I have lived here for five years, in the last 18 months it has really deteriorated and we are moving as soon as our lease is up, which unfortunately is in a few months. I wish it were tomorrow!

Here are my comments on this apartment.

The Cons:
1. The building is infested with black mold. This week the interior paint crew removed all the wallpaper from my hallway, and every 10-15 feet gigantic areas of black mold was on the gypsum wall board (this was down the entire hallway). Instead of removing and replacing the moldy areas the paint crew just spackled over it and prepped it to be painted. I took several pictures of it, including right at the point of where the crew was spackling over a particularly large moldy area. (pictures are uploaded)

2. The exterior facade construction is extremely noisy! I work from home and I get to hear saws, and hammering on the concrete balconies all day long. Noise cancelling headphones do not cut it. So my livelihood is endangered because I cannot concentrate on my work during my workday.

3. The air conditioning has never worked since I lived here, but as I like it warm and like having the windows open most of the time it has never been too big of an issue, however if you like it cooler than 80 degrees in your apartment and like to have lower humidity levels than outside, this place is not for you.

4. Hot water is an issue - we just do not get it between the hours of 10pm to 7am.
.4a. Our kitchen sink hot water regularly will not top 95 degrees F, so it is almost impossible to get a good wash on handwashed dishes. I always use the heat booster on the dishwasher to get hotter water.
.4b. The bathrooms also do not get hot water from 10pm to 7am. This is particularly difficult since my husband and I shower usually during the times when hot water is not present in our bathrooms. My husband will often go weeks without a hot shower during the work week b/c he has to shower before leaving for work is anywhere between 5am to 7am. Way before the hot water starts showing up in his bathroom. I have made several complaints and maintenance requests - I am usually told they are working on the valves... It is an old building but before the current ownership/management this was never an issue. We had ample hot water and water pressure in the first 3-1/2 years of living here.

5. The garbage is not taken care of as often as it used to be. So the garage always stinks.

6. Front desk attendants are not 24hours like the call waiting message tells prospective renters, same goes with the updated and state of the art gym. The treadmills are the same ones when I moved in 5 years ago.

7. Crime is increasing. If we had 24 hour front desk service it be a means of monitoring the grounds more.

8. Dog waste is everywhere. On the grass, in the hallways, elevator lobbies - residents are not being responsible and since management does not inforce or monitor the issue, the smell continues to get worse.

9. The walls between apartments are very thin. Sound attenuation is minimal, but the worse situation is that smells from your neighbors also infiltrate into your apartment. We had a smoker neighbor for awhile and through the winter had to always keep a window cracked to because her smoke came into our apartment, so bad we could tell when she lit up a new cigarette because of the heightened smell of smoke. This being said, I do not hold much store in the walls between the apartments being very fire proof.

10. This building is a firetrap. The fire alarms are always going off, middle of the night, mid-day, 2-3 times a week. I live on the first floor so I have a secondary exit, but I would really hate to be on any other floor as there is a point where you just quit paying attention to the fire alarms. The fire stairs are compromised by inadequate doors in that not all levers work, not all closers work.

Pros:
1. Location

2. Size of Apartments and having a double oven in the kitchen.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 11/04/2009
I don't live on your floor, but saw several large molded areas that were painted over instead of being cleaned also! We have the same issues with the water not being warm enough to perpare a baby bottle in the morning,which is insane! The last 4 times I have seen fire trucks outside of my building the alarm was never going off and as of yesterday the painters had plastic bags taped securely over top of the smoke detectors in the hallway which HAS to be some kind of code violation! I have been here only a couple of years and don't have one single neighbor I can identify that has been here since I moved in. They have all left and been replaced by less than desireable neighbors who hang out in the hallway, yelling at each other all night from down the hall from one another, slam their doors MANY times all night long. It is really a changing environment and not in a good way. I have also seen grafitti showing up in the elevators which concerns me. I guess I would be glad to have your cigarette smoke problem since what I get is Marijuana smoke....no, the leasing office doesn't help, they say it is not their problem. They suggested that I confront the noisy group of thugs discussing who is drinking what in my hallway in the middle of the night rather than calling the tenant themselves and asking them to keep it down. DON'T MOVE HERE!!!!
From: Anonymous	Date: 11/04/2009
I saw the mold on my floor and noticed that they did not remove it as well, just painted and spackled over it. For Anonymous 1, I think the neighbor situation is going to get alot worse. They are now offering deals on CraigsList, a one bedroom for $1100. http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/apa/1447791489.html I pay about $300 more for my one bedroom, so everyone who received rent increases and parking fees, is subsidizing these new tenants. A new neighbor just moved in and has the music cranked late at night and early in the morning. One of the advantages was the balconies, which are very nice and large. They said they were going to hold off on construction until after summer, but they started in August and we have been denied access to our own balconies ever since. The construction was only supposed to last 2 months but now they are talking about February. It makes the fire trap situation worse now because the windows and the balconies are sealed while the construction takes place. It is going to be a vicious cycle that will make things worse since the quality of the new tenants and the deals they are getting are going to drive the stable, established tenants, who are not getting any deals, out.
From: pca1990	Date: 11/08/2009
Worry less about the mold in the hallways and more about the mold in the bathrooms! I am constantly treating my bathroom tile with mold cleaner. Also the negative air vents above the tubs are so filled with the stuff they are frequently blocked! When I sprayed them, the stuff came down by the pound!

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