Rich C.
Yelp
MAJOR NOISE ISSUE ON LOW FLOORS. While there are multiple things to like about the building (nice and helpful staff, location, finishes in apartment, hallway/garden design, concierge) there is a major unsolved issue that leaves a material portion of the building borderline unlivable.
If you are considering apartments on the 4th floor, or on floors 5 - 7 in the middle of building, please be aware that a Lifetime Fitness gym opened to occupy the 3rd floor of the building. The gym opened about a year ago and unfortunately has insufficient sound insulation. During busy times with personal training sessions and group classes, you will hear a banging of weights that will radiate throughout your entire apartment.
This is driven by two reasons 1) a structural issue in the building that causes a structure borne noise to travel throughout multiple floors (there have been complaints from gym noise documented as high as the 17th floor) 2) gym mismanagement/poor behavior by gym staff and gym members not using cushioned mats or completing exercises that involve dropping of weights/equipment in non sound insulated areas.
On point 1 above, sound waves travel quicker the denser the material - meaning that sound travels differently through air and a solid. Given this sound issue is caused from an "impact" that travels through the structure of the building, when in your apartment, the banging/pounding sounds like it is right next to you. It is virtually impossible to sleep through and is loud enough to overpower TV/Music, etc.
The issue has been ongoing for about 6 or 7 months and will consistently occur in 5-20 minutes blocks the following times (Monday 7:30am - 8:00am and 5-7pm, Tuesday 6:30am - 8am and 5pm - 8pm, Wednesday 6:45am - 8:00 am and 5pm, Thursday 6am - 7:30am and 5pm - 7pm, Friday 6:30am to 10:00am, Saturday 7am, 9am, 11am, Sunday 10:30am - 11:30am). It will also occur other times but less consistently (1pm, 10pm, early in morning, etc.)
Given the above, there have been 100s of complaints from tenants from dozens of units over the past 6+ months and there has been no progress going through the building, Pan Am or directly to the gym.
For this particular issue, the building/Pan Am have gone out of their way to obfuscate and hide information. If you are a new resident and start complaining about this, the first answer will be along the line of "thank you for bringing this to our attention, we will assign staff to look into what is causing the noise and find a solution" when they are well aware of the issue and have months of documented complaints (tenants speak to other tenants). The building held several meetings to discuss a resolution directly with the management of Lifetime Fitness. These meetings have been counter productive.
The first meetings led to investment of further sound insulation and the addition of a drop ceiling but in only one area of the gym. This area of the gym is now used for individual workouts (such as squats and deadlifts). However, do to poor communication/lack of understanding of the issue by building management, this actually made the problem worse for apartment residents. The renovations pushed all personal training sessions and group classes (in which 5-20+ people attend at once and complete such exercises as dropping weights to the ground, throwing medicine balls to ground, etc.) into a center area of the gym with wood floors, no sound insulation and next to the center foundational pillars of the building.
Given the "capital investment" by Lifetime, pushed by the building, Lifetime feels it has done enough and the relationship between the two parties has deteriorated. Complaints directly to the gym now fall on deaf ears. Additionally, Pan Am has a ~$50 million agreement with Lifetime to bring gyms to other properties and they have yet to significantly intervene.
This issue is in violation of the NYC noise ordnance, is well documented by 311, but the city has yet to intervene.
Given the above, unless you are considering a high floor, I would suggest avoid moving here.