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A honest look at this building
From:
-Anonymous-
Date posted:
2/20/2005
Years at this apartment:
2004
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2005
4 responses
While overall this is a good building to live in, there are things that the other reviewers did not mention.
The Good and Bad of Building Features & Amenities:
The amenties are better than in other buildings in the city. The gym is small but has enough equipment to satisfy your fitness needs. The shuttle van is for the most part reliable but often late and crowded in the morning. Friendly, helpful concierge/doormen. The cab light is a great feature when it's cold outside. Free laundry on each floor is an added convenience.
The Good - Apartment Features:
I have a lot of space in my studio apartment and plenty of closets. There is also a walk in closet in the front of the apartment that is great for storage. Neutral, new carpet and walls. Great views of downtown and south Philadelphia.
The Bad:
Soaring electric rates; during the winter, my electric bill has averaged $100 and that's without me being in my apartment most of the time. I have friends who live in other buildings who keep their computers on all day and their heat on all day and their electric bill is lower than mine and I try to use the minimum electricity I can.
If you like taking warm showers, this is not the building for you. I have an old water heater that does not work properly. At most, I get lukewarm water from my pipes when the hot water knob is turned. Even after repeated complaints and repair requests, the maintenance men look at it and says that it is working fine even though I barely have warm water. It got so bad in Decemeber that I had boil water to add to what was coming out so I could take a warm bath.
The heat in the building is non-existent. I have been told that the way the heating units work is that there is an internal thermostat that is set to 70 degrees. Once the heat being blown out reaches 70 degrees, the unit starts blowing out cool air. And that's in the middle of winter when it's below 0 outside. So you have cool air being blown into an already cold apartment. Does that make sense you' It doesn't to me either but to the management of the building, it makes perfect sense.
The worse windows I have ever dealt with. The windows are very drafty. To make matters worse, the entire wall are all windows. Therefore, you are only getting the cold air from outside in your apartment in the winter and the hot air in the summer. The windows offer no form or fashion of insulation. Even after "sealing" the windows, as the maintenance men and management like to call it, there is no difference made.
The other major problem that has occured is that not only do the windows allow cold air in, they also allow a lot of noise in. I am on a high floor, >greater than 15 stories, and I can hear every car sound, every dog barking from the street, not to mention the garbage truck that comes at 3:15 every morning.
And after repeated complaints to the management, nothing is done. So the bottom line is if you like to be freeze in your own apartment and pay astronomical electric bills, then this is the building for you. If you want your quality of life to be better than mediocracy, then this is not the place for you.
Overall: A good building with obvious problems that aren't going to be fixed any time soon.
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User Responses
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From:
jakephish
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Date:
03/15/2005
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You're living in a big city dude. This is by far one of the classiest buildings that has graduate school aged people in it. yeah, you could definately find places that fixed your problems (none of which i have experienced, the shower works beautifully and the windows are gorgeous . I totally agree that the electricity is high, but high-rise buildings in the city pay prices to match, and its not like this place is the one jacking up the fees, thats PECO's job. Anycase, i'd gladly live in a place staffed by nice peoplewho try hard, and come home to a beautiful view every day. Its expensive to live in a nice place. if you'd rather live in a super-efficient cheapo place, with sound proof walls go right ahead, but this place makes me more and more happy every day. You gotta realize that you're in a city man, cities make sounds the way theyr'e supposed to. trash truck has to do its job, and it cant do it when poeple are trying to get places during the day. think about it, this place has minimal issues. i dare you to find anything better around here. the people I meet in the elevators are wonderful. its close to the two places I travel between frequently: rittenhouse/walnut st area and penn, and i'm in no way bothered by the trivial things
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From:
Coeus
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Date:
03/21/2005
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I live in the same building in a one bedroom apartment and being on the process of writing my thesis proposal, I tend to spend 4 days a week at home. Still, I did not get any electricity bills that exceeded 80 dollars (even during the period when Philadelphia recorded record lows around -15 celcius). I would think that even 80 dollars is high but its not the building its PECO. Possibly one way to fix the problem is to fix the only unsatisfactory aspect of the building: bad windows and consequently very bad heat isolation.
The location is perfect, the tenants are good and I have never had a problem that did not get fixed in the same day that I reported it.
I am planning to stay in the building as long as I am supposed to be in the vicinity of Penn.
My
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From:
blackandblue
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Date:
04/10/2005
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Everyone has their opinion and each tenant is going to have a different view of things. This person has obviously had problems and when compared to other buildings, it's average. Nothing really special that makes it stand out except for the people that staff the lobby.
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From:
ScaredOfPhilly
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Date:
09/28/2006
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I only have two fears- have you seen any roaches and/or mice?
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Disclaimer: No attempt has been made to verify or assure the accuracy of the claims made by the author of this opinion or responses. You must judge the truthfulness of any review and accept responsibility for your use of this information.
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