tenants who talk shit in the elevator, ahaha whatever I don’t live with them.
4. Occasional mice, it’s NYC! I’m glad I don’t see rats and roaches. Keep a clean house and they wont bother you.
5. The walk from 125^th can be really depressing and scary if its past 1am. Be careful and always walk with a friend and don’t talk to people who harass you. They just don’t know any better or they are high on drugs and booze.
So move here if you have tough skin, want a sick apartment and aren’t afraid of a little culture and build operations to fail sometimes.

I live here on the 22^nd floor. I have had to walk up to my apartment dozens of times.
This building has hundreds of people living in it, and has as one other person said, an average of 1.5 elevators working at once. THIS IS CRIMINAL AND AN INHUMANE WAY TO TREAT YOUR TENANTS. Although the management says that the elevators are being fixed, this is only to make you shut up, its not actually going to happen. On top of that both stairwells reek of urine and are covered in drug debris, not a a fun 22 flight walk. The area is BAD, incredibly depressing all you see as you walk to the subway is drug addicts, homeless, mentally unwell people, and so many children in an environment they should not be in, with a young impoverished mother yelling at them. Basically it sucks. Within a two week span I was pick pocketed a block away from the building and my car was smashed into even though there was nothing visible to steal. The only thing I can’t complain about is my apartment it is relatively large and has a renovated kitchen. However we have had a mouse problem. It is convenient living very close to an express stop. But hands down NOT WORTH IT. IT IS AN UNCOMFORTABLE AND UNSAFE LIVING EXPERIENCE.

Okay, well the building itself is terrible, but I gave it an extra star because I really love my apartment:
Most of what everyone else says is true. The elevators rarely work (currently 2 of them have «unsafe» stickers from whatever dept. decides the safety of elevators…), there are always huge lines, and some of the people are pretty awful. They are currently redoing the windows– eh okay maybe this isn’t much of a complaint haha, but it’s loud, and the scaffolding is obnoxious, and when someone in the elevator asked one of the workers when they are doing which apts, they said that the management is supposed to let us know, but apparently they haven’t been doing so. So hopefully we are home when they come, or hopefully they come back if we’re not. And okay the windows aren’t great, but you can’t fix the two broken elevators first?!? Priorities, people.
But honestly, I moved to Harlem. Yes, things have changed drastically over the years, and continue to change. Nevertheless, it is Harlem, and there are gangs, and drugs, and violence, as there has been. I didn’t expect it to be rainbows and unicorns, nor should anyone else. For what it is, I am content with the neighborhood. I am a white female and have luckily never felt unsafe, even coming home alone at late hours (granted, it is only a few blocks from the subway station). And everything around here is dirt cheap! Every time I buy something from the deli I almost want to say «.really??» when they tell me the price. Bagel with cream cheese, vitamin water, and a large french vanilla coffee– 3 bucks. I kid you not.
And I really do love my apartment. I’ve been here half a year now and have never seen any evidence of mice or cockroaches in my apartment. I did see on cockroach in the hall once, which I smashed the hell out of. I’m on the 27^th floor and I have seriously AMAZING views of sunsets with the skyline. And the rent is incredibly affordable. My realtor was pretty straight up about everything except the elevators (they’re getting new ones soon… pfft, yeaaahhh…).
So when it comes down to it, would I live here again? Well, it’s a few blocks from my school, a few blocks from the subway, and metro north (family in CT), and it’s crazy cheap… Honestly can’t say, it’s gonna come down to the wire. There’s obviously plenty of cons, but for me there are enough pros to make it a tough call. If you’re considering moving here, you really just have to know your priorities. It is what it is, take it or leave it. I’ve lived in worse, unfortunately, so honestly maybe I’m fortunate to have had such a shitty experience that everything else looks great???
(And if anyone knows who to contact to get some working elevators, hit me up… ;)

Update: KNW Apartments, LLC is the company that processes rent payments each month but they don’t actually own 1990 Lexington Ave. Urban American is the company that owns and manages the day –to-​day operations of this and many NYC buildings. Urban american is frequently listed as one the worst city landlords.

and some history on the purchase of The Miles by Urban American:

When brokers show apartments at this place, they show you during early afternoon. This way you do not realize how bad the elevator situation is. They have 4 elevators, but 2 are always broken and you’ll be lucky if you have 2 working. On average, they have 1.5 elevators working at one time. The on-​site management people are nice BUT KNW does not care about the tenants and do not spend the money to properly fix the building. The elevator repair company Otis practically comes everyday! I wouldn’t be surprised if they have an apartment inside the complex just for them. One thing they could do to advertise for the building is that they have a free «gym». You’ll definitely get into shape because you’ll be walking up and down the emergency stairs that often.
Another incidence is when they mailed me saying I paid my rent late so they charged me a late fee. Luckily I kept all my paperwork and bank statements to prove to them that they cashed my check many days in advance before I was considered late. Be aware, they will try to get money out of you no matter what. A similar incidence occured, but dealing with my pet dog. When I signed the lease and gave the pet deposit, they told me I was able to have a dog in the apartment. Then, towards the end of my lease, they tell me I have until a certain date to permanently remove the dog from the apartment. I assume they are doing this because I was under the contract where they gave 2 free months rent. Basically, they don’t want to give me my last free month. Just show them the proper paperwork and they will leave you alone.
Some of the neighbors are nice, but majority of them are rude, quick to judge, and have absolutely no manners. I’m not just talking about the teenagers, adults included. I’ve never met so childish adults in my life! People have to earn respect and not assume that because they are this or that they deserve/​demand respect. Neighborhood sucks. Drug deals always going on and there is at least one shooting every other week if not every week.
One thing to note, this building has a gang rivarly with the tall white building two blocks down.
I would NEVER recomend this place to anyone, not even to my worse enemies!
I will have to say this, the apartments are relatively nice. Just like any other rental apartment building, but the management and the day to day functioning of the building is horrendous.
DO NOT LIVE HERE!
If I could rate this place far below a one star, I WOULD!!!