Frank 57 West Apartments

We had the best time with the leasing experience. Rabiya, Kaitlyn, Paris, Dustin and the entire Durst team were very helpful, and the process was pretty smooth. The apartment is beautiful and the rent is very reasonable. I really love this area and this building/set of buildings!! The Durst leasing team is great — they have been super responsive and helpful throughout the process. They processed our application really quickly and answered our 200 questions and concerns. The buildings and units are also great and well-maintained. The process overall was quite smooth and the Durst team was really great about handling any and all hiccups. Would high recommend!!

Apartment on the 5th floor owns a karaoke machine with loud speaker and bass. They would yodel and screech as if they are live at MSG! I can hear the words loud and clear when they speak into the mic even though i dont live on the same floor. They would not stop even after complaining!!!!

Lived in Frank 57 West for a year now, would not recommend living here. [Leasing experience] Quite as terrible as can be. Durst owns and manages these buildings, and reviews about absurd bureaucracy and move-out inspections that try to take advantage of tenants aren't hard to find. Initially I applied for an apt in the Via building next door. The response in the morning was that the rental terms had suddenly changed. While they already only offered 18 month leases, now it was increased to 24 months, and about $200+ added to rent. Leasing staff explained these were all set by main office and nothing could be changed. Ridiculous. Being turned off by the new terms, I was made aware of an available apt in the Frank building. The Via apt I applied for was still on the market when I checked 9 months later (make it make sense). After viewing a different unit in Frank (somehow available unit could not be shown), I applied. The process was halted a week later due to my employer not having a website. Durst claimed this was required for verifying employer is real. The fact I work for a subsidiary of one of the worlds largest investment fund (parent does have a website) didn’t matter to them, nor that my income went far beyond the 40x. I spent multiple days offering a slew of solutions (public sources mentioning company, form demonstrating parent-subsidiary relationship, HR letters, communication from office head, pay full year ahead etc) - nothing was accepted. They instead indicated the only way forward was to get a guarantor, recommending me the theguarantors.com service. Insanity. 12+ years in NYC, I have never seen this type of requirement, nor needed a guarantor for that matter. With time limited, I proceeded and was forced to pay ~$4K for this guarantor service. Wouldn't be surprised at all if Durst somehow has a stake in this guarantor business. [Move-in] At move-in I was greeted with a slew of issues in the apartment. Other reviews describe how Durst loves to charge tenants at move-out for the smallest of issues. The fact they delivered this apt in the state they did speaks volumes: 1. AC not working, which took over 4 repair guy visits and 1-2 weeks to fix (it was middle of the summer) 2. Kitchen sink leaking in the space below 3. Toilet bowl leaking gas (i.e. intense smell of rotting sewage. Repair guy told me this can be harmful to one's health.) 4. Dryer would stop working intermittently (still hasn't been resolved. I gave up after having repair guys not fixing it multiple times.) 5. Thermostat would randomly crash 6. Large window wouldn’t completely close, leaving a gap for air and noise to come through (was eventually plugged with foam, as it was labelled a “structural” problem which "would be taken care off". Never heard anything about it again.) 7. Intercom not working (apparantly these are just for show) 8. Light switch covers cracked 9. Shower sink not draining water well (still the case) [Apartment] Not terrible, not good. 1. Lots of cheap imitation materials. E.g. wall in kitchen are all plastic tiles, mimicing stone. Similarly, all tiles in bathroom (floor + walls) plastic, which does nothing but promote mold growth. Not even sure if the general flooring is made from actual wood, as it has a strange plastic feel to it as well. 2. Combination oven: if you like to cook and actually need an oven, forget about it. You can’t even heat a pizza properly in this thing. 3. Outside noise: both 58th and 11th avenue are very busy with traffic. 58th st is an highway exit, 11th ave has a constant flow of highspeed trucks and other traffic driving on it. NYC paves streets like they would in Afghanistan, so these trucks hit a dozen or so potholes 24/7 giving off loud noises. This all aside from the trash trucks that are going at it all night. 4. Neighbors: seemingly lots of musical types in this building who constantly feel the need to make noise through singing (i.e. screeching) and loudly playing their instruments in absurd ways. 5. Good things: building is very well insulated. Rent is stabilized.