I can't argue with any of the negative statements made in this listing. I would probably phrase them differently, of course. We moved out at the end of last year (2005). I left the day before my wife did, so she had to turn in keys, close out paperwork, and some other things. Because of the usual inefficiencies (hey, these are boring jobs, so I understand not jumping to meet everyone's needs, annoying though that may be for the renter), she ended up barely making her cab to the airport. She left a coat and scarf (both Burberry, so about $600 total) in the apartment in her hurry.

Calls to (yes) Richard and the rest of the staff resulted in permissible theft -- that is, they claimed they looked and nothing was left behind, which means that someone lifted her possessions for their own use. Keep this in mind if you move out, or even if you give these people access to your apartment for whatever reason.

As for the experience living there, I can corroborate:

* Extreme noise issues. We lived on the ninth floor (the highest floor open when we moved in) and we could easily hear not only the noise from the Irish bar across the street, but the two other bar/clubs within about 150 feet. We could hear the neighbor's bass, we could hear the crying baby across the hall, we could hear doors slamming (because there was no damping material) up and down the hall. Some of those we could deal with (our neighbor was very courteous about the bass), some we couldn't.

* Smoke and smells. This is directly related to the treatment around the doors. Smells went everywhere, but buying a HEPA filter and running it at full blast just inside the door took care of this. They're $300-400, but don't buy the Sharper Image electrostatic kind. Just trying to help those who are already stuck. :-)

* Rude staff. When we moved in, they were _great_. Warren was a great guy, and one of the few exceptions. After a while I saw people sleeping at the desk if I came in after 10pm. Richard was, again, a bit of a jerk. The desk staff lost one of our keys and accused our housekeepers of losing it -- except that they had to deposit one of their driver's licenses to get the key, and had checked it back in. Richard gave us a runaround, acted as if we had compromised the security of the building, and was in general just a twit.

* Weird layout. We couldn't open the shower door all the way because the architect or designer didn't measure how far it would swing out. Instead, the door would swing out about 2' before hitting the toilet and stopping. At least it was a Toto toilet, which is a nice touch. (And dornbracht fixtures) The 45-degree walls make it a little tough to lay out furniture, as well. They will remove the space-alien lamp for you, though.

* Don't bother with the free networking. The IS staff is inept at configuring the routers, they NAT your addresses, and in general, you're better off just using it until you can get DSL or a cable modem. It's not adequate for Vonage-style service, video, or anything but casual email and web browsing.

Other than these things, we actually liked the place quite a bit. If you have to live in the DC area, you could do a lot worse than Bethesda. We could walk to just about anything we wanted to do, from dozens of types of food in hundreds of restaurants, (Grapeseed Bistro down the block serves a great huge hunk of foie gras) a couple theaters (one alternative and one blockbuster-first-run), a great public library, a decent art supply store, the inevitable dual Starbucks, Ben & Jerry's, a great Japanese bodega, an Apple store, a Barnes & Noble, and I think you get the idea. Lots more was within short driving distance, like NM, Saks, Cartier, etc.

We moved into an unused apartment, so everything was new (including the paint on the carpet), we had a nice view out over the trees between Connecticut and Wisconsin, good light, but not quite enough closet space.

The rent was reasonable based on our prior residences (Upper East Side, Manhattan, and SOMA, San Francisco), but probably a bit high for the area. You could easily find a place in NoVA for less. Oh, and Bethesda is in Montgomery county, which charges about 3% income tax, so be careful if you think MD's low personal income tax appears attractive.

We had seriously contemplated moving up to the penthouse floor when they opened, but we knew we'd be leaving the area in a few months and I was far too lazy to deal with a 4-floor move just to avoid noisy, smelly, annoying (through no real fault of their own) neighbors. However, if you're looking at the building, I'd start there.

Oh, one more thing -- mow the bloody lawn out front from time to time, and pick up all the waste that blows onto it! Edging it occasionally wouldn't hurt, either.

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