Do not move in here! Since Bainbridge took over at the start of the year, they have zero communication with residents, there's no security coming from the front desk, the community manager doesn't even work from this site, and most of the staff hired to work the concierge desk doesn't even speak English. This is a real problem since we no longer have the website Charles E. Smith provided for us to use to submit our maintenance requests online and pay our rent. I've put in several phone calls for service requests and they were never even passed along because the guy couldn't understand me, and now they don't even call up when we have visitors of food deliveries. AND, the staff didn't even tell us that we became a pet-friendly community--I had to find out through the noise of my new neighbor's barking dog night after night and by stepping in a mess in a garage one morning on my way to work. The staff still hasn't sent out any kind of notice to existing residents to address this or any issue since they took over at the start of the year! I seriously think they took over and have been on vacation ever since. Take my advice and move into a Charles E. Smith/Archstone Smith building in Crystal City if you want a well-maintained, accessible building. AVOID BAINBRIDGE LIKE THE PLAGUE!

User Responses
From: Walrus64	Date: 04/15/2008
Well, this just increases my suspicion that the recent swath of extremely negative comments about Crystal Square are coming from Charles E. Smith employees. The Bainbridge people have been working at adapting to the environment at Crystal Square, and if you ask nicely they will update you. Since the Smith people ran out the door one day(literally) leaving everyone in the lurch, and closed down the web site, Bainbridge is working on setting one up, and are supposed to have an electronic payment system set up by May. The Smith people left a shaky water system which imploded within a few weeks of their leaving, taking out two elevators, but with luck they will be up again soon. In the meantime, the security people have been learning the systems (again, no help from previous owners). The transition has been glitchy, but really not all that difficult. Everyone should just cool their jets. The place is running OK, and there is no reason to believe that within a few more months it will be as smooth as ever. Try going into the office and talking to people. Works for me.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/15/2008
I am not an employee of ANY apartment managing company. I had nothing but bad experience with the new regime. The above e-mail is obviously written by someone from Bainbridge as NO TENANT would write such comment. We all have to suffer with the new mismanagement. The elevators are broken for months. The online system was supposed to be running in April. Now, it is May. Why? What the heck is taking so long? This place is a mess ever since Bainbridge took over.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/16/2008
Yeah, that first comment is probably from a Bainbridge employee (AGAIN). My experiences with the front desk haven't been nearly as bad as the reviewer's but I am still moving out as soon as possible. Half of our elevators have been broken since February 2 and, although the signs say they are going to be fixed on the 15th of April (yesterday as of this writing), they have done NOTHING to fix them. I am moving out as soon as my lease ends because living here just isn't worth the hassle. Seriously, I'm not paying all this money to wait 5 minutes for an elevator.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/17/2008
I agree about the Elevators, But Elevator repairs don???t look easy like baking a cake. I bet they have go through Insurance, Contractors, and I bet repairing elevators are pretty pricey. I would think Arlington inspectors would need to come out and approve them to run. I think this incident with the elevators could of happen with Charles E. Smith regardless management switch over. Overall, I haven't had any bad experience with the new management.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/22/2008
The rent ahs been increased for the tenants in a range from 1% to 8% (maybe more of other unknown to me). They are providing so called flexible lease terms (rent is same for 2 months or 12 months) with the cost of rent increase to 8%. Even the building manager???s first reaction to same rent for 2 to 12 months was ???it is a mistake and new notices would be given with corrected rent???. But, Bainbridge knew what they were doing. How many salaries go up 8% a year after taxes? And this increase comes when the building has not added any amenities but lowered resident???s amenities by poor maintenance standards, two less elevators operating in building, not replacing the online services for the residents. Management sends wrong notices to tenets about not receiving their utility bills, or rent payment despite regular payment of the bills. I wish I got paid at my job to underperform. SO IT IS A MISTAKE TO EVEN CONSIDER RENTING CRYSTAL SQUARE. You better have a job that will guarantee an increase your salary by more than 10% in one year of renting the place!!!!
