I moved into 1 Franklintown in 1999, into a 1BR/1BA unit which I loved. The front desk staff were terrific, management was attentive and friendly, and the amenities (specifically, the gym, pool, and jacuzzi) were immaculately kept. When my fiancee moved in one year later, we upgraded to a 2BR/2BA full-city view on a high floor, and were very happy. Many Philly sports celebrities (Duce Staley, Allen Iverson) either stayed there during the season, or paid for their close relatives to stay there.

Unfortunately, by the time my fiancee and I bought a house in the suburbs and moved out (9/2003), 1 Franklintown had dropped *fast*. In 2001, management used a cheap excuse ("fraternizing with tenants" -- i.e., one of the front desk staff accepted an invitation to attend a party at a tenant's apartment after her shift) to gut almost all of the front desk staff; these wonderful people were replaced with self-absorbed, unfriendly, sloth-like (and presumably much, much cheaper) staff. The management team itself also shifted, and by the time we left, the building's management team consisted primarily of one profoundly mean red-headed woman (who started screaming at me when I dared to ask her, and volunteered to pay for, a replacement key to my apartment), and an effeminate man whose narcissistic presence almost palpably exuded the words, "YOU ARE BENEATH ME! I AM A SUPERIOR ENTITY!" (I kept looking for the copy of "Dianetics" on his desk...) Maintenance was friendly, but took *forever* to fix even the slightest problem. In the summer of 2002 they changed the air conditioners -- what a nightmare! I was sweating for days. Add to that the fact that in the 2001-2002 winter, the fire alarm trigger at least 3 false alarms, all of which required all the tenants to huddle in the lobby for 1-2 hours.

Simultaneously, the quality of amenities dropped through the floor. The jacuzzi was never cleaned, and worked less than half the time. It literally had a "ring" around it... ugh. The pool itself was often closed, and the last summer I was there, the temperature of the (allegedly) heated pool was either around zero Kelvin, or in close proximity to the temperature at the surface of the sun. The men's steamroom worked very, very rarely. The sauna worked, but that's probably only because it's hard to screw-up a concept as simple as heated rocks.

Overall, it used to be a great property; but now, management doesn't care and I think there's a lot better value between Center City and the Art Museum District.

User Responses
From: keepitreally	Date: 02/23/2006
Starting our search and this write-up is wonderful. Thank you, where ever you may be, for taking the time to explain your history regarding this apartment faculity. It has made a BIG difference in our decision. WE WILL NOT BE RENTING HERE.

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