I am coming up on my 8th anniversary of living at the Aventine, formerly Park Center Apartments. I work for the government and I am not affiliated in any way with the Aventine, nor is any family member.

Some of the reviews of this place are much too negative. I have lived at two other apartment complexes in the area, EOS 21 (Oakwood Alexandria at the time I moved in) and Oakwood Falls Church, and I think that the Aventine is considerably superior to either of them, even though both have higher ratings on this web site.

As an example, the Aventine has garage parking with assigned spaces. The other two complexes both have outdoor parking with (at least when I lived there) no assigned spaces. That is, you would have to search for parking and remember where you put the car. If it snowed and you shoveled your car out, somebody would take your spot. Ugh! Yet both of these places rate higher on parking than the Aventine. This does not make sense.

The Aventine also scores poorly on noise, yet I hardly ever hear anything going on in another apartment. There is some road noise on the side of the building facing I-395, but my old apartment at EOS 21 was right next to Van Dorn Street and had even more noise.

Many other places score higher than the Aventine on safety, but why' The Aventine is in a reasonably safe area, has controlled access to both the building and the garage, and you can get to the garage without leaving the building. EOS 21 and Oakwook Falls Church score higher on safety, despite having outdoor parking with absolutely no access control.

There have been some maintenance issues over the course of the last 3 years, and the office staff is not the greatest. The building has had three owners since November 2004. The first owner originally did a good job, but got lazy when they started trying to sell the building in 2004. Monument Realty started a condo conversion, but got lazy when the sales got off to a slow start. Monument then abandoned the condo conversion and sold to the current owners in middle to late 2006. The current owners appeared to start off with inadequate knowledge of the maintenance backlog on the building, but they seem to be hitting their stride and starting to improve the building.

The apartments are large (about 950 to 1450 square feet in the main building, with large townhouses behind the swimming pool), with washers and dryers in the apartments. There is indoor parking, with access directly to the garage from the building, and controlled access to both the garage and the building. The building contains a convenience store and a gym. The building contains centralized heat, air conditioning, and hot water. This means that furnaces, air conditioners, and hot water heaters do not take up any space in the apartments, but it also means that you can't have air conditioning in one apartment and heat in another.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 12/12/2007
I fail to see how your experience at apartments 8 years ago have anything to do with the poor quality of Park Center Aventine. I must say that the maintenance has improved to a point, but there is only so much you can bandage before needing surgery. Black mold in the air vents is quite unacceptable. Being told to "wash it off" is even more unacceptable.
From: Anonymous	Date: 12/18/2007
Don't forget the rats and roaches!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, RATS!!!
From: ekm07	Date: 12/19/2007
I think it's tempting to say that the Aventine is acceptable because it is so convenient and offers spacious apartments. But, dono't be fooled. Poor maintenance, incompetent managers, rats, black mold, old, dingy appliances, and rude staff are not worth the convenience. As much as it pains me to move to a place less convenient, I know that no place I choose could be worse than the Aventine.
From: Anonymous	Date: 01/11/2008
Well said ekm07, that's it in a nutshell. And the fellow that works on the property with darker skin and a name like "simple" is very rude and has an attitude problem. I could imagine bumping into him in a dark alley one day. Personally I can't say I've ever tangled with him but witnessed his attitude towards others and have heard plenty of other stories as well. Anyone being told to deal with mold themselves should take down the name date and time of those that told you to do that. Black mold is considered so hazardous they could end up in court for asking unqualified tenants to mitigate the problem. I wonder if their insurance company is aware they are putting tenants at risk in this manner? I doubt they would like to find out about it! Insurance companies are way to familiar with losing in court over mold issues.
From: Anonymous	Date: 02/22/2008
you have mentioned parking, noise, safety, and owners are starting to improve the buildings. you commented on hvac and water not taking up space, but how are they operated and who controls it? does it work well and to satisfaction, are those costs fair? has anyone reported or requested a mold inspection from insurance? i ask these questions because i was considering moving there. i saw the construction and the leasing agent told me of the changes taking place. have you noticed any changes or differences, good or bad? thanks,

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