Avalon at Wesmont Station

I am moving from Queens to NJ, just can’t afford to live in NY anymore. I don’t have to move until July so I knew it was way too early to look for a new place. I still wanted to look a bit. Found Avalon at Wesmont Station and thought I’d take a look. Made an appointment, got there way too early due to anxious travel planning but Nav greeted me and kindly asked me to wait. There was a lot going on with new residents and others coming in and out of the office. Nav was so great, I sat down and told him what I was looking at online and what my price range was. We went on a tour and I just got more and more excited about the place. The model was really well decorated and beautiful. I had already decided this was where i wanted to live. We went back to the office and he helped set me up online so I could fill out an application immediately. Normally with NY apartments you have to show a lot of paperwork, pay for a credit check, etc. Not here. I filled out the application, was approved later that day, and one day later received my lease ready to sign. I’m pretty much still in shock at how wonderful and easy the whole process was. Nav was SO helpful and nice! In the 9 and a half years I’ve lived in NY, finding and leasing an apartment has never been so easy and enjoyable! I’m just so excited to finally live in a wonderful apartment in a wonderful community. For the first time EVER, moving day can not come fast enough!!!

I’ve been living here for about 9 months now and really love it. I love the staff. I love the package service. The maintenance workers are fast and courteous. I love the amenities. The common areas are clean and kept up. Sometimes, there is a bit of dirt, but they clean them about once a week, so it’s not terrible. But here are a few things they could do to improve.
1. Pool area — This is the biggest issue. Around the pool area, there are 3 grills. It’s great to have that amenity, but once the summer hits, EVERYONE is trying to use them of course. There is no sign up or reservation system for the grills, therefore you basically take a chance trying to get one. What I’ve found to be the real problem is that, there are residents that invite large groups of people to grill out. On several occasions this past summer, I’ve counted 15 – 20 people at a time in the grill area. They had taken the entire area (where there are two grills). This has happened on several occasions (I have a view of the pool, so I can see everything). On one hand, it’s nice to be able to invite friends/​family over to grill. On the other, these groups stay for HOURS at a time, taking up space and grills. There have been times when my husband and I wanted to invite friends, but we didn’t want to take the chance of not being able to use the area. Yes, everyone is nice and will of course let you grill something to take back to your apt. But it sucks if we wanted to invite friends over to grill out, we risk not being able to get the space to not only grill but to sit outside and eat. Simply put: when people want to grill, they want to sit outside and eat, too!
I think it would be wonderful if they developed a reservation system. This would give more residents the opportunity to use not only the grills, but also the space. As I said, I’ve seen groups sit in the area for hours at a time. One time, a group was there for about four hours because they were having a birthday party. I think during the summer (particularly during June and July) there needs to be a reservation system if people plan to have a group of 10 or more at the grill, with a cap of no more than 2 hours.
2. Noise — It’s not horrible where we are in the building, but there are definitely occasions where our next door neighbors play, loud bass heavy music later in the evenings (around 10−11pm). It doesn’t happen often, but when it happens, I’m annoyed. So, it would be nice if the office sent around reminders every now and then about noise after 10pm. I try not to complain about noise, as it’s something you deal with in an apt. But I think after certain hours, people need to remember that the walls are thin and people can hear their music. I will say, it’s typically silent past midnight, which is fantastic given that in my last apt in NYC, we typically heard super loud music at 3 or 4am. So, I’m happy I don’t have that problem here.
3. Parking — The last thing is parking. There is a parking garage attached to the building. Then there’s parking out front and between the two buildings. We currently don’t have a car, but on occasion we rent one. You have to get a parking pass (free) from the office, so that you can park overnight in the front of the building. The front parking lot and street between the two buildings are owned by Lodi (which is weird). If you park between certain hours (I think 2am-​6am) on the street between the buildings, you could receive a ticket. If you park in the front lot overnight with no pass, you could receive a ticket. You have to make sure to get a pass from the office or risk getting ticketed. One time we forgot to get a pass and were fortunate to not get a ticket. I wish there were alternatives to getting a parking pass if the office is closed.
The parking garage is $ 125/​mth. I was surprised by this, as we’re not that close to the city, so you’d think it would be much less. If you have two cars, it’s $ 125 for the first car and $ 75 for the second. We would love to buy a car, but that monthly expense keeps us from doing so. I’m not sure why it’s so expensive, but that’s something to keep in mind if you have a car (s).
Other than those things, it’s a good place to live. I’ve read about the security deposit situation, so I guess I’ll come back and update whenever we move out. I’m praying we can actually recoup it, but from the sounds of other reviews, that doesn’t seem likely.

