I lived in the Drake for one year. The front desk staff new my name and were very helpful whenever I had a problem. You can't beat the location...walking distance to the Blue (6 blocks) and Orange (3-4 blocks) Lines, Rittenhouse Square (3 blocks), Walnut Street (4 blocks) and Broad Stret (1 longish block). The Rental Office was a pleasure to work with. Jonathan was amazingly helpful, especially when I had to break my lease early (because I was moving out of the city for my job) and he found someone to take my place before the lease was up.

My only complaints were about the management staff. I checked a box in the lease saying I wanted to be notified if anyone was going to enter the apartment. When I commented on the initial condition of the apartment that the (original) window screens stick a little (they weren't broken), they automatically put in a work order to fix it and I came home to a notice that maintenance had been in the apartment. It was cleared up with a letter to management. If you read your lease and pay attention to deadlines, you won't have any problems.

Parking: There are several parking garages very close by (including across the street), but these cost about $200.00 per month. Parking on the street is very difficult. Welcome to Philadelphia.

If you want to get your security deposit back, here is what I did: I spakled the nail and screw holes and cleaned the place. I got my entire security deposit back.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 08/15/2009
Sadly there are significant problems in this building. It has the potential to be a fantastic place to live. It has unique decor, the benefit of a gym, great location, non-cookie-cutter apartments, etc. I'm sure at one time it was, but certainly not recently. There is a bug issue in apartments as well as common areas. The hallways, floors, walls, ceilings in the common areas (at least some floors) are in dire need of a makeover. Peeling paint, wallpaper and mildew isn't on par with this building. The laundry room has become a recent disgrace, with frequently broken machines, flooding on the floor and bugs. Something is also wrong with the plumbing in about 50% of the apartments. And let's not forget about the walls. If you're looking for privacy this is not the place for you. There are some staff members that are lovely, but there are some that are rude. The daytime weekday attendant is nice. However the weekday evening attendant can be nasty and rude. I've overheard her making inappropriately rude comments to residents,complaining about people with packages and arguing with residents who have a late-night problem and request an emergency visit from maintenance. I've seen this on more than one occasion. Perhaps she's annoyed that someone is disrupting her cell phone calls. The weekend attendants are much nicer. The maintenance guys are very, very nice, though I did overhear one telling another resident that the only cockroach must have been in her apartment because there aren't any on other floors or other locations. The management and leasing staff can be very unprofessional and rude as well. It depends who you deal with. The woman who leases on the weekends really has it made. She sits almost all day in the lobby people watching and complaining and gossiping about residents or getting up to show apartments to possible new residents. Isn't that her job? I mean, the getting up to show apartments part. There is so much denial by key staff members of the problems in the building that it makes you think they live in a bubble. They certainly don't live here.

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