We moved recently to Philly. First had to overcome sticker shock of the appalling maintenance for the price of the apartments.

As many have pointed out, Sterling offers more spacious units for the price. Also location is very central.

However, that's where the good stuff ends.


Also there is a lot of road noise (emergency vehicles etc), but having lived in a large city earlier, we expected that anyways. What we never expected was the amount of elevator noise. Especially Elevator #3 & #4 are VERY noisy. Be careful not to take any #1 units (601..2701 etc) or else be prepared to hear the rushing elevators at all hours of the day and night.

Air conditioning is central, which means the max cooling is set by the apartment. To save costs they set the temperature at levels that make you sweat in the blistering heat of summer. (Their logic is that most residents are out from 8-5 so the temperature is raised - but what about those who work from home , or are at home for a day or two'')

Security is a sham. There are guards sitting at the desk all the time, but they will not stop a burglar if he walked out with a refrigerator!

Room condition is terrible - maintenance is poor. Carpets were serverly stained when we moved in and the roof had water leak spots.

This is the first apartment with W/D that I have seen where the Dryer heat is let back into the room. Imagine the sweat chamber it creates in the closet in summer.

The same for kitchen exhaust. There is an opening in the kitchen and batchroom that supposedly lets the air out through a common duct. However it is so ineffective that we end up opening our window and pointing a floor fan outwards to let the smoke out of the apartment.

I must note however, that there are maintenance folks on 24hr duty. Some of the guys are good.

Bottom line: Management is so pathetic that nothing else really makes up for the poor experience. I wish I'd read these reviews before moving in here. Now I have to put up in this hell hole until I graduate from school.

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