Let me just say, that we're seriously considering leaving this facility when our lease expires at the end of the year. There's a lot of problems here:

1) Just over a month after moving in (so we couldn't leave), my vehicle was broken into. My leasing agent called (not even someone in management) to let me know, and I requested that they call the police for me since I was at work. They refused, so I had to leave work to assess the situation. As I began to fill out my police report, I had many questions, which my leasing agent was unable to answer. I asked to speak to the build manager, who then gave me very useless answers. Specifically, they were unable to provide video footage from the event, and even went as far as saying that there are no cameras facing the garage entrances, only 2 of the entry doors for pedestrians. They immediately stated that they had no liability. When I questioned them about installing a low cost camera on the garage, they said they would take it under consideration but nothing has been done, and it's been 6 months. They have no interest in providing security here. Additionally, they kept telling me to use my "renter's insurance" for stolen items in my car, and I had to keep reminding them that my renter's insurance didn't cover the audio system in it (and I have EXCELLENT insurance). Keep in mind that I pay $300/mo for this underground parking, and they're not even willing to secure it, take any liability, or offer me a discount, comp, or apology.

2) Residents must be lazy, because they are always leaving their trash in the garbage shoot room (which is about 3 square feet in size) rather than opening up the shoot and disposing of their garbage. This ends up stinking up the entire floor, and makes it very unpleasurable to throw out our own trash. Repeated attempts to bring this to management's attention seems to have annoyed them... Apparently I'm just suppose to deal with it.

3) Either concierge, or the dry cleaning company they use (SOMA Cleaners) has lost about 15 items of clothing. Neither will take responsibility for it. Estimated value of the clothing is over $2000. Now I have to take my clothing to a dry cleaner some distance away, rather than use the only service concierge actually provides.

4) Every apartment has fiber optic connections in a closet, but AT&T Internet is not "fiber speeds". It is rediculous that my "AT&T SBC Yahoo! DSL over Fiber" is only 6Mbits, and goes down frequently enough. Before I even moved here (8 months ago) I was getting 8Mbits with Comcast, which often bursted to over 12Mbits. Now Comcast has 12Mbits by DEFAULT! AT&T has no upgrade planned this year (according to the many calls I've made, and the building management has been of no help). Top this off with the fact that I MUST have an AT&T phone line as well! Haha! I have fiber optic drops in my apartment, but I must still sign up for a phone line to have this fake DSL connection. So my "internet" costs are over $60/mo.

5) AT&T's television offering is even more rediculous. The building has chosen the AT&T/DirecTV partnership, which means that AT&T resells DirecTV service. There is a DirecTV dish on the roof, which gets piped into the fiber optics in the building. We do NOT qualify for DirecTV's normal television and web promotions. AT&T has a monopoly on the building, so there is no way to get Comcast digital cable here at all. Thus, to get a BASIC television package (non-digital) it costs over $55/mo. Digital television costs the FULL price and you must use rented converter boxes. If you do wish to use your own, you must buy a destacker (1 tuner = $65, 2 tuner = $150) in ADDITION to the cost of buying your own box. Then there's additional $6/mo rental charges for the encryption card. They did not provide a DVR for a long time, although apparently they do offer ONE now, nor do they provide HD. HD is not a premium/luxury feature apparently! I get 5 channels over the air from an antenna IN my unit on the other side of my apartment. The leasing agent, and building management, touted this fiber optics as a huge benefit and FEATURE! They said only the premium buildings had it, and being a technology person myself, I believed it. It sounded great. Little did we realize that our phone, television, and internet costs a TON more than unmonopolized buildings (almost twice the cost per month) for about HALF THE FEATURES! Slow internet, reduces television offerings, no PVR or HD, no promotions, and a FORCED telephone line (we have no need for a home line, with 3 mobile phones)!

6) Almost immediately after we moved in, our apartment had several maintenance problems. There was a crack in one of our floor to ceiling glass windows, that maintenance decided was too costly to replace (we put our TV nearby so we didn't have to look at it. Our sink had broken plastic attachments. Some of the wood trim was broken (and looked like it was from IKEA). After many calls, they finally came to fix the problems. The problems were never actually fixed. They keep resurfacing, so they must just keep "patching" them, instead of actually replacing the parts.

7) Outside doors are left open by residents, but concierge does not routinely make rounds to close them. Couldn't they have installed an alarm or sensor to detect when these doors are open' They do it for most badge controlled areas, so why can't they make this a part of the concierge regimen' We don't feel safe, especially after our vehicle was broken into (at our expense).

CONCLUSION:

This residency is NOT luxury, no matter what is advertised, or what they tell you. Don't get conned into coming here. You'll pay a premium to get screwed! I have stayed silent for many months, in hopes that management would change and be courteous and solve these problems. Since they've refused to address these issues, I felt it was necessary to bring the facts and create a review. AVOID this place at all costs.

I'd be happy to field additional questions or concerns.

-Kevin

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 06/20/2007
We will definately not be renewing our lease here. Total JOKE!! The Television service alone is enough to make me want to break the lease. If you pay 2 months of rent to them, they will let you out. Seriously, they bill the buildings as the first buildings in the city to be wired with Fiber Optics and yet they can't even provide a 10 year old technology like HD DVR's. Staff is rude. The weird rubber wood flooring in the units has a sticky film on it to make it water proof and it doesn't come off. Your feet stick to it. If you wear shoes on it, they leave a print that you have to scrub off. forget wearing socks on it, it pulls all of the lint off it that sticks to the surface. DO NOT RENT HERE>
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/07/2007
These reviews are 100% accurate-- do not rent here!
From: Anonymous	Date: 08/11/2007
Thank god, I heard the truth before committing based on their false marketing. So any recommendations for a decent 1BR luxury apartment in Mi.Bay/SoBe area?
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/05/2007
I agree..this place sucks...We should all get together and file a law suit!

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