I have lived in the Trolley Square West Building for about half a year. I read the apartment ratings reviews before moving in, but (assumingly) like most people do, I largely ignored them - acknowledging that every place has its problems and that people who take time to write an online review are probably only doing so because they are unhappy with something. I will try to touch on every thing mentioned thus far (both positive and negative), also while sharing my own experience. I know it's long, but I hope you will read it to gain a far insight to living at Trolley Square.

As mentioned in previous posts, the location is really its selling point. It is located right by VCU, which, as a student, is a huge convenience. It is also close to a lot of things to do, and I hardly find myself driving. The Shockoe Slip/Botton is a good walk (1 mile to the Slip, 2 to the Bottom) but isn't bad (to me, at least). Parking down there (especially on weekends) can be hard so a mile walk isn't too bad. I only drive whenever I have to go to the West End, which isn't often.

Parking spaces are $60-65 per spot. As a student I obviously can't afford that, so I find myself resorting to street parking. Most of the parking around is two-hour parking, but there are some blocks of 24 hour parking. The spots fill up pretty quickly, especially when VCU is in session, but I don't drive much so I never really have a problem.

The apartments themselves aren't bad. They have a good amount of open space, and are fairly inexpensive. Having AC and heat included (well, more on this later) is a plus - I definitely appreciate not worrying about how much heat/AC I use, and instead focusing on what is comfortable.

As far as roaches are concerned, yes - this building has them. I wouldn't wholly attribute this to the apartment; Richmond is an old, urban city, and I have seen roaches and rats on the streets so I wouldn't say it's all their fault. However, the building isn't taken care of very well so that definitely contributes to the problem. They occasionally have pest control come and spray your kitchen; it doesn't help at all. Based on my experience with management, I'm guessing they just hired the cheapest exterminator so they can say they "do something" about it, but whatever they're doing doesn't help. With that said, if you leave food out anywhere, you're gonna have roaches. I keep my apartment as clean as possible and wash all dishes immediately to minimize roaches. It doesn't completely get rid of them, but it helps tremendously.

When I first moved in, they were in the middle of replacing both elevators. It took forever, but they are finally fixed. They break fairly often, but usually one of them is working at all times so it's not much more than an inconvenience.

The staff (short version): They pretend to care, but they don't.

The staff (long version): When I was checking out apartments, Judy (who you will likely deal with) told me that ALL utilities were included. I waited to move in until July, and when I showed up to sign my lease I was told only electricity and gas were included, and that I was required to pay water, sewer, and trash. Her response to me bringing up her promise: "I don't know why I would have said that". This is pretty much what they say to everything. Of course, by this time I was starting school in a month and had no other real options, so I asked the manager (Craig) how much water was for 2 people in a 1 bed room apartment was. He told me that no one has ever paid over $36. This was an annoyance, but there wasn't really anything I could do about it, so I went into the lease. I have yet to receive a utilities bill for less than $50. His excuse' "I don't know why I would have said that, it's always around $52."

Essentially, they will lie to get you in your lease. Is $52 a HUGE deal' Not really, but the point is that they will lie about anything, so who knows what else they will lie about. I recently spoke with my neighbor, and they also told her water was included. They are dishonest. My advice is to clarify everything, and get things in writing.

The staff is extremely cheerful, and they make you feel like they care about you. They don't. They don't really have to, either, because they know that due to their location, they will always be able to lease their apartments.

Despite the staff being dishonest and uncaring, the maintenance are quite the opposite. They have a sincere desire to help you out, and get to know you on a personal basis. Now, when you file complaints at the main office, they supposedly fill out work orders, but I have spoken to maintenance and they rarely receive the work orders I file (some over three times). When you have a problem, don't even bother going to the office - just go straight to maintenance. They will help you out immediately on what they can. Bigger things (ie: we have a leak above our shower) never get fixed. I don't think maintenance can do anything big like this without going through management, and of course management could care less about its tenants.

When the staff needs something from you, they don't bother to talk to you face-to-face; they just slip notes under your door. It's very unfriendly-like, and they only bother coming to you if they have a problem about something - they never come when YOU have a problem.

Some things that are annoying: the gas stoves suck. They often leak gas. There is on-site laundry, but you have to put money on cards to use it. The washers are really small so you will pay multiple times for large loads. There are also no dishwashers, so be prepared to do all your dishes by hand. Water is never hot in the morning...get used to luke warm showers!

The other tenants are generally disrespectful. They draw on the walls and elevators and leave trash about, and since there are no management stationed at the West building, it often goes long amounts of time before anything is cleaned up.

Sometimes you can hear your neighbors, but people seem to be quiet, for the most part. I've heard our neighbors fighting, and you can occasionally hear music. I hear more when I'm out in the hallways than in my apartment. The same thing can be said for smell - yes, you can smell when your neighbors cook. But like I said, it's pretty limited to the hallways, and how much time do you spend in the hallways'

The amenities are okay. Basically, everything is located in the East building which can be a hassle. The copier broke after a couple months and they have yet to fix it. There is a rooftop pool on both buildings, but the West one has broken since I moved in, and the East one is too small to occupy everyone.

They recently partnered with Comcast to bring you cable "included" in your rent (read: they just bill you for cable instead of Comcast). Comcast has long neglected their service, due in part to their monopoly in the Richmond metro; Verizon will be moving to this area and since most people would have gotten rid of Comcast's lackluster service - and thus, a partnership was formed. I think it's required for new leases, but they post notes all over the building trying to convince existing tenants to sign up. They are worded in such a way that most of the tenants (largely non-English speaking) think that they'll get it for free and are tricked into paying more.

Something someone mentioned in a previous post is spot-on: they are so concerned with getting new tenants, they don't care about their existing tenants. The apartments themselves are okay, but the staff is the reason I will not be renewing my lease and I would not recommend this to anyone else.

Look elsewhere.

User Responses
From: Anonymous	Date: 01/25/2009
new name- Colonial Reserve same dump.
From: trolltrolltrolley	Date: 03/20/2009
totally freaking agree. A bunch of liars and dispectful staffs. However, the maintenance people are quite nice and polite and I am assuming that they are nice and kind to people because the management people treat them as badly as they treat us, hence they feel our gripes.

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