I can't speak for some of the other experiences here, and can only speak for mine. The people at…read morethis building were amazing to me and my family.
Starting at the top -- Daniel was always reachable, and always willing to help where he could. We stayed there three-years, and only had to move away because of my job took me back to California. At the time, being in law school, money was tight, and Daniel helped us out with parking, and when we moved out, we got back our full refund (this is after the apartment had two kids under four running around). The only thing we got charged for was a cleaning fee for the carpets, which was fair.
Re maintenance staff, this seems to be consistent --- amazing people. My family, and kids, loved Oscar. He was personable, and willing to help with the smallest things. The one thing, if I had to grade down a bit, was the turnaround times were not always great, but part of that was also us having kids, and trying to work around their nap schedule.
The amenities are good. Gym was sufficient (had all the equipment you needed), but it can get a bit crowded as the space isn't that big. Rooftop is amazing. The views of NYC are breathtaking. The community room was also very large, stocked with boardgames and it's own TV with a good seating area, and large table in the back where my friends and I occasionally used studying for finals.
There are some cons, but again, it really goes back to Daniel, and how quickly he would deal with any complaints (very quickly). We did some instances where we had some weed smoke, and found some cigarettes in the trash area, but once Dan was notified, an apartment wide email went out. Another sort of downer was that the retail space below was never filled, so you had to go away from the building for the smallest things.
Location is hit/or miss. It's walking distance to Whole Foods, and a five minute drive to Target. Nothing is more than a 10-15 minute drive away. Regarding the homeless people: around the building itself, you hardly see any, but of course, it being Newark, you will see them around the park area, but if that's the standard, you're not going to find any apartment complex without that issue. Additionally, you can walk to Penn Station, and be in NY in 10-15min. It's also walkable to Rutgers and Seton Hall Law School. There is also the Prudential Center which is about a 10-15min walk. You're also right next the NJ Performing Arts Center.
Apartments are nice, modern, floor to ceiling windows. We were the first tenants in our apartment. I will say the rent did climb pretty quickly once we were there, but I think when taking in the full-three years we were there, we got a pretty good deal (relative to the other comps in the area). If you get a corner apartment, you can't beat the views. We are on the river, and the view of NY always impressed our guests haha.
If we do move back to Newark, gladly be back there.