I previously lived in a Charles E. Smith hi-rise in Arlington, but when my previous place raised the rent, I made the foolish decision to move to Rosslyn Heights. BIG mistake! The couple hundred dollars I save in rent per month are absolutely not worth it. I'm counting the days until I can move out of this dump.

Reasons NOT to live here:
1. MANAGEMENT. While they attempt to put on a friendly facade (to get you to sign a lease), their incompetence is astounding. If you need anything repaired, you'll have to visit the leasing office multiple times. Their tracking system for repairs consists of writing down the problem on the nearest piece of scrap paper and then forgetting about it. When you follow up in a couple days after it hasn't been fixed, you'll have to explain the problem to a new person who will also act out the role of writing something down. Repeat this process a several times until the entire office remembers you and gets tired of your bothering them. If you have a problem after 5:30 PM, good luck because there is no one to call. As a testament to their efficiency, after living here for FIVE MONTHS, I received a copy of my lease from the management welcoming me to my new apartment (of course, they had the wrong street address).
2. SHABBY CONDITION. After a week living here, you'll just be depressed by how run down the place is. 75% of the "Exit" signs are burned out, multiple emergency light fixtures are ripped out (leaving just wires protruding from the wall), the access system is broken most of the time (the rest of the time the gates are propped open 24/7), the appliances are old and cheap, the parking lots are pitch black at night because all the lights are burned out, and trash is strewn about the common hallways and parking garages. I had to go to Home Depot and build a replacement drainage pipe for the garage because I got tired of having my car parked in a perpetual puddle of water (the original pipe had been broken since I moved in--pieces of it strewn about the floor nearby).
3. ELEVATORS. The elevators are old, dirty, smell bad, and are broken half the time. Multiple light bulbs and panels are missing from some of them. But you do have some nice graffiti scratched into the walls to read. Occaisionally, they'll just go on autopilot. I seriously doubt they would pass a safety inspection. Good luck trying to use these to move in because they're too small to fit most furniture items in them. The elevators don't go to all the floors, so you better hope the right one arrives when you press the button.
4. OVERALL CRUMMY ATMOSPHERE. You get to retrieve your morning newspaper from a pile of a dozen other papers located in a puddle or in a mulch bed every morning. Of course, the walls and windows are super cheap, so you'll hear all your obnoxious college neighbors' activities. Residents here apparently like to have loud gatherings on their balconies after midnight and are quite fond of their booming bass systems at all hours of the day or night. Don't plan on getting much sleep on weekend nights unless you're drunk. UPS and Fedex deliveries will be stolen from your front door, but the thieves are kind enough to leave the packaging materials in the stairwells. Using shopping carts to haul your stuff around the complex is socially acceptable here.
5. LOCATION. Rosslyn sucks. You're not really close to anything. You'll feel like you're living in the neglected armpit of North Arlington. You're right in the takeoff path of jets leaving Reagan Airport so you'll be treated to the deafening roar of jet engines most days (starting at 7:00 AM).
6. PARKING. You pay $50/month to park your car in a filthy garage, but guests will have to find street parking a few blocks away. Alternatively, many people routinely park in the "No Parking--Fire Lane" areas. The handicap spots double as the all purpose truck loading/unloading area (since there is no loading dock for moving in or out).

To sum up, the management is absolutely incompetent, the structures are falling apart, and there are a lot of sketchy characters living here. If you're a normal person with a real job, spend the extra $200 and live in a decent place in Clarendon or Courthouse. I CANNOT WAIT TO MOVE OUT!

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