Moinian Group

I kept a home-office here between 2008-2009 and I generally loved the experience. I had a 19th- floor room facing West (the Statue of Liberty view) that allowed for lots of sunshine, great fireworks-lit nights, and less noise than usual. Most of the staff appeared to be friendly, supportive, and generally competent.

It's true that my security deposit took longer than contractually-agreed to be returned; other than that I was OK with everything.

You may be wondering, after everything you've read, how I managed to give Ocean Luxury Apartments a rating of four stars. Well, once I stopped dealing with the leasing and management offices, I started to see how lucky I was to live in this building. The doormen, for the most part, are nice guys. My apartment isn't large, but its windows are massive light receptacles, and for the year I lived there, nothing broke. If you were to run into problem with the toilet or the kitchen sink, though, I hear the repairmen are prompt and courteous. But the greatest feature of the building, hands down, is the rooftop deck. It isn't actually on the rooftop, but that semantic error is quickly forgotten the moment you step onto the deck and catch sight of the Statue of Liberty, which thousands of people travel thousands of miles to see in person. There are a few things in life more pleasurable than having a glass of wine with a view of the water, as the sun coaxes you to sleep on a comfortable lawn chair. It's also a nice place to hang out with friends or bring a date to. Whatever the reason, the rooftop help made those brutal workdays bearable. Thus, three stars.

Like anything in life, Ocean Luxury Apartments is not perfect. Like some of my fellow reviewers, my relationship with the leasing and management offices has experienced its fair share of ups and downs. The leasing agent misrepresented the guarantor requirements, requiring me to throw down all of my savings towards paying the security deposit and advance rent (three months' worth!). This was followed by a nasty letter on my part, which made for some awkwardness when I finally went into the office to sign the lease. If that was not enough, reserving the service elevator for the IKEA delivery guys was like trying to navigate a maze in the dark, without any hands or feet or sense of direction. I was told on the day I moved in that the service elevator needed to be reserved at least a day in advance. The management office is closed on the weekend, and so if you want any furniture delivered to your apartment on Saturday or Sunday, the service elevator needs reserved on Friday afternoon at the latest. The thing is, the delivery service that IKEA uses refuses to give anything smaller than a eight-hour window until the morning of. In case you're wondering, the management office is not keen on renting out the service elevator for eight hours at a time. "IT SIMPLY CANNOT HAPPEN," I was told. In the end, I rescheduled my delivery of a bed frame and a coffee table three times; if it wasn't for a nice customer service representative, who ordered her driver to bring my furniture immediately, I think I would have had to eat the cost and go scouring the five boroughs for a bed frame and a table I could fit into a friend's Corolla. You may be wondering, after everything you've read, how I managed to give Ocean Luxury Apartments a rating of four stars. Well, once I stopped dealing with the leasing and management offices, I started to see how lucky I was to live in this building. The doormen, for the most part, are nice guys. My apartment isn't large, but its windows are massive light receptacles, and for the year I lived there, nothing broke. If you were to run into problem with the toilet or the kitchen sink, though, I hear the repairmen are prompt and courteous. But the greatest feature of the building, hands down, is the rooftop deck. It isn't actually on the rooftop, but that semantic error is quickly forgotten the moment you step onto the deck and catch sight of the Statue of Liberty, which thousands of people travel thousands of miles to see in person. There are a few things in life more pleasurable than having a glass of wine with a view of the water, as the sun coaxes you to sleep on a comfortable lawn chair. It's also a nice place to hang out with friends or bring a date to. Whatever the reason, the rooftop help made those brutal workdays bearable. Thus, three stars.

Michele Szeneitas in management office is a bad person. She makes up fake damage to justify not refunding security deposits and actually brags about it!?!? This is the OCEANS APARTMENTS business model. We were told we did not return the mailbox key, the top key, and cracked microwave handle. All untrue. The same false assertions were made to dozens of my neighbors when they moved out. Literally every person we interviewed said they did NOT get their security deposit back! Most people don't have the time or resources to take Oceans Apartments (1 west street) to court so they take the loss. Michele knows this and laughed about it to our faces. She actually told my husband, "sue me". It is rumored in the building that she gets bonuses based on not refunding security deposits.

DO NOT MOVE HERE - SERIOUSLYAbsolutely terrible, and that stems from the top-down management here. The manager Michele Szeneitas is a terrible human being who takes advantage of the residents at the building. She is not helpful and doesn't give the slightest bit of respect to her tenants.I incurred several unwarranted fees, from lock outs ($50) to unreasonable application fees. Don't get fooled by the fancy entrance and the rooftop (which is only open for 4 months out of the ENTIRE YEAR). The only positive thing were the doormen, who were kind to a degree. They ironically would not open the door for you (might not be in the job description huh?).Overall, avoid this place at all costs. I made the mistake, and I hope that you don't. Michelle, if you are reading this, please quit your job for the sake of humanity. See you in hell

