I moved into the Fenestra in January because I wanted a "city" atmosphere that was close to the metro station. From the beginning, things did not go well. I have a top-floor apartment that has a jetted tub. It looks great from the outside but unfortunately, the hot water heater is not large enough to fill the tub. So I can fill the tub less then halfway, just over the jets, before the water turns cold.

My dryer takes 3 hours to dry a load of laundry. I'm not drying big blankets or anything, just a regular load from the washing machine. I complained to maintenance and they "can't find anything wrong" so I guess I just have to live with that.

The toilet clogs often for no reason. I know what you're thinking, and no, nothing "irregular" is being flushed. I suspect an installation problem because the toilet is also crooked i.e. the back of the tank is not parallel to the wall.

Part of my oven door fell off. No one has come to fix it even though I reported to problem 2 months ago.

Then there's the odor. I've heard that this occurs in certain units in all four builings. A distinct sewer odor sometime infiltrates the apartment. When I originally toured, the office gave me some bogus story about the building being unoccupied, empty traps and that they were taking care of it. THe day I moved in, everything was fine. Later that night, the smell creeped in and got so bad that my eyes started to tear up. Every time I call the office, they pretend it's the first time they've heard of it. I think that the vent lines in the building haven't been run correctly and they know they will have to break through wall to fix it. They aren't going to do that. I can guarantee that I will move out as soon as possible due to health concerns from the sewer gases. There are better places to spend your money!!!

UPDATE: Not only have none of my problems been resolved but the Fenestra has screwed me over one last time!!! I went to the office because the location is so convenient for me that I was considering renting another apartment, since it was obvious that I wasn't going to extend my lease. Then came the surprises:

#1- There is a route that the fire engines take from the nearby station. You do not want to be on this street. I was told that numerous residents had moved away from the noisy side. Imagine that! Residents were allowed to switch units due to noise, but I had to live with sewer gas for a year!

#2- I was told that since I am already a resident, I would not need to put down a deposit to hold the apartment. When I moved in, I had to pay $100 to hold my apartment until I signed the lease 2 days before I moved in. When I went back to the office, I was told that one of the apartments I was interested in was gone. Leased to someone else! So I asked them to hold the other one. The agent said he could only hold it for 48 hours. I asked if there was anything he could do. He said he would hold it for a week. Well, I got a message on my cell phone yesterday that not only had they were they not "able" to hold the apartment over the 48 hours, they had also rented that one to someone else. And there are no more 1 bedroom apartment available in the whole complex.

Now, I have always been friendly to the staff, have put up with the sewer gas and maintenance issues, have not caused any disturbance and have always paid my rent on time. There was no reason for their behavior. I plan to file a complaint with the Health department regarding the odor later this week. I hope they revoke their occupancy permit.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 06/07/2008
Could you pls let me know if any of above problems have been solved?? Are there any improvements on Mgnt, maintenance, etc..?? Thanks.
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/03/2008
I concur completely! All the problems here eminate from two things. 1) The Managment. From the moment you walk in the office, they are rude and combative ??? even if you are a potential tenant. 2) Maintenance. These are new apartments that haven't been occuppied yet and the appliances that have lots of bells-and-whistles, but run like crap. Hence LOTS of maintenance calls. My advice, don't move here. If you do, don't fight it and just fix it yourself.
From: Anonymous	Date: 02/18/2009
I should have not moved here too.

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