Collegetown Terrace

I warn you this is not the place to live in Ithaca and here's why:

Collegetown Terrace or CTT lures you in with pictures of pretty lofty buildings and its excellent location between the downtown commons and Cornell, but unfortunately the experience of living at CTT otherwise has been completely regrettable for me. Internet connectivity is pathetic with frequent drops in connection and lagging. Residents have been complaining about CTT internet access for years, but now that Covid has forced us all inside it is downright unbearable to work.

Management is frequently unfriendly and transparency of issues in my building and complex have been poor. After the state allowed gyms to reopen, management refused to reopen the gym (as every single other comparable building in the area had opened there's) until residents complaints became unbearable for them and they were forced to reopen. They issued no refund for the money we paid for the rent.

If you're looking to move to Ithaca, consider other comparable apartment complexes or standalone rentals. Don't make the same mistake as me and hate my experience living here everyday.

The apartment is rather new and in good state, moreover, the layout of the apartment is very comfortable with many windows and enough storage space for two.

Having said that, the management office is terrible - super rude, non-responsive, and un-supportive. You will have a great experience at CTT, unless when you have to interact with management.

Due to the number of students studying remotely, CTT had significant internet issues in the Fall. I didn't have any other issues.

This is an economical rental building. Rooms here are like dorm rooms. You get to enjoy CTT amenities but your room is older and your building is the administration building. The kitchen is small and old but there are two stoves. People can take your stuffs if you leave them in the kitchen. It is very dorm-like. If youre looking for somewhere cheap but efficient then I definitely recommend this place. One thing is you won't be able to have people over ever because your room is really small and you have no living room.

Great Apartments, fully furnished, no hassles. They are working on fixing the internet issues, but otherwise, no issues with the utilities either. A lot of Johnson folks staying in the surrounding buildings. The Shuttle to campus makes it a lot easier to get to Cornell, which is anyways only a short walk away. If you get one of the newer apartment buildings, you'll also have HVAC with both heating AND cooling (some of the older apartments only have heating). A tad expensive though.

The apartment itself has thin walls, sound travels through the vents, and the price most residents are paying here is significantly higher than the cost of an apartment in a major urban city.

The amenities are OK, the buildings themselves are modern-ish, not completely new and update to date but not outdated like much of the other places found on campus. The microwave and washing machine both had problems within the month of moving in, but at least maintenance was really fast to respond.

The WiFi was unstable throughout the first few months and CTT's gym remained closed longer than other residential communities. The only saving grace for me was the fact that I'm subleasing from someone at a fraction of the price, but would definitely not recommend at full-price.

However, having so many other MBA students living here is a major plus point. You'll always be a short walk away from being able to meet up and hang out, so at least there's that.

Overall, CTT management cares little about the people who rent there. They are totally inflexible with requests and force you to resign your lease 10 months before it's set to renew with the threat of renting it out to others before you have a chance to resign. The mail rooms are a disaster, where you have to wade through stacks of packages on the floor to find your own. Elevators in the building are regularly out of order with no notification of when they'll be fixed, irregardless of the fact that without it certain floors of the building are not handicap accessible.

CTT handled the shift to a virtual environment poorly. Before the semester started they were well aware of the situation and that the majority of their tenants would be doing online classes. However, they did not preparation over the summer to ensure that the wifi would be strong enough to support us. From the first day of classes we were faced with daily internet outages, where you would drop out of class or from meetings.

The only two positive aspects of living at CTT are the shuttle bus and the network of graduate students in the building. CTT has a shuttle bus to campus which runs regularly throughout the day, which is not offered by other apartment buildings. Additionally, as an MBA student there are many other people in the program that live here so it's easy to get to friend's apartments and see people.

As a person living alone and paying $1,800 per month for their apartment (not including utilities or parking) I would not recommend CTT. For slightly higher rates City Center in the commons is a much better option, where you can live somewhere that actually cares about their customers.

The Good

- Great location between College Town and Downtown.

- Study areas and gym are pretty new and clean.

- The staff in 106 are nice.

The (Really) Bad

- The management office is awful. They know they have a new class of students every year and have little incentive to fix things in an timely manor or treat tenants well.

- The internet never works, I have to reconnect my devices (phone, tablet, & TV) every time I use them. The internet drops consistently and the management blames it on Spectrum, rather than just getting it fixed.

-The walls are paper thin, you will hear your neighbors like you are in the same room.

- The fire alarms are super sensitive and go off nearly once a week, sometimes at 3:00pm, sometimes at 3:00am in the winter.

I didn't spend too much time looking for an apartment so I relied on the reviews of others and the quantity of students already at this location. I enjoy the proximity to campus but the apartment management is not responsive nor do they take initiative to fix headaches such as the gym's 2-month delay in reopening or the wifi upgrade.

Not a good place to live