I moved out of state about 3 months ago after staying at The Benny for a year. Here's my hindsight...

PROS
- The building is very nice both inside and out
- Garage parking is a god send
- Everything is still shiny and new and works flawlessly
- The apartment interiors are stunning (I miss that attribute most of all)
- The elevators are VERY fast

CONS
- It's an apartment, so you will inevitably run across the stupid, and the dumber you are the louder you are, so you do the math
- The trains are VERY loud, but after a week I could sleep with the windows open all night

WHINE
- The dishwasher is VERY loud

SOUND INSULATION
This place is probably the best sound-insulated place going. The walls are comprised of ' drywall and ' sound board sandwiched together, and theres 3 of fiberglass batting in between, so you end up with 5 of insulation in between apartments. Ive gotta tell you, my neighbors would occasionally be SCREAMING at each other (one time lasted 3 hours!- no, I'm not kidding), but the only way I could hear them was from the sound traveling out and underneath their exterior door into the hallway and then back into my apt under MY exterior door threshold. That's how good the insulation is. The floors are concrete, of course, so I never heard anyone upstairs.

TRAIN TRAIN (Great song by Blackfoot)
With your windows closed, the train noise is almost nothing to speak of (the windows are all double-paned). However, I'm an open window kind of guy, and with the windows open you will be afraid of the trains...VERY afraid. However, in a week I was used to them and could sleep through the night with the windows open. I'd trade hearing trains over my neighbors ANY day. It's all psychological, I guess. Choose your pain.

By the way, the train traffic IS fairly heavy, and they don't stop at 9 PM. It's a 24 hour love affair- including weekends. During the day you probably won't mind them- although you MUST close your windows if you're on the phone when one goes by.

MAINTENANCE
I have had good luck w/the maintenance staff. I had them add a smoke detector and fix something minor- can't remember what. The repairs were timely (w/in 48 hours). Other than that I've had ZERO reason to call. Everything works.

LIVING IN SILVER SPRING
As for living in Silver Spring, I think its a wasteland. Everything I wanted was 20 minutes away (except for Giant, CVS, and my bank), but at least I was only 40 minutes from my true love: Annapolis. However, Im VERY picky and I think most would be quite content with what Silver Spring has to offer.

IS SILVER SPRING SAFE'
I think it is pretty safe, but Im a guy. Im not sure females would feel safe walking around at night, but I think its very safe from The Benny west on East Worst Hwy and also from East Worst to downtown Silver Sprung via Colesville Rd and even Wayne Ave (shortcut). I would say the danger zone would be Georgia Ave south and east of downtown and East Worst Hwy east of The Benny. I used to walk the entire East Worst/Colesville/Georgia/East Worst circuit as part of my daily cardio routine.

OFFICE STAFF
I had good luck w/all of them. I used email whenever possible and when a vis-a-vis was required I'd set an appointment. However, I lost a parking card and they hooked me up on the spot, so even impromptu visits were handled deftly. I'm not sure why they get such a bad rap. Of course, I'm a guy and most of the staff were pretty 20-something females, so maybe they were snooty and I just didn't notice it over all the drooling.

CONCLUSION
I'll go suicidal and throw out my eMail address to you prospects:

walkerboh2112@msn.com

I know shopping for apartments can really suck as you're making at minimum a $15,000 commitment for a year, so I will be glad to share my year of experience should you wish to ask anything of me. The Benny isn't perfect but after moving down the quality ladder and to a new city I've found a new appreciation for what I had. The grass isn't always greener.

User Responses
From: TSM43213	Date: 10/20/2005
Boy do I appreciate your comments.. I may be emailing you. Thanks!

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