I lived in River Towers from January 2001 until August 2005. I thought the residence overall was very good the first two years or so, but it has been declining. Originally the place was very clean and the building and grounds kept up well. You walked in and the place looked cared for and the desk personnel were people you knew. When things needed fixed, they responded quickly and things were fixed.
Then two things happened: Coliseum Lofts opened on Broad Street about two years ago, and the students moved out and what was walking around on the streets outside moved in. That's when a lot began declining: now there were guys with bottles in brown paper bags, young adult men in and out all night, people you didn't feel quite as comfortable with manning the front desk and more turnover in desk personnel, graffiti scratched into elevator walls, vandalism such as lobby area bathroom door pulled off hinges, shelf pulled off wall, knobs pulled off TV... The second thing that happened was they changed maintenance companies. They still fixed things relatively quickly but nothing is fixed right...the guy comes in and does his work, but if he fixed an electrical outlet he'd forget to put the faceplate back on, if he fixed a toilet that wouldn't stop running and when he was done it only flushed half way, if he fixed a leaking faucet he surrounded the area with about a gallon of sealant smeared on very messily and quite a sight. Once he had to get behind the wall to fix a pipe...he left a piece of cardboard over the spot rather than re-do the tile over the space...etc. The elevators they spent about eighteen months re-doing run very little better.
The neighborhood around River Towers is composed largely of people who don't respect themselves, their property, or others, and it is a dangerous place. I was warned not to count too heavily on the secured parking being a safety feature...that criminals liked to go over the fence, hide behind the car, and attack people who were completely unaware because they thought they were safe. I do know the fence around the parking lot was easy to get into, as I watched residents who forgot their electronic passes simply step onto the stair railing, then the top of the fence, and hop over.
Overall I did enjoy my residence there. There were many friendly people, and once you got inside the doors you felt relatively safe. I would recommend River Towers conditionally - it's probably one of the better of the lower priced residences. And River Towers certainly has potential - it is in a convenient location and they did re-decorate and re-do all the hall areas and they looked really nice. But they will have to beef up lighting, hire a competent maintenance crew, and seriously address security concerns around the building as well as inside (vandalism issues) before they escalate, and before they have a really nice place again.

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