Good and disappointing at the same time
From:
-Anonymous-
Date posted:
9/27/2002
Years at this apartment:
2001
-
2002
I dont blame the management working here for all the problems. I hold the corporation owning the building responsible: American Rental Management Company in St. Charles, Maryland. Im sure their instructions to the management are to spend the absolute minimum. THE ELEVATORS. There are four elevators. Routinely, one, two, even three of the four are out of operation. Theyre allegedly being "fixed." The "repairs" have been going on for months with no apparent improvements. If this was an office building, the owners would have been fined for neglect. Elevator doors are filthy. In one elevator, the larger one on the R Street side, there are permanently in place worn-out, old quilted coverings that constantly fall on you when riding up and down. THE HALLWAYS. The maintenance crew do the bare minimum cleaning of this very large building. There is very little cleaning on weekends -- when the building seems to get the most littered. I don't hold the maintenance and cleaning staff to blame. I think they do the best they can. I suspect the management company in Maryland keeps a tight lid on the number of people who can be employed to provide basic maintenace. Hallway carpets are permanently dirty notwithstanding daily, weekday-only vacuum cleaning. So the carpets, not worn but stained, are overdue for replacement. APARTMENT COSTS. Apartments are overpriced, given the condition of the building, and are oddly designed. THE UNITS. Plain, simple, in decent shape, some with great views. The layout is odd however. APARTMENT MAINTENANCE. The air conditioning units in the apartments are incapable of keeping the humidity of Washingtons steamy out of the apartments, so you go from being too cold and clammy to steamy and clammy. I compared notes with neighbors about the AC and learned I was far from the only one with this problem. When I asked a maintainence guy about this to look at my AC, he told me to keep my bathroom and kitchen vents on instead! But, I must admit, whenever I had any problems -- always minor -- they were taken care of that day. Neighbors in the building told me the staff was not so attentive to them, but that's not been my experience. You have the option of having your apartment sprayed for insects once a year, or you can opt out, if that makes you feel environmentally or otherwise uncomfortable. FRONT DOOR STAFF. The front door guards vary in friendliness and that's okay. The exterior walls of the front entrance way need cleaning. THE LAUNDRY ROOM. The laundry room is often dirty with driers that take your money and then dont work at all or dont fully dry your clothes. When I asked for a rebate for lost money and ask to have machines fixed, I never got a reimbursement. It can be weeks before the machines are fixed. The management does not post signs when machines are out of order. Also, there are not enough machines given the size of the building (300 apartments, approximayely 500 residents). VERMIN! I knew of a first floor apartment that had a rat in the kitchen! Insects sometimes infest apartments located near the trash rooms. HOW DO THE OWNERS GET AWAY WITH THIS' The Chastleton is in the middle of prime Dupont Circle real estate. They justify recent rent increases because of the local market. Didnt help that the new apartment building across the street rents apartment for $2,500 to $7,500. But then, that building is run like a five star hotel, has spectacular apartments and impressive kitchens while the Chastleton feels like it has seen much better days, and the owners of the building could care less. NEIGHBORHOOD SAFETY. Its a city. In the best neighborhoods you still have creeps walking around with guns day and night. Still, earlier this year, two women let a couple of guys into the building who then followed them to their apartment, assaulted and robbed the women at gunpoint. We still have naieve 20-somethings here who think theyre in cozy, safe suburbs and lack street smarts. PARKING. Limited spaces behind the building in a secure area at $120 a pop, I heard. (I don't own a car). Parking on the streets is very tight and a nightmare on weekends when suburbanites flood the area for nightlife. Tell your friends to be patient and keep circling. OUR GREAT NEIGHBORHOOD. What you cannot beat is the easy access to a Fresh Fields supermarket (and a terrible Safeway and even worse CVS on 17th Street with indifferent employees), a great hardware store, dry cleaners, restaurants, movie theatres, bars, cafes and the Metro, DCs subway system. There's a bus stop for buses to and from downtown directly in front of the building. Taxis are easily hailed outside the building. We're near Rock Creek Park, not far from all the Smithsonian Museums. In short, there are a million positive things about living in this neighborhood. Too bad the Chastleton isn't in a bit better shape AND HAD RELIABLE ELEVATORS.
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