Novarr-Mackesey Development Co & Property Management Co

Expensive. Cheaply made. Frequent hot-water problems. Thieves rummage through packages. Construction dust everywhere. Construction noise all day starting at 7:30 a.m. The buildings are new and in a great location for walking and bussing to Cornell and the Commons. This is all this place has going for it. Expensive. Target clientele is grad students, yet they think $1700+/mo is reasonable for a ~$2200/mo stipend. No wonder my floor was only half-occupied this year. Despite the high rent, the building is cheaply made. Paper-thin walls & ceilings. Can readily hear upstairs neighbors' conversations. Light fixtures rattle anytime they walk around. None of the high-capacity washers (which accounts for half the washers) work properly. During the rinse cycle, they only fill with a couple inches of water, so your clothes end up twisting and tearing. Management staff are very good about giving you the runaround on any concerns you might have: their standard line is, "Yes, we are aware of the problem, and we have someone onsite working on it." The staff are terrible about giving advance notice when they show your apartment. Other places call to give 24 hours' notice. Here, you are lucky if you get 10 minutes' notice via e-mail. Collegetown Terrace is an active construction site. Trucks drive up and down South Quarry St. Construction noise all day starting at 7:30 a.m. The resulting dust covers everything, including the cars parked under the building. A visible film of dust develops on my car just days after washing. Hot water system breaks down far more often than it should. Usually takes the better part of a day before it's fixed. No secure location for package dropoffs. If you don't pick up your package right away, it's opened and rummaged through by the end of the day. Between the high rent, cheap building, and the generally shady impression I get from the management staff, I can't help but feel that they are laughing all the way to the bank. I can't wait to move out of here. more

My experience has some similarity with Sarah S. I stayed at Valentine Place, which was managed by Novarr-MacKesey, for two years. Novarr-MacKesey urged us to sign the lease for the second year 4 months before the end of the first year, so we did. However, we were never notified the huge construction project in anyway until we saw it after our second-year lease started. The construction was managed by Novarr-MacKesey as well and it was certainly well-planed. Over the entire second year and it was noisy and made my room very dusty all the time. The route I used to take was also closed due to the construction so I had to take a longer one. If I were notified their construction project, I wouldn't choose to stay there for the second year. Upon move out at the end of the second year, i was charged by NYSEG for the utility bill of 3 months AFTER the end of my lease. I called Novarr-MacKesey and they told me they asked NYESEG to switch over to bill them instead of me but apparently it didn't work for me; however, it was entirely my mistake not to contact NYSEG immediately after my move out. It is true that it is written somewhere that I should contact NYSEG, in the contract and maybe some place normal people wouldn't pay attention to in their notice. So I wouldn't say this is their fault. However, being a professional property management, it should not be hard to either notify us by the time we check out or at least write an email reminding us to call NYSEG. BTW, knowing I have the plan to write online comments, they told me "you should not lie online". This was quite a big insult and again very unprofessional. more

I had a pleasant experience living there, but in moving out, they used dishnonest tactics to keep part of my securit deposit. They charged me over $200 to shampoo the carpet and paint the place. Isnt that what you are typically supposed to do when a tenant moves out? Especially when it is a tenant that lived there for 2 yrs? Shame on them! more

I have rented an apartment from them for 2 years. They have a great management staff that are always there to help you. The apartments are alittle far from Cornell University but not too far away. They provide a shuttle that takes you to campus in the morning until noon. The apartments are huge with furniture included in the rent. Rent is cheaper than the apartments in Collegetown due to the location. Safe neighborhood with plenty of parking available. Everything is perfect except for the distance from campus but I didn't mind the walk back in the evenings. The walk is about 10 minutes so no biggie. more