Collegetown Terrace

Great location. No pets allowed. Poor internet connection that drops you regularly. Units are reasonably quiet. Office staff can be kind of rude. Maintenance is worse. Not terrible overall but there are better options so I'm moving next semester.

Experience so far has been both good and bad. The walls are thin and the air vent is the same across all three bedrooms so sound does carry quite a bit within the apartment. You aren't able to put anything up on the walls which makes it a little difficult to really personalize your room but the bedrooms are much more spacious than other comparable apartment options. The wifi has been pretty bad for the past few months but is something that they have been fixing so should hopefully not continue to be a problem. The amenities are amazing. The study rooms are great and the gym is very convenient . In terms of location, it doesnt get any better than CTT.

Expensive and management/maintenance can be unresponsive. No rent concessions during COVID even though no longer had same amenities throughout the property (gym closed) and already charge rental prices that you would expect to find closer to NYC.

Also only do 12 month instead of 10 month leases forcing you to pay for summer months when you likely wont be there.

We have recurrent internet issues. Management does not reply emails and they do not solve the issue.

Not a good place to live

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.

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 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.

Prompt management, thin walls

Overall experience is nice. Price is above average, but the location, management, and shuttle service make it a little more acceptable.

The apartment itself is usually clean and in good shape, and is fully furnished. It is located within 15 minute walk distance from center-south campus (law school and engineering buildings) and downtown Ithaca, so is generally convenient. Management is quite nice; service line available 24/7, and maintenance emergencies (e.g., leaking sink) are usually solved within a day. The weekend shuttle service to Wegmans is particularly convenient for those who do not own a vehicle.

Noise may be a slight issue for more sensitive people: Vehicle noises from the street may be constant in living in units on the E State St. Units right next to the building entrance may also hear people entering and exiting on a regular basis, as even though the walls block noises well, the doors don't. Extra tips for choosing apartments in Collegetown Terrace is that buildings with fewer units have better internet connection and less partying in general.