Avalon Riverview North

Meh… I guess A-​OK but not good enough to stay. The pricing is laughable for the current offering. I’m a current a resident but moving into a luxury building on the water this summer ’16.
Pros:
— the location is perfect.
— friendly & helpful staff
— quiet apartments/​super thick walls
— beautiful kitchen with modern appliances & granite counter tops.
— bathrooms are ok — not a lux shower or tub. Could use an upgrade.
— windows come with blinds but they are thin. No black out blinds like most lux buildings.
Big Con is the Pricing for what you get.
— charging you full amenity fee when not all amenities can be used. This is one of the reasons why we are moving. We were excited to go grill and hangout on the outdoor patio and low and behold it’s been unaccessible all year (which was not communicated to us prior to move-​in).
— Pet fee of $ 500 per pet. Don’t expect that money back if there’s no pet damage in the apartment. (most other luxury buildings treat this as a deposit so you get your money back)
— pricing of a one bedroom is that of a luxury building. This is not yet a luxury building but I’m sure it will be after the construction is done.
Elevator Wait/​line rush hour. Self explanatory
Dog Mess: this isn’t a part of my rating because it’s not their «fault» but its still annoying that they don’t do anything to force residents to stop. There are 0 consequences for dog owners who let their dogs pee right at the front door. Puddles and pee stains/​smells as you walk your guests into this luxury building. awesome. Apparently all they can do is put up a sign to curb your dog.

Should be zero stars! STAY AWAY! Luxury High Rise My A**! The ‘concierge’ are great in the morning, but at night… they are non existent. No one calls to let us know that someone is coming up. Not a very safe feeling knowing that any random person can just walk in at any time and NO ONE WILL STOP THEM. The office is mismanaged beyond belief! Make sure to read the lease very carefully. Should you want to transfer to another property, it’s not as easy as they make it out to be. The maintenance of the building is horrendous as well. Asked to have the door fixed as there is a huge draft coming in from the 2 inch gap there is underneath… I was told to put a blanket there to stop it… Great help!
Had new tenants down the hall move in over 2 weeks ago and the hallways have still yet to be vacuumed its a mess. Renovations were suppose to start months ago… still nothing. Why not start renovating during the spring/​summer, the best and only good time to live in LIC! Wonderful! Most of the gym equipment is rusted and very outdated. Don’t let the renderings fool you!
Go to TF Cornerstone should you want luxury, bad choice to save a few extra bucks.

I have lived here approximately ten months, and have enjoyed it. I have found the office and maintenance staff to be quickly responsive and address any issues, appropriately. My move-​in was smooth and uncomplicated.
The front desk (concierge) are wonderful. Anthony M. always pleasant, helpful, patient, kind, knowledgeable, and funny. He always greets residents with a smilie, and brightens their day. He goes over and above to help the residents.
I have found it to be quiet and peaceful. There can be some noise with the windows open on 48^th Ave during the day, but it is NYC. They have a liberal dog policy, and always treats at the front desk!

Ive lived here since December and absolutely love it. Especially the maintenance staff, Amika and Toby are absolutely wonderful, friendly and when you need something fixed they respond immediately. Recently Amika came up to fix my blind and heater and I could not be more pleased with his service. Thank you for making us feel at home!

There’s an outdoor pool facing the East River and the Upper East Side. Closes at 8.