I have regretted signing the lease for all 14 months I have lived here. Now that my lease is up and I am finally being set free of my miserable building, I offer you this warning:1) don't let the lobby and good views fool you- this building is FAR from luxury. Having lived in UES for many years in actual luxury buildings, this place is a JOKE. I live in between two male dorm rooms so basically I live in a frat house that constantly smells like weed and has loud music blasting at all hours and banging on the walls, which the management does nothing about despite the complaints of all surrounding ACTUAL tenants.2) have a family emergency? Perhaps a job offer and need to sublet your room temporarily? That'll be $750 - $1000 for you and hundreds of dollars in application fees for the applicant. This is not an exaggeration that's a real price range L O L3) locked out? That'll be $50 each time.4) moving out? Applying to a new apartment that needs tenant verification from 1 west st? That'll be $100 even though they're literally just writing an email saying "yeah it's cool" to your new management company. 5) it's about $8 for a TINY load of laundry-- i.e. Like 3 sweatshirts. honestly I think they ordered specialized shrunken washers because one "load" is half the size of a typical load. And the washers are always dirty and have hair in them. Whole wash and dry cycle takes about 2 hours.6) gym often smells like sweaty pair of socks. Bring your own mat because theirs are falling apart.7) doorman still does not know my name or which unit I belong to8) this place just sucks. They nickel and dime you- no, they hundred dollar bill you- when presented with any sort of simple task that would be gracefully done anywhere else. If you have enough money to live here, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. ITS NOT WORTH IT AND YOU WILL HATE YOURSELF FOR IT UNTIL YOUR LEASE IS UP!9) oh and they will show your apartment while you're still living in it... bunch of strangers walked in while I was doing dishes. Like ok... unacceptableY'all need to wish me luck on this final walkthrough- nothing is broken and everything is in pristine condition but at this point I'm expecting a thousand dollar bill for like, a scratch on the wall or something and I'm not expecting a security deposit back just because of the credibility of these people. Will update.

If already an Ocean 1 West resident, I suggest speaking with the property management team about any concerns so that larger problems do not arise. The property managers are well suited to address issues quickly and with fairness.

I looked at the reviews before moving in but didn't take them seriously enough. I know I'm just another negative review but I hope it keeps someone from making my mistake. My roommate and I moved in a few months ago. Like others have said, the lobby and the roof are as "luxury" as it gets. We've had more problems than should ever be allowed given the amount we pay in rent. Property management refuses to take responsibility for anything. They will blame anyone and anything else. Jacqui, the assistant property manager, is extremely rude and very unintelligent (and that's being nice). It's better to go directly to Christine, the property manager. She also doesn't answer e-mails or return calls but at least when you get her, she tries.Below are a just a few of the issues we've run into:-maintenance coming into our apartment without permission and without a work order.-maintenance leaves a mess and all the lights on. literally on every occasion. one time we came home to wires, metal, plaster/part of the ceiling on the floor.- elevators always have issues. my roommate had to walk down to the lobby one day. over 25 floors.. but hey at least it was down.- work orders put in for our apartment that we did not request. when you call the front desk it's oops I entered the wrong apartment number. (It's four digits....not difficult.)- we had slimy silver worm like things crawling throughout the apartment for the first month.We've also had two more serious issues but unfortunately we are moving forward legally on those. We've tried everything to not go that route but working with property management hasn't resolved anything.I don't think everyone has the experience we have had but please be cautious. There are many other actual luxury buildings...we are in Manhattan after all.

I have been living here for 3 full months. As for the apartment. The location here is good. I guess that is the only advantage here.Doormen are friendly.

Unfortunately, the apartment management can hardly be worse. The management office never replies emails. People in the management office never admit their mistakes even they made a compensation to me (not in full amount) finally. Different staff members have different words, but all trying to avoid the problem. The gym is shabby, very poor signal in the gym (I use AT&T) and no wifi there. No lobby. You can never get connected to the wifi on the 1st floor. Do not choose here. It is terrible. As for the deposit, after saw others' comments here. I am worrying about it. I am responsible for every word I type here. Razor

This can barely be considered a luxury apartment building. It has a gym and a roof deck, yes but that's as far as the luxury extends. The Lobby may look nice but tells you nothing about what the apartments are like on the inside, which is small and outdated. There is very little neighbor noise unless someone is being loud in the hallway (so on weekend nights), but there is always someone who is doing laundry at 3am and taking the laundry cart up and down the hall. There are almost never laundry carts in the laundry room. They seem to just disappear. The elevators are beyond messed up. There's one that won't even stop on my floor. It's a daily issue. My biggest complaint are the garbage trucks and highway construction that go on in all hours of the night. Garbage trucks have been heard every night from 11pm to 5am and various hours and it's often hard to get to sleep or will wake me up. It scares the crap out of my cat. The only thing I like about the place is the package room and package guy Richard who sees me coming and usually has my packages ready by the time I make it to the door. He's wonderful. The rest of the staff not so much. They raised the rent by $300 after the first year and now asking for $200 more a month plus $200 more for the security deposit. I'm sorry, was there a pool installed or something that you didn't tell us about? What am I paying more money for when you're listing the same apartments for the same starting price I paid? No way am I paying $500 more for the same apartment with no upgrades in any form. Ill be moving out soon so I can't wait to try to get my deposit back.

I'll start with the good. I have lived here for three years. You don't stay 3 years at $4000 a month if it is all bad. Building is located near tons of great bars and restaurants. Plenty of public transportation and great history. The views are great and the staff has been pretty good. Very pet friendly.

Why am I leaving?The rent in excess of $4k is not aligned with market value. Can get more modern for the same rent. No, you cannot replace the view. Over the past years it has become a post graduate dorm. 3-4 grads splitting the rent and acting like highschool kids. Just last night I was awakened 3x by drunken yelling and fighting. Happens every weekend. The building is old and the plaster is cracking. The gym is adequate for your average workout but enthusiasts will despise it. Nice roof deck but below average for a "luxury" building. No pool or barbeque options. We had a nice run here but the building has not grown with the rent. Don't get sucked in by the view. Unless you are looking to prolong your college experience, I say pass. You can find nicer places in the neighborhood for a little less.Update: they will hold your deposit for 2 months. I assume earning interest on it.