The Aldyn

Potential to be a great building, apart from the diluted management and poor construction quality.
Plenty of good things here: great room layouts, some of the best on Riverside Blvd; incredible front of house and back of house staff, very friendly and helpful; comfortable courtyard, fun for kids — overall a great building for kids; and the gym of course.
On to the not-​so-​good. Next to the gym there are some propped-​open fire doors, which could be deadly in case of even a minor fire (due to smoke penetration). Contacted management about this, no action yet. Could be because the building is owned by five different entities and managed by two more — condo and rental units are owned and managed separately.
The bathrooms and kitchens, designed by Roman & Williams, are wonderful, but they apparently broke the bank so much that costs were shaved during construction, resulting in some jaw-​droppers. The wall studs are 24″ on center, making expensive reinforcement for wall-​hung anything (shelves, TVs) necessary. The ceilings are wavy. The bathroom ceilings crumble when you change a light bulb. The walls are cheaply skim-​coated (not painted) and crumble easily. The duct work is arranged such that when anyone smokes tobacco or weed in their unit above or below you (and this happens A LOT) it will enter your apartment. Speaking of ducts, the in-​unit dryers are ductless and work about as well as you’d expect. The in-​wall A/​C units malfunction easily, and repairs can run into the thousands of dollars.
Some of these «features» are normal for new construction circa 2008, but here they add up quickly. Bottom line is, the Aldyn is nice for renters if you can get a good deal (I do not know whether it is better to rent from an owner on the condo side or to rent on the rental side), but if you want to buy here you should be prepared to spend some real money on renovations and repairs.