Well I moved in the Central building after reading all the reviews on this site as well as interviewing my would-be neighbors. To keep it short, the residents mostly confirmed the bad reviews BUT almost all of them chalked it up to the old management company. That was enough to reassure me that things would be different.

I moved in the beginning of May 2008 and have had my share of problems with the apartment. I've had 3 separate issues with leaks but all were fixed promptly and correctly. The laundry room was out of commission for almost a month but is working fine now. I have had my AC units replaced with the new units and aside from one of them not working initially, they work great now. I haven't had a problem with the lack of hot water like some people have said... if anything, I have to worry about the water being too hot (almost scalding) when it comes out of the faucet.

All that said, I still feel that I would recommend this place (and I already have to my friends looking for apartments). The reason why is that the staff is really nice and even though they are always busy/stressed, they always make time to ensure that my problems are taken care of. The maintenance people are also knowledgeable and fix everything for the most part same day even though they are bogged down with work orders. The same with security, who actually do patrol the premises.

The hallways of Central are now all upgraded and they look really great. The old carpet was quite dingy when I moved in so this was a welcome change. The gym is pretty standard, if not slightly better than average, from all the other gyms I saw when apartment hunting. Apparently there is a martial-arts center that I have yet to check out. The convenience store is also re-opened (pretty good prices for dry cleaning). The pool is now open and the management company was able to throw a grand opening party (thanks!). There is ample open parking which is pretty well-lit. I've come home at all hours and never had a problem finding parking where I usually park.

I really can't think of a reason not to move here. I love the floorplan, I love the amenities. I thought I would have a problem with no in-unit W/D but it really hasn't been a problem considering I do laundry about twice a month anyway. The price is lower than anywhere else I've looked at nearby so I really am not complaining.

I might change my tune in the winter if the boilers go out but if they were really upgraded recently, they shouldn't. Taking cold showers is not my thing (which I had to do when the power was out for 2 days because of recent thunderstoms). I think that most of the older residents are still jaded by the old (mis)management. Newer residents will probably tell you that they have seen nothing but improvement since they have moved in. If you are on the fence about this place, I suggest at least checking it out and seeing for your self the new upgrades.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 06/24/2008
Don't worry even though it's a new management company, besides the property manager, all the other employees are the same. And they ARE as bad as everyone says. They have no idea of whats going on they just want you to sign a lease. Half the time in the laundry room most of the machines are broken and instead of replacing them they raise the price on them. Give it time you'll see what we've all been saying. The security people are worthless. They don't patrol the grounds they just sit there or they'll be outside smoking they don't even let in delivery people. Check with Arl. PD and get a crime report for the area you'll see how unsafe it really is.
From: Anonymous	Date: 07/02/2008
I wrote the review above and I have to say that I have no complaints about the employees. They've been very professional and are friendly every time I see them. They even replaced a guy who was slacking off at his job. Maybe all this change is recent but I've dealt with them since April 2008 and they've been great to work with. I think saying "most of the [laundry room] machines are broken" is exaggerating. I have noticed that the Central building laundry room machines, probably about 2 washers and 1 or 2 dryers are broken at any given time. Since total they have 10 washers and 10 dryers plus 1 heavy duty washer and 1 heavy duty dryer, it hasn't really impacted me to the point where I had to wait for a machine. True, I'm not thrilled about paying $2 to wash a load and another $2 to dry, but I'll deal with it since there really isn't anything that can be done about that. It's simply not worth fighting about a few cents difference. I have no beef with security unless it's that they're sometimes not in the office when I want to pick up a package. And that's because they say they're out patrolling. I can't verify that they actually are but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I just now called the Arlington PD (703-228-4050) and asked about 1201 South Scott Street specifically. The only thing that came up in their database was that there was an incident where someone's clothes were cut up in the laundry room a few months ago. I have never seen police cars pulled up at the building unless it's the 10 or so officers who actually live in the building and park their cruisers in the lot. To be honest, I think at least the Central building is a great place to live. Since this complex is three buildings, it could very well be that problems exist in North or South that I just don't know about. I can only speak for Central. This isn't as nice as some of the "luxury" places I've lived in but I think that this is the best deal in the area and best move I've made to date.

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