I would give a negative star if I could.
First, the front desk is nice and very very helpful. But just like many other apartment, the management sucks and the building sucks. We had a water-​leaking ceiling which thanks to their mysterious plumbing system and it got worse over last spring. For the record, we did not changed anything about the ceiling since we moved in. One night in February, our ceiling broke and water just pour onto our furniture and everything while we were sleeping. We woke up in 4 am, with a full day schedule next day, cleaned up the mess and called the management team. They keep coming into our apartment for the following weeks, with shoes on, to check the ceiling. It eventually took them 1 month to fix it, which was practically tapping it up. Then few weeks later, as one can expect, the tape broke. Water poured all the way down.
Throughout the whole time, we had groups of people randomly coming into our apartment and I have to clean the mass they left (bunch of ceiling pieces, broken wires, brushes), and finally we had enough of this and went to the management office ask to be transferred to a better room.
We planned to stay with this place next year but we figure we cannot live under a ceiling like that either in the future or back then. The construction team came in and out and totally disturbed our life. The broken ceiling was not our responsibility either. The management team refused our request to change to another room and also informed us that our rent will be raised by around 10% for the next year. After all the cleaning and nonsense (ass wiping) I have dealt, we decided to move out of the apartment, which is the best decision we ever made. At the end, they sent us a basket of chocolate as a apology ridiculously.
Even though you are seemingly having a perfect time with them right now, remember my experience and see how they treat you when you have a problem with apartment.

If I could give no stars I would. Avalon is the worst keep buildings I have ever been in. Do not rent here. I lived in Riverview North and it was the worst maintained building. Everyone in LIC spoke about the fly infestation we had for the entire summer. They never check anyone coming in and out the building. The guys they work in the maintenance area can’t fix anything. Then when you leave they nickel and dime you and their corporate offices can’t even add. They just suck!!!

From the moment we walked into Avalon, the sales staff (We worked with Cynthia) and front desk made us feel at home. They are friendly, knowledgable, and helpful. After living here for 9 months, we are still happy and ready to extend our lease. I would like to add the maintenance staff, especially Tobias, and Amica to the list of awesome people. They have made moving to a new state and adjusting to apartment life easy and enjoyable. I highly recommend you check out this apartment community.

the leasing office is a joke. we came today to see 3br apartments interested in renting it, and the girl at the leasing office said she cant show us any because she’s «alone and can’t leave the office». almost immediately another girl showed up. I said «can we go see apartments now?» she said «oh no, because I have to step out now». she seemed just lazy and disinterested in her work. we came there to rent a very expensive apartment and she didn’t help us. they lost a potential tenant today.

In response to the Avalon’s reply.
You are a large company, and negotiate like one.
The amount of the increase and the total rent is not indicative of the market in LIC.
And no one in the area changes a 12 month lease, into a 9 month lease in the second year of renting.
Renters be warned…

I’ve read through the other reviews and feel they are unfair. I’ve lived here for 10 months and have had a very positive experience. The apts are quiet, the garbage and recycling are collected everyday, the concierge staff is unfailingly helpful (altho not always present, which raises security concerns, an issue for mgt to hire more staff). I love the pet friendly atmosphere and very responsive maintenance staff. The elevators could come more frequently, but there are worse things.
My view is north, so I don’t experience loud garbage collection or construction of the new library. But also on a positive note, the neighborhood is quiet and just feet away from a state park. I take the ferry to work everyday and love it. Coming home at night means walking by a playground and a dog park, which is a great end to the day. The 7 line is also just 3 stops from Times Square, which is good me as a theatre goer.
I have lived in several countries and was not looking forward to a move to NYC. This has been the best possible landing. And I am not allied with Avalon to say all this. Just make up your own mind and get all available info.

I lived at Avalon in 2014 and was really disgusted with the rent increase that we were made aware of when our lease was coming to an end. I agree with all the reviews on here, increasing rent more than 10−20% is completely ridiculous and something should be done about it! And mind you I was already paying close to $ 4,000.00, you’re better off living in Manhattan with that kind of budget.

i live in avalon north view in new york long island city. i am here to report one serious problem with the employee in this community, i recently transfer my apartment from one apartment to other on the same building this month on the 12^th of July. on July 4^th, i heard a lot noise from my new apartment, we noticed that there are avalon employees in there with a lot alcohol even sleep bag in the apartment. me and my friend just want to check what is going on there and they are so rude to kick us out saying that we are not suppose to be there. that is very unprofessional, they were saying that i shouldn’t be there, but i am sure that they not suppose to be in that apartment partying either. i always believe that avalon is very professional but this thing is way out of control. this is ridiclous.

