Colonnade Apts

Before you all go haywire, let me state that I am a real person who has actually lived here for a couple years.
I’ve lived in the Colonnade Apartments for about two years and overall, personally, my experience has been generally positive. I only ran into one speed bump during the application process and it was not a huge issue — the stated rent price on the apartment I was looking at was higher than stated on the website. They update the website every now and then with new apartment availability but I would not take the online prices at face value.
Fast-​forward to move in; BEWARE, some apartments are much more clean and updated than others. I lucked out as I saw an apartment with carpeting and wound up getting one with beautiful wood floors — the pictures on the website are only indicative of what they want you to see (updated kitchens, bathrooms, etc. You are able to acquire these apartments but at an escalated price for the renovated units, which I think is actually fair). That being said, my apartment was clearly cleaned, re-​painted, and prepped before I moved in. I also lucked out as I live on a floor that has a renovated hallway with new carpet, paint, light fixtures, and porcelain tile.
About one year into my residency, I noticed bed bugs had emerged. You are not allowed to bring in an outside privately contracted exterminator, the building has their own contract with a pest service. I went down to the leasing office (Wanda, you are a God-​send); SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE THIS WOMAN A PROMOTION OR A RAISE. She oversaw the extermination schedule and constantly kept me updated and has also helped me with other tasks such as moving my parking space further from the edge and into the center of the lot after I was told «you could not move your space» by the assistant property manager, who is no longer there. Out of anyone in the leasing/​office staff, Wanda is the best. My leasing agent Jamar was also equally as gracious and helped me kick things into gear with moving and such, he can get a raise too.
The maintenance staff, for the most part, are very very nice people and will say hi to anyone they pass in the corridors. My refrigerator decided to die last summer and within 3 HOURS they had a new one brought up and installed in my apartment. Every morning, they are constantly cleaning the floors and performing maintenance around the building. Personally, from my experience, maintenance has always been courteous, quick, and efficient. They always do a good job when I need them.
I don’t mean to suggest that disgruntled reviewers were not courteous to the staff, but in my experience, as long as you are respectful, mindful of where you are, and always treat everyone who is employed there nicely (security included, they’ve saved me a few times from getting locked out of my apartment when I’ve forgotten my keys), they will accommodate your needs. A simple «Hello» and «Good Morning» to the security guards when you’re leaving/​returning goes a long way when you’re in need of assistance.
The main downside to this place are the windows. They’re essentially floor-​to-​ceiling single pane glass where in the Summer your apartment is an inferno, I run my AC ²⁴⁄₇ in the Summer and my apartment still averages about 75 – 78 degrees, and in the Winter your apartment is an ice box (gas/​water/​heat all included but they’re stingy with heat in the apartments and the lobby).
Generally, I’m very content with living here. My apartment is clean, I’ve never seen mice, and I’ve seen MAYBE 5 roaches in 2 years. The gated lot is convenient and the security of the building (card access at EVERY entrance is great). The folks here are hard-​working blue-​collar individuals and I’ve always had pleasant experiences with my neighbors.
I settled on 3-​stars; I would like to give it 4 but my $ 200 /​month electric bill in the summer from constant need of AC deters me from doing that as well as the fact that they would rather see security guards in the lobbies as well as tenants freeze in the Winter instead of paying a little more for increased heating.
I’d recommend, but play your cards right, don’t rock the boat, and you’ll be set. I’ve had a pleasant experience and am considering a third year here.
EDIT: A prompt and extremely courteous phone call from the property manager to discuss my concerns and any needs that I may have had after this review was written was EXACTLY the type of thing tenants would expect from their landlords. I originally gave it three stars but bumped up to four due to the breadth of information that was discussed over the phone. Thank you to the leasing office for clearing up my concerns and questions so accurately and promptly and offering help where it is needed. This is exactly what I referenced above; present yourself in a positive way & the staff at Colonnade will do what they can to help you.

I’ll give it four stars for now. I ‘m a new tenant and despite the bad reviews I read before I decided to move from Brooklyn .I like the colonnade .This is my second week here .The tenants in the building are super friendly security is always on post and professional I work in city and so its just a hop skip and jump for me to Manhattan .The building is clean and the maintenance crew are on point always cleaning .I love the convenience of the store and the laundry on premise. Management was also friendly and accommodating. I’m starting to feel at home .So far so good will post again later.

Still Zero Stars!

