I'll get into details later, but in summary: yes there are a few problems with this apartment building, but I would say overall that the positives far outweigh the negatives. I can safely say that this was my favorite apartment building in Arlington, and I have no qualms whatsoever about recommending it to friends. I just did, in fact, and when he asked about the negative ratings at this site I was surprised, checked it out, and decided to put up a post to balance out some of the angry people who have posted lately.

Ok, so let me start with the downsides.
1) If you rent a 1BR, you only get 1 decal to park in the parking lots, and well I was too cheap to buy a space in the garage (I forget how much it was a month). I never had problem finding parking on the streets, but I did have my license plates stolen, which was annoying. But not really the building's problem, I don't know of any other buildings that give 2 or more decals for a 1BR.
2) The rent increased our last year there. It was a bit much ($1300) for a 1BR, even with the luxury amenities.
3) The gym has good cardio, but not much in the way of weights.
4) No pets unless you have a medical reason (which includes companion animals for anxiety or depression - I did research :).

Now with the plus sides.
1) The front desk was impressive, they were very friendly and most of them had worked there for a long time and could answer my questions immediately. Pretty much every time I came by for a package there was at least 1 tenant just leaning on the desk and chatting with them (grandmothers, students, whomever), and I saw several times that the people with disabilities who were waiting to be picked up by those special vans were given special attention and help by them even if the front desk was busy. They remembered me after about 2 times, and they didn't have to be reminded of my apt number after that when I went to get packages or with a complaint. Pretty impressive considering how many people live there!

2) The apartment was really spacious, and we had all-new carpeting when we moved in.

3) We didn't complain much, but when we did, Maintenance fixed everything we asked about right away, and well. 1 time they saw something else when they came in and fixed it too even though we hadn't mentioned it. Kind of cool.

4) Luxury amenities including *impressive granite fountain when you first walk in that impressed all my visistors with how posh my apt building was :), *pool, *onsite hair salon with massage service, *convenience store (that is open early in the morning and late at night, has great prices, and has the sweetest Indian couple who are more than happy to fill special requests - those 2 get big credit, they work really hard!), *gameroom with pool tables and foosball, *nice gym with good cardio equipment (1 of the ellipticals was being cranky, but they got it fixed when I complained at the front desk), *basketball/ volleyball courts, *WASHER/DRYER in each unit!!!, and *playground.

5) Most of the people who live there have lived there for years - one of the front desk workers said that she had lived her whole life there! - so it's a pretty stable community. I kind of wonder why they haven't gone condo or co-op, since then they could keep out some of the problem people (who all seem to have found their way to this site, oddly enough! :) but I don't know much about how that works.

6) I very rarely heard any noise from another apt. Very quiet.

Anyway, as I said, this was a really good place to live, and I have no qualms whatsoever about recommending it to my friends. So long as you are not criminal or inclined to be abusive or have wild parties, you should be fine in this building, and really enjoy your time there. I know we did!

User Responses
From: GougingHater	Date: 12/19/2008
I agree with most everything, but there are some things that are negative that neeeded/need to be mentioned. One, there is'nt any basketball court, so why say that there is? Two, the surrounding area is exceedingly noisy , with two large high rise buildings be erected on the South West side of the Bld, and another on the West side. Inspite of this, and the deep recession, I am paying only 4% lower than the "Market" listing, and I have lived here for 4 years now. Two years ago my rent went up over 9.5%. I believe that the 50-56% that would recommend the Bld, is a farily good idea of how good it is over all. It should also be mentioned that it is not near a Subway, which means more money, and time for transit/transfer. Lastly, one should consider oneself lucky if one parks on Jefferson St. @ nite and only have your tags taken. The cars are frequently vandalized by gang bangers that live in units across the street. I had a friend park there, and I dont typically have visitors, his car was spray painted, my girlfriend parked there, her window was smashed. If you drive by Jefferson St. uphill from the Bld, you will frequently see broken car window glass all over the street. This I tell you is a FACT. The Street desperately needs a Street Light, it's very dark there, and pedestrians make easy prey by thieves/muggers/punks/vandals ad nauseam. Finally, the tow truck driver is a lunatic, he almost hit me speeding around the parking lot with his lights out @ 11:O1 pm. I guess he was in a hurry to tow since it was 6O seconds after permit allows, but that is no excuse for driving recklessly. I told the management, and they were not very responsive.
From: Anonymous	Date: 12/19/2008
I live in this building as well and you've hit every point 100%. I posted earlier, but you nailed it. Thanks for bringing the rating to where it should be.
From: Anonymous	Date: 12/23/2008
Thanks for the information. I'm considering this place but I have a concern about the guest parking situation. I think it??????s a bit absurd to pay $5 even if your guest is only staying for a few hours. The vandalism on S. Jefferson also concerns me. Are there any other alternatives besides paying $5 or parking on Jefferson? I'm not too familiar with the area but I know there's a shopping center near by... do you know if they tow if you were to leave a car there overnight? This place seems good otherwise, just the guest parking situation really bugs me!
From: tentaculistic	Date: 12/26/2008
You only pay after 11 pm. Otherwise it is free to park there all day. And ok, here's the trick, always be friendly with the front desk staff, and you'll find that sometimes they will waive the payment requirement (but it depends on if the mgr is there or not). There is also a covered access-controlled garage on the property that you can pay to park in... however, I don't remember how much it was since I didn't go with that option. As to towing, I have gotten away with it on *many* occasions, but let me tell you, getting towed twice at $100 a pop kind of nullified all the times I got away with it :) Oh, and by the way, I *think* the more bedrooms you rent, the more parking passes you get. So 1BR gets 1 pass, 2BR gets 2 passes, etc. You can easily call up Wildwood Plaza and ask that question, they have 24-hour concierge service. Oh, and one last thing my husband reminded me about - FREE UTILITIES! That's one thing that's hard about our new condo, is now we have to be aware of how much energy we are using, and we have another bill to worry about. Having everything included was pretty sweet, and helps explain the kinda high price of the apt.
From: Anonymous	Date: 12/29/2008
Before you get too overjoyed about the ample parking I suggest you turn your attention to the building going up next door on Columbia Pike. If you notice, the architect DID NOT leave adequate room for their tenants???????????? parking. So guess where those people will be parking? And, if you think that's not the case, check out the far end of the parking lot about 4pm and you'll see the construction workers trampling over the flowers and landscape coming into Wildwood Park to get their cars. Obviously they have been given permission to park and I'm sure a deal will be made to "lease' spaces to the condo tenants AND their guests, which means an upcoming parking headache for Wildwood tenants. Gouging is so right about the tow driver situation. I've come into the parking lot at 10:45pm to see them already hooking cars up. I come home regularly about the time towing begins and I've seen some shocking things. I saw him do some sort of damage to a vehicle one evening and just take off. One night he was driving off with a car and a couple ran out, stopped him, (obvious) money changed hands and the car was released. Mgmt is lax about a lot things but I think the tow situation is one of the worst. Also, there is high turnover of the front desk. There are a few staple employees but others are gone in 5 seconds. Not sure how long before that becomes an issue. The new security staff is more visible and that's one big plus. I should add, just because you take issue with things that don't work correctly in an apartment you pay for, does not make you a problem tenant to be somehow weeded out. When you pay for something you earn the right to voice your opinion and experiences.

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