After several months, I figured it's time to leave some comments. I'm a little surprised at just how many negative comments are here...I have a few of my own to add, but overall I'd still recommend The Pier.

The Good: Amazing views of NYC, the water...just unreal. Nice kitchens, a good selection of functional floorplans, excellent gym (when it's open...), very good access to the PATH trains, ferries, light rail service, a quick walk to shopping, etc. I'm not sure that I agree with the other comments about hearing your neighbors: I have neighbors on all sides, and the walls of the apartments are thick--I heard the downstairs neighbors only when they were moving in and hammering away, and there was a huge late-night x-mas party next door, but so far it's been great compared to the average apartment you'll get in any new building around here. Washer/dryer in the apartment is a great convenience. Also, the staff is pretty decent; they were not too flexible with letting me bargain on the rent, but they were very patient and flexible about the move-in and some other problems which arose.

Also, the place is quiet overall--no street noise! You can get a good night's sleep! :)

Closet space: Excellent excellent excellent. They got this right, big-time. You will not find this kind of space in your typical NYC apt, no way!! You could probably sublet your Pier closets to NYC commuter pals. Fantastic.

Good concierges. Not the cream of the NYC crop or anything, but they're pretty good considering. Good package delivery, laundry service, etc. The Pier is also beefing up their security system.

Very tastefully appointed common areas. Excellent job here!!!

Some sense of community, however loose. The management has staged some fun events, and there's a book club, yoga, and other things. No regular activity schedule yet, but it wouldn't surprise if something were established soon.

The Not-so-good: Parking is pricey and if you have guests it's very limited.

Pets: If you want a pet, it's an extra $500 fee. The usual for the area, but it's still an annoying charge to have to deal with.

Other properties in the area either have a pool or have access to one. The management here hinted that they may be installing one next year, but something tells me we're more likely to be diving in for a Hudson River swim than any pool at The Pier!

Design flaws: Uneven heating--it works fine, and your heating bill is fixed at $65 per month (so no worries there), but it's hard to get the rooms to be the same temp--the windows are not insulated too well. You end up cranking the heat, so stock up on the moisturizers and a humidifier, bigtime. Also, no heating vents in the bathrooms. The architects clearly had a warmer climate in mind (duh)...but fortunately you won't get stuck with a bad heating bill.

Shoddy finishing work: The maintenance staff at The Pier is actually quite attentive--I've had excellent results w/them!--because they're left to deal with the sorry-assed finishing work done by the building contractors. Whoever worked on the construction of the individual apartments had their heads firmly planted up their arses, methinks: The kitchens all have beautiful counters and nice appliances, but half the time the stuff was installed incorrectly--problems with the counters and cabinets, among other things. Give me a break--this stuff is brand spankin' new--they were probably in a rush to finish the units and just threw all the high-end appliances in there real quick and then moved on. When I moved in to my brand new apartment, the parquet floors were f-ed up, the side moldings looked like the construction guys were playing street hockey in the empty apt once it was completed, nobody cleaned it or prepped it, the fancy sink in the kitchen was scratched up...there was a whole laundry list of problems. The Pier maintenance guys were friendly and solved most of the problems very quickly, but it's a load of crap to be moving into an expensive NEW "luxury" apartment in the New York area (even if the apt is in NJ) and have those kinds of issues. To their credit, the staff did everything to accomodate--but this was stuff that shouldn't have happened at a quality residence in the first place.

Verizon DSL: I've got 2 words here: SKIP IT. Go with Comcast. Do not make the Verizon DSL mistake--pay the extra $12 or whatever it is per month. The building is wired for Verizon DSL, and Verizon's service and systems are not so hot; I found out the hard way.

Flooding & damage: during the cold snap, a pipe burst and caused damage to several apartments. The fitness center has been closed for over a MONTH, and management claims it's because the JC fire inspector has not ok'd the reopening yet due to complications with the pipe repairs. A total nuisance to the residents--they should give us a partial rent refund, but I doubt we'll see that since the amenities fee of $350 has been waived.

The kitchens are all topnotch, but the bathrooms are so cheap that the lid on the toilet caves in when you sit on it--there are better toilet lids available for $8.99 retail at Home Depot.

Water pressure'' What water pressure''' It'll take twice as long to rinse your hair in the morning. Bogus.

Despite the pitfalls, I still like this place because I checked ALL of the competing apartments in the area (all of Newport, Hudson Point, Portside Towers, Avalon, Gotham, Windsor Liberty House, Shipyard, 333 River St, Observer Park, Marin, Hudson Tea Bldg, Portofino, etc) and this offered the most for the money at the time I was looking. Your mileage will certainly vary at The Pier depending on where an individual apartment is located within the building and what kind of deal you get. The rents are steep, but if you're only going to be here for a year or two tops, you might be able to wrangle some free months or other concessions. I'm not convinced that the management will work out all the kinks with this building for awhile, but they're responsive compared to the horror stories people have told me about other properties around here. Overall, if you want to live in an apt community in the JC area I think this is The Place to be right now. The other alternative would be to just find a really hip brownstone apt to rent in the Van Vorst Park area or other downtown-adjacent area. For a modern luxury apartment, maybe check out the new Marbella tower when it's all completed. Or check back with The Pier in a few months, or next year. The Pier has a ton of potential--it's very good right now, but it could be excellent--it's just not quite there yet.

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