We can’t speak of the overall experience of the building in regards to rent increases or deposits upon move out as we have just moved in to the community.
Having just moved into the building a few days back we would like to leave some remarks about our move in process.
We dealt with Kristina from the leasing office. Kristina has been absolutely fantastic, providing recommendations on the area, and always being available for any questions or concerns we had during the move. She was excellent in dealing with our company to ensure a smooth move in process and kept us informed the whole time.
Front desk staff have been very pleasant and helpful, the gym is in great working order, and we have never had to wait long for the elevators.
So far Avalon Riverview North has been a fantastic place to live. Close by Manhattan but far enough away from it to provide a peaceful change of pace. Lots of expats, young professionals and young families in the area.
The maintenance staff have been great, addressing our issues on the same day and letting us know when they will be back to fix the issue.

Do not move here — the giant construction project that’s just begun across the street is incredibly noisy. Late-​night trucks dumping off supplies between midnight and 6:00 am, making all kinds of racket. And the jackhammers start up at 7:00 am sharp. It’s ruining my sleep and will ruin yours if your windows face the river! I’ve complained to Avalon management and they tell me to complain to the city (which I’ve done, to little avail).
Also, Avalon raised my rent by 18% after the first year — no apology, no negotiation. Guess they wanted to lock in big increases before the construction began! Crafty, but not a way to keep tenants over the long term.

My boyfriend and I rented an apartment at Avalon Rivewview North the first two years that they opened.
The good — the apartment is well insulated and I found that unless my neighbors were blasting music there was not much residual noise around. The gym (at least at the time it was new) was more than adequate and I enjoyed using it for the 2 years that I was there.
The bad — and this is what sticks with me the most. We signed our lease being told of a policy to never raise the rent more than 9.9% in a given year (which still would add up quite a bit in a few years). We moved to the this building from StyTown/​PeterCooper Village in Manhattan, after they raised the rent some horrendous amount and we chose not to pay and instead move to ARN, so ARN’s 9.9% policy was a great selling point. Well it was all BS, and after the first year they raised the rent 16+%. There was no negotiation on their end, and no apology or admittance on wrong doing for misleading us. The whole ordeal of course left a bad taste in our mouths and that is the impression left with us to share with you.

It provides me a great displeasure that I ever had to live in this community and under the Avalon tyranny. They raised my rent by 18% and refused to negotiate it, by the way EVERYONE I paid $ 2,553 + $ 50 pent rent in apartment 3307, currently they have it priced at over $ 3,200 on the market. To clarify, in December 2013, the lease was $ 2,553 and in December 2014 it was $ 3200. The management is completely unreasonable with their «fake» apologies for having to see a resident move. They never accurately forwarded my mail to my new address; perhaps if Morgan wasn’t so interested on feeding off other people’s misery she would have realized I placed a FORWARDING address on my move out paperwork. Then I was told by the customer care specialist that the deposit was being sent to the apartment I had MOVED from. Their customer care center was awful, I tried calling multiple times only to be hung up on… perhaps because at 8:30pm the phone lines switch off and their employees are too lazy to answer a 8:25pm phone call. «Domonique» in the call center then told me that there were no managers at 8:28pm. Really? There’s no manager, or were you going to try and hang up on me once more so that the clock would finally pass 8:30pm so your phone line would switch off? He REFUSED to let me speak with a manager telling me there was no supervisor present. What kind of corporation leaves their call center representatives unsupervised? They also are trying to take off money from my security for «cleaning charges.» Yeah… I had it professionally cleaned, with photos of the apartment in move in condition. Domonique was rude and unprofessional, refusing a supervisor. Him and the girl shouldn’t pick up and hang up because they’re too lazy to do their jobs. I understand it’s the end of the day and you want to go home, but if I only have time to call you right before you close, tough… that’s life. TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND MANAGEMENT. The only thing I liked about the staff was the front desk. They were the only ones to treat everyone with respect and courtesy. I am very bitter, but will give credit where it is due. Thank you, front desk, for being the only positive employees associated with the Avalon. These fools even fired the best part of Avalon, Kim, the front desk woman who always was so kind and amazing. Not a place I would ever recommend to someone who intends to make this a home. Avalon is place that cranks up their rent prices with an in-​compassionate approach on dealing with their residents.

