Archstone Watertown Square first opened in the last quarter of 2004, and I moved in February of 2005. The prices here may be pricey (>$1600 for a 1-bdrm), but the service is impeccable. I have lived in a LOT of places in the boston area (allston, brighton, brookline, quincy, braintree) - and this place is LIGHT YEARS ahead of all of them in service.

The interiors are high quality, with granite countertops, nice wood cabinets, tile floors, and stainless steel appliances. All units have very large picture windows, letting in lots of sunlight. The walls are sound-proofed - VERY hard to find around here. I never hear my neighbors at all unless you count someone upstairs with a subwoofer blasting the music and even then I can only hear the faintest of booms. The only noise you can really hear comes from the front doors to the units which allow hallway noises to come through. The units are also prewired for broadband connections along with several in-wall ethernet ports. You can easily set up a wireless network from the box in your closet, as well as enable all of the ethernet ports for easy connections to a desktop or two.

The service is completely faultless. Any complaint that you have is taken care of in a very quick and courteous fashion. The people working in the leasing office as well as the maintenance guys here are all awesome and take care of your every need. Packages are delivered to the office, locked securely in a room, and you can even view on a flat screen in the mail room if you have a package or not.

One example of the service here - when there was a plumbing problem resulting in flooding, Archstone promptly took care of the problem and paid for hotel stay for the inhabitants. I've heard of a lot worse treatment at other supposedly "luxury" apartment complexes. The underground parking garage was leaving concrete dust on the cars parked there - they scheduled a day to have the entire garage cleaned.

The only complaint that I would make (and it's not really Archstone's fault) is that a large majority of the inhabitants are rich, spoiled college students who oftentimes have no regard for the rules. The garbage chute rooms on every floor oftentimes have pizza boxes and other trash laying around, because people are too lazy to take the time to put it down the chute (if you take the time to take your garbage down the hall and into the room, what's another 2 seconds to open up the chute and dump the garbage away'!). I do have to say though that the garbage that is left out there is always promptly cleared out. Also, the guest parking lot out back is often full, becuase many of the students here get lazy and even though they have an underground parking garage, choose to park in the guest lot since it's quicker to get to. Management has taken steps to solve this issue, but until the towing is enforced, parking in the back lot will always be tough to find.

The downstairs lobby is gorgeous - with frosted glass walls and contemporary furnishings. There is always soft music playing as well as beautiful modern fresh floral arrangements every week. The fitness room is great - all the equipment is good quality and have sizable LCD screens. There is also a media room and a screening room as well.

In addition, the location is great. Right across the street from the Watertown Yard bus stop, which has express buses going downtown and lots of other destinations. Close to many restaurants, a very nice park with tennis courts and basketball courts, and stores, it's very convenient to get to wherever you need to go.

Also, it's pet-friendly. The management took the time to replace the carpets in the elevators with tile flooring after several pet accidents in there (what other place would do this)' You do have to pay pet rent, but considering the messes pets can make, it's worth it.

The price is expensive - I'm paying $1910 plus $100 pet rent for a 942-sq ft 1 bdrm unit, but it's so worth it for the effortless lifestyle and convenience.

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