My story.... I moved in Fall 2007. When I moved in I was excited to be in an upper floor with a nice skyline view. Unfortunately the building next door, Ivy Tower Condos (27 floor condo building) went up RIGHT next door so if you're facing southeast (half of the building) you now look into a construction site (don't open the windows, your apartment will fill with dust. I know that's not the fault of the management, but thought I'd point it out. I would not have taken a unit on this side. I'll go Pros and Cons and try to be objective as possible:

Pros:

- Nice (on the northwest side of the building) views.
- Convenient location (on skyway)
- Relatively cheap compared to similar units in other downtown metros the size of MPLS
- Paid heat and AC (but by AC the coolest it gets a unit is 73-74ish, don't expect a thermostat, it's on or off-but free)

Cons:

- Old appliances (they'll replace if you complain 10 times). The "Washer\Dryer In-Unit" is a game. The washer\dryer is one unit, cool right' No... plan on a normal 45 minute dry cycle to take 90-120 minutes in the thing, and only does about 1/3 the clothes of a normal washer\dryer. Wait till you see the electric bill running that thing! If you complain they'll replace it with a newer one, but it's a patch job... nothing more.

- Parking is ridiculous... I think the ramp is a kid's science project, most bizarre way to make a parking ramp. Not sure how else to explain it other than check it out.

- Maintenance ... usually takes 2-3 times to get something right, or tell you it can't be righted. I complained about the AC several times and they ignored and finally I had a candid conversation with the maintenance man and he admitted it was just a bad building to AC and on a hot day I'd have to live with 77 or 78 inside, but "it'll feel cool compared to outside" ... nice.

- Property Management... here's the story... when I moved in Archstone (a fairly well known luxury apartment management company on the west coast) had just purchased this building. Unfortunately, I think they found themselves into a building that was beyond repair, so after owning it for less than a year they sold it to Waterton Residential in February 2007. Waterton says they're going to make the repairs but they seem to be slow (and how do you think they're going to pay for them' lock in your rent then RAISE RAISE RAISE at renewal).

- ELEVATORS ... ding ding ding (or lack thereof). This one is the spoiler more than anything else I've said. I moved to Symphony Place Apartments in October 2006 and in the almost a year @ Symphony Place I can honestly say there was never a time when three of the three elevators were operational simultaneously ...

#1 - THREE elevators in a 26 story building is insufficient as it is, but that's how it was built and can't change that, but be aware.

#2 - Property management locks down elevators for moves, even when only two are operational, leaving hundreds and hundreds of apartments ONE elevator to come in and out in. The past week there has only been one operational elevator. The other day when I went to work I waited 27 minutes for the elevator to come to my floor. Last night I waited 19 minutes. This evening when I got home from work it took an elevator 18 minutes to come to the FIRST FLOOR and then there were 15 people crammed into it. I believe the max occupancy sign said 13 max... there's a code violation. Most buildings would consider elevators crucial to the building, not here. I even posed the question why they don't bring in a company who doesn't take 6 weeks to repair an elevator when they break down... they say it just takes that long. Right, when a building with ONE elevator has a dead elevator they can find a same-day repair but this place cant' $$$$$

When it comes down to it, if these issues had been presented to me to begin with option of moving in or not, clearly I would make the same decision. I'd even go so far as to say if my rent was HALF it wouldn't be worth dealing with the issues here... mainly the elevators. I'm normally not one to complain, but downtown living comes at a cost premium, and if you pay a premium you should get a premium, or an acceptable value, neither of which Symphony Place would be.

Read into the review what you want knowing that when I moved in I loved it and it looked great and I'm fairly unbiased as I've lived in really nice places and really dumpy ones too.

Good luck with your apartment search....

User Responses
From: blaaast77	Date: 07/16/2007
100% agree with the above post. I was there almost 3 years, and it got progressively worse. The only good thing about it was the location (walk to work), but thats about it. ---- and ----- made it somewhat better - thats all. Dealing with the management was absolutely ridiculous - no matter what you do, they would not turn the air-conditioners on, and you couldn't open the windows because you had HCMC right next door, so pretty much all through the night you'd hear sirens wailing, especially if you have an infant sleeping. The elevators are another story - I felt unsafe in them most of the time - they were fixing them most of the time. I wrote e-mails and letters and what not to the management, and the "regional manager" or whatever she was, ------- - wonder what they were paying her - she seemed like she was out of the freezer (cold!). And when it came time to pay rent, they were OH SO PUNCTUAL about it. Even a day late and they would charge you - no excuses, even if you have been paying for the past 2 years without miss. I would not recommend that place to anyone unless your company is paying for it, and you don't have to deal with the crap. I have to say that as long as it was with Oakwood, the management was good and prompt. Since then, its been totally *beep*!
From: Anonymous	Date: 10/02/2007
Oh that's nothing!! Me, my husband, in-laws and two other gentle men got stuck in the elevator one night. Well so we pick up the emergency phone in the elevator and try to call -----. Well now they have a new and great policy where after 6pm they do not have to answer the phones. Well guess where the emergency phone rang to!! Yep, that's right...right to ----- who did not have to answer it!!! For someone is severly clasterphobic this was not a good scene. We tried ringing the emergency button but that to fell on deaf ears so we kept trying the phone hopeing that just maybe he would notice something wasn't right. Well a couple hours later the men in the elevator were able to pry the doors open and we finally able to get out!!! The best part was when I told this to ---- the next day she said oh yeah someone else got stuck in the very same elevator!! Well isn't that just great...you would have thought management would have done something to begain with but no. And even after we wrote to them and made a phone call we it still fell on deaf ears!! We never even got an apology. So needless to say I stick to the stairs now more often than not and I am on a very high floor. The elevators are just one of many problems there!! If it wasn't for ---- we probally would have been gone a year ago. She is the only nice, honest person there.

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