Livid in this building one year, workers in this building do not care about the tenants, I livid in the build C, is full of bad bugs, so do not move to this building, I threw everything I had In the apt in the garbage!

The Good:
1. Reasonable rent (flat-​out ask them for the pricing sheet — rent goes up if you face Manhattan and higher floors cost more, but are totally worth the views and quiet).
2. Bus to nyc stops out front, every hour, on the hour, until midnight, costs $ 5.50 and takes about 45 min. to get to NY Port Authority.
3. If you miss the bus, take the Midtown Direct from Broad Street Station — 5−10min walk down the street and 22min ride later you’re at NY Penn Station.
4. Laundry ($ 1.80/wash), gym ($ 20/​Mon), deli/​market all in the concourse (basement with windows)
5. Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe. Amazing architect. Would you ever guess this building was built in 1960’s? Admire the marble and try not to do math and marvel at the perfect 2:1 ratios.
6. I love the floor-​to-​ceiling windows, which are in every apartment.
7. You have to pay your electricity, cable tv, and internet, but gas, water, hot water, and trash are included.
The Bad:
1. Security guards in lobby are useless. They are not full concierge, will not accept your packages if you are not home, then you have to go the ghetto Post Office.
2. Gets hot in the summer with giant windows.
3. Parking in the fenced/​gated lot is expensive, about $ 75/​month.
Advice:
Be nice to the security at the front desk — if you forget your swipecard, they have to let you in — I’ve seen them ignore the people they don’t like. So saying a simple «good morning» goes a long way. Say hello to strangers in the elevator — you never know if your car breaks down, they might be the one to stop and help or completely ignore you. Be kind to maintence guys, too!
This is my 3^rd year living here, and I happily reccommend it.

Ok… I’ve lived here for 3 years, and it would normally be rated at ONE STAR, but you really can’t argue the price.
Pros:
— It was DIRT cheap
— You were close enough to buses and trains that would take you to downtown Newark or the Newark Penn station.
— There was a guard at the door to sign people in.
— There was parking behind the building, although it was extra.
— Paid about $ 1000 for a 900 sq. ft. 1 bedroom apartment.
— Community trash shoot next to elevators.
— There was a public park across the way, but it was not the best kept, nor the safest.
Cons:
— It is NOT A SAFE NEIGHBORHOOD. That’s to say… it wasn’t surrounded by crack dens, but there were many loitering adults and kids around the area which does not instill a feeling of safety. There is an elementary school right behind the building and if you park on the street in front of it at night, your car WILL get broken into (third day we moved in). There was a shooting down the street from us around Christmas, and there’s just a general feeling that you should always be watching your back. That being said, there are so many very nice and helpful people who also live in the building, but just enough rotten apples to sour the experience.
— The appliances were old, the closet doors constantly came off the track, and the linoleum floor was… not the best.
— The rooms were heated via a hot water pipe that ran through a covered vent, so the heat «radiated» out. This made the rooms FREEZING in the winter because the entire building was on one heat setting, and the managers of the property were not going to turn the heat up because it costs them money.
— Rent increases as you go up by floor and depends on if you face the NY (east) side or the park (west) side.
— Management is bitter and out to suck you dry. We generally mail our checks to the rental office, and once, in 2 years of perfectly timely payments, the check got lost in the mail. We weren’t notified of the problem until they served us an eviction notice. When we finally worked out everything that has happened, explained the situation, and paid the rent, they insisted on charging us for all fees associated with their bringing the eviction notice. Totally BULL!
In sum… if you’re looking to save money and you are used to living in a not so great neighborhood, this place is worth considering. But I should note that there is a WORLD of difference in living somewhere that you can feel relatively safe, and this is not one of those places.

Well, the area isn’t so nice at night, but they have an open, fenced lot for residents. If you’re a visitor, you get to park on the street.
The apartments here are utilitarian; older appliances and a pepper-​salt linoleum floor for the apartment except in the tiled bathroom, the units here are cheap and utilitarian. Plenty of space for the cost, but only buses and an NJT train (South Newark?) stop roughly 6 blocks away make it hard to get there without a car.
Elevators are small, but tall enough to cram a bed into, and slow.
They do have people at the door, though at times, they don’t really do much to confirm you’re visiting whom you say you are, so I don’t expect perfection there. Super apparently isn’t the easiest to reach, either, with some very odd times for being in the building.
Other than that, the neighbors tend to be heavily African-​American and Hispanic in this neighborhood, and relatively friendly, for the most part.