There are pluses and minus to the units at 4701 Willard Ave. The apartments are quite spacious and have a generous amount of large closets. My unit which is a two bedroom with a den (not renovated) has 3 very large walk in closets, plus many other closets. This is unusual in comparison to other buildings in the area. The living area and bedrooms are generous in size.Hardwood flooring in all rooms which is very nice compared to other building which have wall to wall carpet. I have found when I put in a request for a repair the staff has been courteous and quick to respond. I understand there is going to be renovations to the building(new gym,lounge area, office center) and there has been work on the infrastructure of the building but from what I can see 4701 Willard looks as if it had been neglected and not updated in a long time and I can understand how the new management needs to do this. The location of the building is wonderful with a short walk to grocery stores, restaurants and shopping. There is also some nice walking trails very close. The metro is two blocks away which is great.
The negatives though do exist in this building. The design layout of the majority of units have dining rooms and kitchens with no natural light, no windows. It is dreary and depressing. Even in the newly renovated units in the dining room the new light fixture is not adequate for the amount of light a room with no window needs--same goes for the kitchens(windowless in most units). The new light fixture is cheap and small and a design flaw in a room without natural light. Hall ways and foyers are have inadequate lighting in the units.
There is an inadequate amount of washers/dryers in the laundry rooms on each floor for the amount of apartments on each floor. This leads to a lot of problems when trying to do laundry, machines are always in use and there can be hours of wait time to get your laundry done. In comparison with apartments in the same price range in more modern updated buildings the units have washer/dryers in individual apartments. For me this is a big negative. At least have more laundry machines per floor.
If you live in the front of the building the traffic noise is very very loud and CONSTANT. Willard Ave is a popular cut through, so it is a very noisy building --all day and night.