Alvista Rise

"I am giving this place 3 stars over 2 because management was pretty cool towards the end. The review I am about to make reflects more on the location and people, with the exception of the separate parking management. I left on the 12th of the month and parking management refused to pro rate me. They took the whole month payment which was the first time anyone ever did that to me, and refused to budge from their position. They also never clean the garage or have any kind of presence there. In a couple of years it will begin smelling like the subway because people do urinate there. And oh yes, my car was vandalized my first month there. If you’re commuting to and from the city at night, it takes 35-70 mins to get from Queens Plaza to Jamaica Center because everything runs local at a snails’ pace, and it also depends on how many trains are on queue forming a single line at Queens Plaza. The neighborhood is dangerous. If you’re thinking you just want a convenient place into the city that’s new and affordable, and the neighborhood doesn’t matter. Let me tell you. On those days where you don’t have to go anywhere but want some fresh air, going outside is the worst! To find a nice place to walk, you have to basically find another neighborhood. The garage entrance is always blocked and chances are you will not be able to always get out without having to deal with inconsiderate people. And lots of beeping and road raging. The street is always congested because of double parked cars and big vehicles that cannot pass them. If you live on the street side, you will hear road rage beeping at all hours of the day and night. Frequently, big rigs will beep non stop during the early hours of the morning. I lived on the top floor and clearly heard them all the time! If you’re like me and want the top floor to avoid noisy neighbors above you, surprise, you will have a roof lounge complete with all types of inconsiderate people and children. But wait it gets better. People also sneak up at night and hang out there all hours of the night and morning hours. The extra long July 4th weekend was especially fun with people partying until sunrise! The frustrating part was, the roof doors were broken for a long time! I requested to have them fixed a couple of weeks before July 4th, but they waited until afterwards. It was just replacing broken door hardware. The only part of the top floor you can avoid people above you is all the way on the eastern quarter of the floor. No one is allowed on that side of the roof. I wish I had paid attention! Laundry room is always filthy and disgusting! If you love weed, you will love this building! Most floors stink of weed and at least in my unit, the smell used to seep beneath the door and smell up the kitchen. I also couldn’t open the windows because someone somewhere below was regularly smoking out of their window, so it either smelled like smoked weed or incense smoke and I didn’t like either. I had to keep my window closed most of my stay there. The unit faced south so heat was a big issue. Obviously not so much in the winter, but the summer was bad. The air conditioning units did not cool the space sufficiently!! At least in my unit. Music! People are inconsiderate and will blast their music at any hour. If they don’t live directly next to you, chances are you will still hear them because of how loud some people can be. Construction is happening outside the building every day throughout your stay. Get used to it. The roof. Half of the time I wanted to go up there, it was usually filled with people listening to loud music and smoking weed. Like I said, if you love weed, you will love this place. Oh yes, and lots of kids running around. Thank you."

"Don't get me wrong, the building isn't bad at all, but there are main things that keep it from being a 5 star. To start with the good the workers and building management is great and friendly. Quick to reply and help out. The apartments are on the small side but they are updated and modern. The location is great because it's close to literally everything you can ever need including transportation and the LIRR. The elevators are fast and the building itself inside is pretty clean. The apartments are insulated and you rarely hear your neighbors, sometimes I honestly think I live in a ghost building because the only time you see someone else is in the elevators, gym and laundry room. Now the bad. The building has a SERIOUS dog problem. The 5th floor out door space and the front of the building reeks with pee and poop. It smells terrible and you often have to be very careful when entering and exiting the building to make sure not to step into dog poop. But to be fair I guess that's more on the residents who don't need dogs if they can't pick up after them than the building itself. The laundry room is pretty small for the building size and not so clean. The washers are all tiny which makes you spend more and the tap pay although clearly there on the machines are inactive so you're forced to use the app that forces you to reload a MINIMUM of 10 dollars. So say you need just a few more cents to start a machine you HAVE to add 10 dollars. The amenities are nice but aren't free (unless you get in when they have the deal going on like I did). So to access to gym and everything other than the laundry room and the outdoor decks you'll have to pay for. THE PARKING IS NOT included in the amenities fee and goes for almost 400 a month on top of the amenity fee and the high rent. You'd think being a resident there would be some kind of discount since outdoor Parking is basically non existent. These things can be easily fixed by giving out fines to residents who use the front of the building as their dogs bathrooms. Enable the tap pay in the laundry room and make the parking more affordable OR AT LEAST HAVE DESIGNATED SPOTS FOR GROCERY DROP OFF. it's extremely inconvenient having no where to park to bring up groceries. Imagine paying high rent and having to pay to park where you live and struggle to bring groceries into your own apartment Other than those main things it's a pretty chill and cool building."

"Everything is new and looks nice. But you should be aware of two things: 1. No clear move-in instructions at all and no one told me how to sign up a parking spot until I got here so I had to park somewhere at the beginning which made me so worried... You have to do all communication works with Real Estate Brokers and Property Managers and figure those processes out by yourself. 2. Train noises almost kill me. Do not choose to live on North side if you don’t like to live with noises every day."

"Are you kidding me with these stunning views?! Love the building, love my apartment. Can’t wait to reserve one of the lounges for private events in the future."