So hear is the low down:
My roomate and I have lived here for about 4 months now. The staff at Avalon is great, the package service is awesome. Washer/​dryer in apt nice! Space and closet wise apt gives more than enough. Having an elevator and nice mailbox plus friendly people around you, not to mention great MX program (available ²⁴⁄₇) and overall cleanliness of the building are all good things about Avalon. However, there are a few negative things that simply outweigh the good. The parking, for one is probably the most painful experience living somewhere I’ve ever had. It’s a common complaint amongst all. You pay for a spot but after 6pm you will never have one and will have to walk in the freezing cold very far and late at night. There are no parking attendants/​security around and theft happens often. So be ready to pay for a spot and never park there. There are no assigned spots so you have to race home to get one or you have to Über everywhere you go and occasionally take a ticket from the police for parking close to your building. There are way more tenants than spots, it’s ridiculous! Forget running to the store at night or casually going out that all stops if you don’t want to walk a half mile to your apartment. You could purchase a garage for additional 200 dollars a month for 1 spot, (what is this nyc?) the garage isn’t even close to your apt! Next, the construction… Did not know you could actually build a community within another community. 730AM jackhammer on a Saturday is not cool. I could deal with the construction, if it was to put in a new parking lot. Cause now Basically, new town home tenants (not an avalon community) will be moving in and parking where?!
I Love kids and dogs but the walls are so thin, u hear everythinggggg! Just fyi
If you could take out the parking issue, the 7am construction, add some retail in the retail space available this would be the perfect place to live. I just can’t deal with the parking! Hope this helps anyone thinking of moving.

The walls are made of cheap material and extremely thin so if your neighbors are loud, expect no peace of mind. And the management can’t or won’t do anything about the noise. The apartment I lived in was extremely was poorly designed. Who ever heard of a light switch behind a door? You have to half-​close the door of a dark bathroom to get to a light switch. Add the amenities fee and parking to an already pricey apartment and overall not worth it. Sewage fee and never seeing a dime of your security deposit when you leave? Quite simply the worst apartment experience I have had in the 5 states I have lived in including new york city

Carlos T couldn’t be more right!
Listen, I enjoyed my time there. I lived there for one year, Everyone was nice and the place was super nice too. The package delivery was super convenient as well… the front office staff will sign for you and you pick it up from them. The maintenance guys were great too. fast response when stuff needed fixing
But it is SO EXPENSIVE. I paid almost $ 1800 for a 1/​br with a parking spot. I scammed them out of another spot too because an extra spot was $ 75 a month extra. Screw that. I also got an extra key fob thing for $ 50…I had to return the key at the end of my lease but I did not get my $ 50 back… wait what?
Also, the amenity fee: listen you know what the rent is before you move in and they don’t make it a secret that there is an amenity fee… but just so you realize it and let it sink in, the amenities are NOT FREE… they are NOT included in your rent. The amenity fee is $ 500 ($ 450 when you renew your lease) so divide that by 12 and essentially add it to your monthly rent to get a true account of how much your rent is (even though you pay this up front). Again, AMENITIES are NOT included in your rent.
The gym is great, the lounge is nice and the courtyard is nice as well but with the new buildings and more residences, the pool was/​is packed.
Why I am giving this ONE Star? The move out process… they sure do nickle and dime you man. WOW … Again, I lived here for once year… never once hung anything or painted… but was charged for new paint… they charged me for blinds… I had my carpets cleaned and they were spotless but was charged to have them cleaned again. Had I known I was going to get charged regardless, I should have taken a dump on the rugs. I also got a bill for a half months rent… I didn’t give the proper notification to move out. I looked in the lease and there it was (i THINK it says 45 days notice required) so it was my fault but real life happens… I wasn’t sure my situation so I didn’t give them notice and they would budge.
I ended up with a bill of almost $ 1000 to move out. that included the $ 750 security deposit they kept. So almost $ 1750. They are a for profit company who is publicly traded so what do you expect? They make money hand over fist and they WILL nickel and dime you. Expect a bill when you move out regardless of how clean the place it.
Thank God I am DONE with Avalon.

I been living this apartment since they start leasing. So about almost 3 years it’s really good price quite town. Very luxury building. And I’m planning to live here about 5 more years. Very good place live. And always perfect service.

Avoid this place at all cost. It may look nice at first glance, but they will nickel and dime you the entire time.
Management/​Office Staff: Do not care about current tenants, they only care about prospective tenants.
–The building: On the newer side, but the quality of the material isn’t great. There is noticeable wear and tear on the facilities (Grills, Pool Tables, Gym, Hallways. etc.) which are not maintained very well. There is dog poo all over the grounds outside, the hallways are starting to smell, and the elevators are extremely slow.
–The Pool: Very small pool, always filled with children, and the water did not appear to be clean towards the end of the summer.
–Apartment Price: Very expensive for the area, and comes with a lot of hidden charges.
–Utilities: No utilities are included so the tenant pays for everything, including water and sewage. I have never heard of a place charging for water or sewage.
–The Amenities Fee: $ 500 for each lease term. This charge is for the «maintenance» of the amenities.
–The non nonrefundable pet fee: $ 500 dollars to cover damages that your pet MAY incur on the apartment. If the pet does damage to the apartment, they will just take it out of your deposit so this $ 500 dollars is basically just a fee if you have a pet.
–The monthly pet fee — $ 50 a month! Imagine paying $ 600 dollars a year so that your cat can stay in your apartment!
–Parking: Parking is not included. They charged around $ 250 dollars for two cars in New Jersey! There is no overnight parking on the street outside. If you want to avoid the charge you have to park across the street which is Lodi, but risk getting a ticket because you need an overnight pass, which you can’t get since you are not a resident of Lodi.
–Move Out Cost: They will squeeze every thing out of your deposit. They will charge you for every little thing, and the charges are astronomical. The deposit is only $ 750, but you won’t ever see it back. They expect to receive a brand new apartment when you turn it in. There is no such thing as wear and tear here.
Summary: Avoid this place at all cost if you value your hard earned money. This place will pull a bait and switch, and you may think this place is great at first but you will start to notice that this place is not what appears to be.