We lived there for one year. They are lovely apts. way too expensive. Not a very safe area. A very hispanic part of Gaithersburg. There is a really tacky convenience store in front of the same building as the apts, and we made the mistake of going in the. It was SO gross! And, you will be lucky if the cashier speaks English! Its a very trashy looking store! It really trashes the building and its a beautiful building too. We hated that they allowed these busines tenants in this building.
The one bedroom atps. are V-E-R-Y small and there is no storage unless you get the 1 bedroom with the loft, or rent a storae unit. The 2 bedroom units are gorgeous! The Management is vert good, and so is maintenance. We never had a problem there.
However, below are some very important facts that you must know about:
1. These apts. are located DIRECTLY across from the train tracks, and train station in Gaithersburg. So, you will definately hear the loud train whistle and rumbling of the train - and they go by quite often - 24 hours a day. Pay attention to the location of the apt you are looking at if that is going to bother you. The apts over the courtyard don't hear it as loud. We got used to the sound, so it didn't bother us, and my husband took the MARC train into DC everyday, so it's very convenient for commuting.
2. A very important fact that you absolutely MUST know (because the rental agent will NOT tell you) that there is no freight elevator in the building! We were NOT told this before signing the lease! Moving in and out was horrible! You have to drive a pick up truck and/or van up into the parking garage to the level where you are moving into. There is a door on every level in the garage leading to the building. NOTE: If you hire a moving company, the large moving truck will not fit in the garage as there is only a 6 ft clearance. There are two elevators in the parking garage, however, if you get caught using these elevators by the Police and/or city employee(s), you have to stop immediately, and if you are paying by the hour for movers, this will be a serious problem for you. Therefore, if you rent at Cedar Court, be prepared to spend hours and hours and hours and hours moving in, the same when moving out.
2. As mentioned above, there are busines tenants in the lower courtyard level. On some evenings and every single weekend (even in winter), several of the business tenants bring their young children to work with them, rather than leaving them at home where they belong, then turn them loose in the courtyard to play. They run around the courtyard playing, screaming and yelling from approximately 10:00 a.m. until dark and sometimes later than that! We had to go down and talk to the business owners asking them nicely to please take the kids inside. They said they had a right to be there. And, my husband had to (on many occasions) go down and shoo-away teenages jumping skateboards and playing soccer in the courtyard. It just about drove us to drink. The Police never responded to our calls for this. And, clearly, Darnstown Managment can't control the busines tenants. To allow the tacky store fronts says it all!!! Oh, and lots of traffic on Olde Towne Avenue and loud car stereos.
So, if you are sensitive to the type of disturbances mentioned above, don't rent an apt. over the courtyard.
3. These apts are not soundproofed. I don't know of any that are. We could hear the neighbors above, beside and sometimes below us, but it wasn't too bad. You get used to it. Our neighbors, however, were very nice.
4. About the parking at Cedar Court - you only get one assigned parking space and you cannot park a second car in the garage unless you buy a 2nd space. The garage is owned by the City of Gaithersburg, and you cannot park there from 3 - 5 a.m (signs posted on every level. But we never got a ticket in the year we were there with our 2nd car. However, a current tenant (and friend) just told us that the Police have been leaving tickets on cars parked overnight in the unassigned spaces, and tenants are V-E-R-Y upset about it. In addition, I found out that if you know you are going to have overnight guests, you now have to get a parking pass from the rental office (check office hours as they are not always there), and that those spaces are located on the 1st level of the garage. Therefore, you cannot have any last minute overnight guests. Most inconvenient for many of the tenants there I'm sure, especially the single ones. And note that the parking lot across the street is owned by the City as well and you will get ticketed there too.
The reason I am leaving this feedback is because it's important that renters know all the pros and cons before signing a lease as the rental agents don't always tell you everything you really need to know.
Again, they are very nice apts (management and maintenance are very good), but just way to many negatives for us. We gave it one year and moved out.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/04/2009
Wow. Thank u for the very honest review. You are too right that we need to know all of this information. I sure don't want to live there! Thank u
From: Anonymous	Date: 09/07/2009
I am from an Hispanic part of the country and as such, I think that you should evaluate your use of the term "Hispanic." Can safety be rated with imagined ethnicity?

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