I stayed in a huge two bedroom-one den (that functioned as a third bedroom) on the 20th floor with a magnificent view of Ballston. I had my personal balcony as part of my room, and I could even see Pentagon City in the horizon. Each of my roommates and myself had our own bathrooms and the apartment was spacious enough that we had our own personal space. The living area was very comfortable and more than adequate to hold parties - we had close to 60 people over once and there were still space for more. The apartment is pretty well built -- within the apartment, noise travel even with your bedroom door closed, but I can only count twice the number of times that I heard a faint murmur of a TV being turned on in the adjacent apartment. Plus, there is a lot for guest parking after 5 pm on the weekdays and for the weekend; I don't think any of the other buildings here have this feature.

Management is very responsive - sometimes they go above and beyond. Just to name two examples: 1) We complained once that our dishwasher had a broken handle and returned home the next day to find a new dishwasher installed; 2) my roommate had water seep into her room and management reduced her rent, re-carpeted her room and bought her a new bookshelf to replace the one that was water-damaged.

The elevators, though, can be a pain -- expect to wait more than five minutes for one to open on your floor on the weekend and sometimes during the rush hour to get to work on the week days - it's been called "The Local". The water pressure was adequate, but was never that strong, and our hot water never got really, really hot as it should have. As for security, they issued these access cards last year for the parking garage and the side doors, but anyone can just walk right in and I have seen residents who forgot their access cards push open the side doors and walk in -- so, the access cards are for show and are pretty useless. At the same time, I have never, ever felt unsafe, even after coming home in the wee hours.

They have these old men at the front desk, and they can be cranky at times, but they are harmless and I think give the building character. One of them is always out to play a game of chess with you.

In total, I had a really good stay there and look back with good memories at that place, especially since the new apartment that I have now has roach problems and ventilation problems that the management can't seem to fix -- plus I am paying way more at this place than I did at Randolph Towers. So, should you give Randolph Towers a try given the above and that it is one of the cheaper apartment complex in the Ballston area' I would say a definite yes.

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