From: Oldguydiving	Date: 04/22/2008
I'm a 60 year old resident of Crystal Square and, having been through the 'transition, if that is what you call a mid-day Friday switch over, and am seriously concerned about the new management. Walrus64 maybe correct, the Smith folks may not have provided the smoothest transition. However, since the deal was done months in advance of the actual administrative change, Bainbridge shares some of the blame. With respect to the elevators, it is still a hassle and, in case you were wondering, being old doesn't get you anymore information. The maintenance has gone downhill. It is less convenient to request, Bainbridge has still not, and probably will not, get the online system running again, and it is not as professionally done, probably because only one of the old crew stayed on. The payment system is still manual hardcopy checks only,which is ridiculous in the 21st century. I travel frequently and am now faced with the choice of paying in advance or facing a late fee - if I get called out unexpectedly, all bets are off. Rising rents are another problem. In today's real estate market it is hard to justify increased rents. The increases suggest that Bainbridge is trying to accelerate the breakeven or perhaps just set the place up to be sold as condos.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/29/2008
I totally agree with this review. The response from "Walrus64" seems like a Bainbridge employee's response. If you buy a car, taking care of it is your responsibility. If you buy a company taking care of its employees is your responsibility. If you buy a property, taking care of it and it???s resident???s is your responsibility. I am MORE THAN SURE that Bain Bridge is experienced and had a list of ALL the amenities and MORE SO KNEW ABOUT ALL THE flaws and wear-n-tear RISKS with this old building. Bainbridge doesn't care about the current residents, they just bought the place and will run it probably like the rest of their properties. So, FIX THE BLAME and don't transfer the blame on Charles E Smith. How come I never had any issues with their management and communication style were they from MARS? Most importantly Bainbridge???s extremely poor communication skills have made them LOOSE CREDIBILITY.
From: Anonymous	Date: 04/29/2008
The sad thing for me is that I like the location - and I like my apartment. I don't doubt that I could find cheaper places but I'm comfortable enough here that I would be willing to stay. But I don't know how many more notices I can get slipped under my door. I too was a victim of the faux eviction notices (part of the problem may be putting a young girl who looks fresh out of college in charge of a large apartment community of professionals who ae are accustomed to a certain manner of operations and don't have time to deal with all this drama.) As of yesterday, water doesn't come out of my sink in the kitchen anymore. When it was warm the past two weekends it was well over 80 degrees in my apartment. I'm paying close to 2k a month to sweat to death (p.s. my utility bill damn near doubled from March to April, anyone care to explain this? This exactly known to be a month where a lot of heat is being used. How could that bill get so high out of nowhere? There needs to be more transparency in this process.) The AC needs to be fixed NOW, Washington is unconscionable when it gets warm. If they think people are mad now, just wait. The elevators have been broken forever and still not fixed (and while I feel bad for them about this - that is what insurance is for - rest assured Bainbridge isn't footing the full bill and is only using that as an excuse.) In case anyone was unsure how unhappy the residents are, take an elevator ride down to the G2 level where disgruntled residents have keyed scratches into the walls that read "FIX THE ELEVATORS NOW" in large letters followed by "YES." Getting an elevator if you are at the lowest or highest levels (G3 or PH) will take quite some time. God forbid you are actually carrying in groceries making more than one trip. You could be there all day. I thought the old management team were liars and horrible to deal with. But at least the building was run well. I live here, and can assure everyone that all the above statements by others are true. Just sit in the elevator (if you can get one) and talk to people. You'll find very upset tenants.
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/09/2008
I agree that Bainbridge management of Crystal Square has been terrible. It is bad to the point that I suspect that their intention is to get current tenants to move out so they can get new tenants in at higher rents. If our lease wasn't up soon we would probably break it. But we will move out, and it is unfortunate since the location is great.

Your thoughts? Post a response to this review. Display my response: with my username anonymously Responses appear below reviews and one response per user is permitted.

   Free estimates on moving trucks      Find apartment share/roommates