I've been living here for a few years now, but I hesitate to recommend this to outsiders. The bottom line is that the apartments are overpriced for the services and amenities offered.
Firstly, this building is, without a doubt, the most modern, well-kept, and well presented residence I've lived in. All appliances are modern, the maintenance staff are EXCELLENT, and the grounds are always kept safe and clean.
I pay over $2K/month for a two-bedroom apartment. This would make sense in a proper metropolis, where at any point in the day, you can shop for groceries, have your pick of several restaurants, and find yourself in a bustling, lively atmosphere.
However, we live in an office park. There are a few restaurants, but most aren't open before the afternoon/evening time, and few are open on the weekends. We have a small grocery store downstairs which closes at 7:00 p.m., and which is EXTREMELY overpriced (they make Whole Foods look cheap). If you do want to go "out on the town" after 5:00 p.m., or even on a weekend, be prepared to see a total of maybe four or five people on the streets.
No matter how pretty the building itself is, the surroundings are not worth over $2K/month. Additionally, I pay SEVERAL hundred dollars annually for an "amenity fee," but the amenities themselves are often non-existant (note that parking is also an EXTRA $50/month to all these fees): the garage is always full, and outsiders claiming to "visit" residents frequently take up parking spots, making it a nightmare for residents to park in a convenient location. Residents are required to have resident stickers on their cars, and I can't tell you how many vehicles I see without these tags on a daily basis.
The front desk concierge are very friendly, and go out of their way to help you, but they are EXTREMELY understaffed, especially in the mornings...as a result, don't expect to receive your morning paper at your door until well after 9:00 a.m., long after you've already left the house. The business center printer was finally replaced after the former one fell apart months ago; however, the new printer's ink cartridge hasn't been replaced in weeks. At least one of the three treadmills in the gym has been out of order for some time now.
I absolutely agree that these are all MINOR inconveniences, but for the amount of money we spend in rent, "amenities" and parking in an otherwise-deserted neighborhood, you begin to expect much more. Every time I encounter these little inconveniences, I can't help but remmeber back to how much I agreed to pay for them...and suddenly, they become increasingly frustrating.
If you feel that these are petty concerns, and don't intend to spend a lot of time walking around the neighborhood in which you live, by all means, choose Hartford 21. However, if you expect a bustling city atmosphere, this is certainly no the place for you.