I lived in the Westpark for over six years, but moved out for life-change reasons about a year ago. Here's my honest take:

First, the good:

Overall, the building is an excellent value. Pricing is competitive for the area, and the location can't be beat. It's a few blocks from Dupont Circle, right on the edge of Rock Creek Park and the P Street bridge into Georgetown. You can't find a better location in the center of the city. You walk out your door and you're a few steps from everywhere.

The rooms are of a reasonable size and maintained reasonably well. Mechanical and water problems are extremely rare. Although there are occasional fumbles, my experience was that maintenance problems were generally fixed within a day, and often within the hour.

The building is fairly safe for the center city. 24-hour staff discourage malingerers, and break-ins were very rare. There were a few theft incidents over the years I was there, but all the incidents I am aware of resulted from people not locking their deadbolts.

Overall, the halls and property are well-kept, perhaps not meticulously, but well enough that the property always felt tidy. In all my time there, I never experienced roaches, mice, or any other kind of vermin.

Most rooms have balconies, and the views to the north and west are really pleasant (the south is ok if you're high, but basically faces onto an alleyway).

Now, the bad:

The building is incredibly noisy. The windows and walls are very thin, and you will hear your neighbors (and even smell them) every day. Seven different garbage trucks service the buildings connecting to the back alley six days a week, very early in the morning. All sides of the building are surrounded by nightclubs. Do not choose to live here if you are at all sensitive to sound.

The building staff was once superb, but had become more surly in recent years. I never had a problem with the staff, who were mostly pleasant to me, but I noticed quite a few arguments with more difficult residents.

Speaking of more difficult residents, while most residents were pleasant, there were a significant number of "entitled rich kids" as well as some truly odd birds living in the building. They tended to make unreasonable demands and get nasty about little things. I suspect that partly explains the lower ratings on this site for a generally well-run building.

The laundry room needed daily cleanings, and got only weekly cleanings. It also had a long-term drainage problem, but I think this was resolved.

Parking is costly and you must wait on a list for a space. But this is par for the course in this expensive area. As an aside, I can't see why a resident of Dupont Circle would want a car -- they're more hassle than they're worth here and you can get a zipcar or flexcar at any time.

The building is an ugly concrete block, typical for the area. And while there is a nice rooftop swimming pool, there is no gym.

Overall, a recommendable place, particularly for single 20-somethings. I greatly enjoyed living there, depsite the few downsides.

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