I’ve lived here for over two years. We really like the building and the neighborhood, although the prior reviews are correct about most things (lack of building security, difficult to deal with corporate management for rent payment issues, etc.) On the plus side, the maintenance staff is great — they fix things right away and do a great job. The front desk staff are great too — though I think they are too overworked to really pay attention to who is entering and leaving the building.
My only BIG complaint is that the elevators routinely don’t work. It is not uncommon to wait 10 – 20 minutes EACH WAY for the elevators. In the evening, the line for the elevators frequently extends through the lobby and out of the building. There are MANY days when I’ve had to wait 20 minutes for an elevator to get from my apartment down to the lobby. The lack of working elevators has reached a point where it is a safety hazard. People even get stuck in them sometimes. If I had to estimate, I’d say the elevators are problematic about 85% of the time (conservatively).
The elevator situation is so bad that some days we just take the stairs if we are pressed for time (it’s a 40-​story building so you can imagine how fun that is). When an elevator finally appears, people pack in like sardines, jammed against each other because the elevator has to stop on every single floor on the way down. Eventually, by the lower floors there literally isn’t enough room to pack in another person. Many people moving out of the building cite the elevators as the main (or even exclusive) reason for their move, and frequently those people are moving just across the street to a building where they aren’t in a «30^th floor walk-​up».
It’s hard to figure out why Avalon cannot fix the elevators. (Whenever they are «fixed,» they are typically broken within a few days such that only one or two of the five is working at any given time). There are numerous elevator repair companies RIGHT IN LONG ISLAND CITY. No other building in our neighborhood has issues of this magnitude. Who maintains their elevators?
When we pay over $ 3,000 per month in rent, plus extra for parking, the dog, amenities, etc., one would expect to be able to enter and exit their building. Just running downstairs to check the mail can be a 40-​minute long procedure and obviously that interferes with out daily life.

THE BUILDING
Unlike all the other new buildings in the neighborhood, Avalon doesn’t pay attention to detail. For example, there are 40 floors, yet the 5 elevators service all of these floors, instead of having designated elevators for different floor ranges. This causes long lines for them, and since theres usually 1 broken, can be annoying if you’re on a high floor. There seems to be a general feeling of resentment amongst residents in this building, as many don’t clean up after themselves in common areas and don’t dispose of trash properly causing trash rooms to become a nightmare.
THE AMENITIES
The gym is great, its open 24 hours a day and generally clean and most equipment working. The pool has a great view on Manhattan, but unfortunately is always taken over by kids making it hard for adults to enjoy. The roof deck is huge, however many the grills are old and need to be replaced. In the summer, parents let their children run rampant, bring chalk up there, and draw all over the grounds like its their own driveway. They also changed the closing hours from 11PM to 10PM. I’ve lived in the building for a year now, and have never used the community room, as its also usually being used to host children’s parties on the weekends, and Nanny’s use it during the weekdays.
THE STAFF
As for the employees in the building, most of them are nice, while a few clearly hate their job, and yet, I can’t blame them. The mothership of Avalon aka the «Customer Care Center» (notice the quotes because they clearly don’t care about their customers), is probably the worst customer service I have ever received. They don’t make any exceptions on their policies, including blocking your Avalon Access page and requiring certified funds mailed to their location. Additionally, if you’d like to pay by credit card, they assess a $ 38 fee (apparently they can’t find another processing company who charges less). It seems their only existence is to work against you, instead of helping you resolve your issues.
Although I can credit Avalon to making a valiant effort towards changing their brand image, they are clearly not focusing on the right areas to do so. We pay a premium amount to live in their buildings, it wouldn’t hurt to crack the wallet open to improving areas that need work, and put some dedicated thought into what exactly what is lacking in their community. BE AWARE, they also require 60 days notice if you plan on not renewing your lease!

