Collegetown Terrace

I am writing this review having lived at the apartment complex pre- and post-COVID. I also want to note that I'm not one to complain, bring drama, or write reviews just to spite someone. However, the overall experience I've had with CTT has been so stressful and angering that I want future students to understand what they're getting into before choosing to live here.

The one positive thing about the apartment complex is the location. It's an easy walk to the law school, but so are a lot of other nicer apartment complexes that are cheaper than CTT.

The walls and floors are thin. When you ask management to do something about serious noise nuisances (I'm not just saying something small like loud voices, but loud banging and stomping that literally makes your kitchen cabinets shake), they do nothing, leaving you to handle it yourself or they tell you to call the police next time (which will needlessly escalate a situation). There were other small things that would be bothersome as well: I would call and ask for my dishwasher to be fixed but it never would take several attempts and convincing that it was never fixed in order for it to get fixed, I would call to have my internet fixed, but it would take weeks to fix it, and many other small things like this. They also don't let you prorate anything. For example, parking: they make you pay for the entire year upfront even if you are buying a parking pass halfway through the year. None of these issues were huge deal breakers for me, and I lived through it all with what I thought was a lot of patience and understanding.

What I could not understand was the rudeness and inflexibility they exhibited when COVID hit. I understand that most people will not have to deal with CTT during a pandemic, but I think the way they treated its residents during this pandemic is very telling of the many issues that management has. They were unwilling to even discuss any sort of aid with payments during COVID when many of us did not even live at CTT anymore. There was no flexibility, no willingness to work with us, and just an overall rudeness that I have never met in any of the previous places that I lived. On top of that, services were poor. When COVID hit, there was a huge influx of students having to work all day out of their apartments, yet CTT did nothing to help the internet situation. They would blame it on Spectrum and then Spectrum revealed that our internet sucked because CTT management was unwilling to pay extra money for better internet service. It took months for CTT to finally do something about the awful internet situation, where for many of us, it was impossible to even attend Zoom classes. I had to pay and use my phone's hotspot for most of the fall semester in 2020. If CTT was willing to show some flexibility and kindness to its residents, especially during such a difficult time as COVID, I would have been more forgiving of all of their shortcomings. I never asked to cancel my lease or for a huge rent reduction because I understand that they are a business as well. However, that doesn't excuse their behavior during the whole pandemic when many other places were kinder and more flexible to its residents.

Overall, I think CTT used to be the place to live for law students because of its location and the fact that many grad students live there. However, times are changing, and there are many new apartment complexes in the Ithaca area that are better quality, cheaper, and overall just less stressful of a place to live. After living there for three years, I highly recommend law students think twice before choosing to live here.

My apartment flooded because a pipe burst and management arrived within 20 minutes and managed to find me a new apartment within 3 hours and helped move all of my things into it. Overall, the employees are very nice and helpful. It is a huge complex so they're busy but if you're nice to them, they are helpful and accommodating. Rent is a little high but it's worth it for the location, new and clean apartments, gym, and the shuttle.

The only thing (other than lots of spiders) that we don't like about living here is just how much you hear. My roommate and I both got noise machines so that we wouldn't be bothered by the people who live around us. Otherwise, the apartment is nice, the management is responsive, and it's very clean/well put-together. We also love the gym.

Expensive apartment complex but most 1Ls seem to live here and the distance to the law school is great, as well as the shuttle service to campus every day.

Close to campus, convenient. Apartments in new buildings are nice but pricey. Walls very thin.

The property is centrally located and close to downtown and Cornell. However, the apartments themselves are very average with poor quality furnishings.

Poor management. Decent apartment, close to campus.

overall is good

My first year at CTT was good. Appliances in the apartment are very old and closets are very uncomfortable, however, it was OK given the price paid for a furnished apartment and the location is excellent. They "forced" me to renew my lease after 2 months of being in the apartment because "someone else" was interested in signing for next year which seemed pretty aggressive to me, but no major issues.

Problems started in my second year. After the COVID 19 pandemic hit, management had months in advance to prepare and did nothing to improve the internet bandwidth and ensure safe use and access to the gym. This situation created lags in my classes and took them almost 5 months to fix it. Also, I was paying for a gym that I couldn't use because of management's irresponsibility. We as a community approached them to lower the rent but received no answers.

There was another situation in which I borrowed my friend's car to carry items into my apartment, I must mention that I do not own a car so I don't have a need to pay for parking, but parking spaces are abundant in my building. I parked for one hour and came back to a surprise note threatening to tow my car if I ever parked there again. I called the office to see if I could pay for monthly parking given the pandemic and the special situation we were living and I only got a no for an answer, pay 900 for the year or you cant park. Heard the same from other tenants who only needed parking for a short term and needed to travel outside of Ithaca

Last but not least, I had an automatic payment set up to pay my rent and when I switched apartments (couldn't sign my original place in the first paragraph) apparently all my information was wiped off from the system and nobody was kind enough to tell me. Management threatened me once again with a delinquent rent fee after letting me know 2 weeks later.

Do not live here.

Great place to live but sometimes the internet sucks. It has improved a lot but still more can be done.