I have lived in both a one bedroom and a two bedroom in this building, on both the north side and the south side, and under the old management and the new management. If you are thinking of renting here, here are the pros and cons:
PROs:
1. Large living/dining spaces and bedrooms in units.
2. The doormen, van drivers, and most of the desk staff and maintenance men are super-friendly, especially once you really get to know them.
3. If you go down to the lobby or sitting room for awhile and strike up some conversations, you are guaranteed to meet some interesting people who are your neighbors, at least for now.
4. You have the convenience of some business on the first and second floor, such as dry cleaners, doctors, dentists, etc. if you choose to use them.
CONs:
1. The very extensive construction is ugly, noisy, inconvenient, and is slated to go on for years. It covers the entire front of the building. Good luck finding or seeing it if you are coming to view an apartment. Good luck telling visitors how to find it if you move in. And good luck resting during the day if you're sick or teleworking over the noise or even making a phone call.
2. Rent has gone up ten percent over the last year. It would be easier to understand an increase after construction ends, but not during. So nope, no stagnant or even reasonable (that is, county recommended) increase for tearing up the building and causing a huge inconvenience to residents. Some residents even had to leave their apartments for a time due to the construction and the apartment management would not pay for it.
3. There is the pretense of security here, but not really. If you can get into the visitor's garage, which you just have to drive iinto, you can get up to where people live. If you can walk in the front door, you can get up to the apartments. There is a sign in book for visitors, but no real expectation that anyone will use it. No one stops the people walking in, which bothers me. There are access cards for various amenities, but not the elevators.
4. Utilities used to be included in the rent. Now two, gas and water, are not. However, they are not determined by how much you as an individual actually use, so there is nothing you can actually do to control your own utilitiy bills. Utilities are based on the entire building's usage and split among all residents. Your gas usage is allocated based on the square footage of your apartment. Water is determined by the number of residents in your apartment. The management removes a certain percentage of the water bill for general building usage such as irrigation and the pool, but apparently it is not enough because throughout the year, the water bill ranges from $30 to $200.
5. it takes an excessively long period of time for general usage items in the building to be fixed. There are four elevators for all residents that are about seven square feet each. One of them was recently out for almost four weeks. Every floor has a laundry room with three washers and three dryers. Two dryers and one washer on my floor are out of order. I have put in the order for repair twice in two weeks and nothing has changed. A leak in the ceiling in the lobby sat with a barrel under it for a few weeks before it was finally repaired.
So here it is. The good, the bad and the ugly.