Lived here for 8 years now and while the previous management (Habitat Company) was not perfect, this new one (Waterton) is so much worse. We recently decided to move to a two bedroom after having lived her for so long and was told that we would be charged $2500 transfer fee! It's cheaper to move in as a new resident ($400 move in fee $100 application fee). And there is no way around it - so they said! Rent apparently is also cheaper if you just move in. Heat/Air-conditioning is now included in the bill as well as water (charged by sq.ft of your apartment) so there is no way to save money if you conserve because it's a big bill split divided by the size of your apartment. We have to use RCN since they have a contract and without competition, we have no choice in how much we pay for their services. There used to be perks for living longer (free gym membership), that's gone, although if you had it on your lease with Habitat, Waterton honors it. There used to be free guest days at the gym where you could bring a friend with you to exercise, that's no longer available. There also used to be parking vouchers you could buy for your guests so that if they visit after 7pm, they only have to pay a nominal fee for four hours of parking. Parking is tough downtown, so this was very helpful. Waterton does not offer this. Many little things were taken away along with the transfer of management. There is no longer a printer in the computer room for us to use. The magazine selection there is now a joke. The new concierge not as welcoming as the one before....little things that do make a difference - especially when you are paying more rent/utilities than before only to be getting less out of it!!!
I honestly don't know how this management office can continue to function in its current condition. The receptionist is really clueless. Management never returns calls and when you finally track them down in person (phone calls almost always never work unless you catch them there), they all offer up the same excuse ("We're very busy") without apologies. We were stood up by a manager once for a viewing and he never followed up with us. After a very frustrated and angry encounter (on my part), we finally got to view the two bedroom apartment and they waived that ridiculous transfer fee.
If you can handle bad management (you really only deal with them when you move and regarding bill payments - aka rise in prices...etc.), this building is in a very convenient location. There is on-location supermarket which is very convenient - especially during the cold Winter months. A Thai restaurant, bar, McDonalds, flower shop, cell phone shop, dry cleaners (also where you pick up packages), video rental/kiosk are all located on the first floor. Each building has it's own laundry room to share. The gym is very nice and the maintenance staff are amazing. They are prompt, very professional and friendly. We really struggled with whether we should stay here or not and I recall telling my husband, the only people I'll miss are those of the maintenance staff.
There is a wide variety of residents living here - two universities/colleges have a contract with PT and that explains the young and sometimes rowdy crowd living here. There are a lot of young couples with babies living here as well. Management would have done well to put all the students in one building or have them sectioned in certain floors because they tend to (and are entitled to) like to have parties with louder music. This becomes a problem if they are neighbors of a young family.
The biggest advice I could give to Waterton is to retrain all their staff to be friendlier and have a stronger work ethic (return calls, follow-up...etc). The common complaint I seem to hear from staff is that they deal with such a variety of resident types that it's hard to manage. That is a legitimate complaint and Waterton would do well to take note of it and get their staff trained to deal with this "problem".

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