So much hate for Avalon! It’s really not that bad! This is more of a 3.5 star review.
The rental process was about the same as any corporate building anywhere in the city. These are not stabilized apartments, so there will be rent increases. When you leave, they will try to withhold money from your security deposit. They will even continue to take your money if you sign up for recurring payments and fail to cancel them. You should already know these things. This is New York City real estate. No one cares about you. No one is going to hold your hand and listen to your sob story. Yeah, it sucks. No one said life was fair.
That said: The units are better sized than the TF Cornerstone’s and have more closet space. More space for less money. The finishes aren’t as nice and it is an older building, but I had no complaints other than the closet system was designed by idiots for giants. There are washer/​dryers in the units which is nice, but in the summer the dryer will heat your place up because they don’t vent outside.
There is a bs additional yearly charge for the «amenities.» The grills are great if you can get your hands on one. Forget about the weekends. Giant groups camp out all day. So get there early. Or go on weeknights — no one is up there. It’s awesome.
We never went to the pool. Everyone else did, though. Seriously — everyone. It might as well have been a public pool.
I suppose that was our main complaint — no security whatsoever. The people at the front desk are just considered concierges. They log packages and occasionally call if you have a visitor or delivery. But not always.
We lived at the end of the hall and never heard our neighbors. Sometimes we smelled smoke though. You have to take into account that they offer short term leases and that can lead to crappy neighbors that don’t really care about community. And it is a super dog friendly building with no breed restrictions so far as I could tell. Don’t move here if dogs freak you out. Those will be some long elevator rides!
In all our year there wasn’t bad. Our apartment faced the river and I am now the proud owner of more Empire State Building against spectacular sunsets pictures than I can count. Really breathtaking views. But if you’re facing the other way, you can always go to the park.
Which leads me to Living In Long Island City. Not part of the building review, but if you’ve read this far, you are considering moving to LIC. So here are some things that I wish someone had pointed out to me.
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Yes. Gantry State Park is awesome. But be aware — not for dogs. They’re only allowed in certain non-​grass areas. The new Hunter’s Point park is also awesome, but they did just open a high school right across the street. We left the week before school started so I can’t say what it looks like after school, but I can say that teenagers are assholes. The last time we were there someone told us that dogs weren’t allowed on the grass. No signs were posted, but the park is literally brand new. The dog park is awesome for humans, as it’s made of concrete. Clean dogs! But dogs prefer squishy surfaces, so I hope they keep the lawn open.
There are some good restaurants in the area, but you will get bored. Someone told me that and I thought they were kind of dickish about it. But they were right. And food delivery suuucks. The Food Cellar is over priced so I continued to rely on Fresh Direct. Sometimes we’d get a zipcar and go to Western Beef. We never went to Costco. Not sure why.
This leads us to getting in and out of Long Island City. You need to know that the 7 train is seriously unreliable. And that’s when it’s running. After the Mets season ends they tend to stop service on weekends. Because you don’t have anywhere to go on your days off, right? The MTA runs shuttle buses to the Queensboro station. Once my driver got lost. The E/​M at Court Square is a good 15 minute walk. If you can get where you’re going via the East River Ferry, that’s going to be your best bet. It’s the best ride in the city. Weekends, however — slow.
As for cabs — take car services. At least you’ll know the price before you end up in bridge or tunnel traffic.
If you have kids and can get into the area elementary or preschool, this is the place for you. It’s a super mommy-​centric area. Very quiet and very little traffic.
Do you live in Manhattan? Do you like it? What do you like about it? Do you go out at night in the city? Restaurants? Bars? Shows? Movies? The ride home can be an expensive buzz kill. Do you like to stay home and cook? Are you tired of traffic and noise? Are you coming from somewhere that isn’t Manhattan? Because if you are coming from the city and are JUST looking to save some money, you will end up spending it on cabs and cars. But if you are coming from anywhere else and aren’t already accustomed to Manhattan life but want to live close to the city, this might just be the neighborhood for you.