Review History for anonymous

Walden Park Apartments


Review Author Icon

anonymous

Resident 2011 - 2013

4/29/2013

Equity Residental/Walden Park is cheap, and you will not get what you pay for. * Price: The rent is exorbitantly high here. I moved in under previous management (Dolben) and the rent was reasonable. When Equity Residential bought the apartments rent was raised 25% and they started a bunch of useless construction projects. These did not improve any part of the apartments. They also raised the price of laundry after this change. * Condition: The apartment is only so-so. They are quite small. My 1-bedroom is ~650 sq. feet. The floors are wood but old. The walls are thin and there is constant noise. The kitchen is refurbished and nice, there isn't a lot of functional cabinet space unfortunately (i.e. no drawers to even place utensil trays). The bathroom is rather gross. The tiles and fixtures look at least 15 years old and everything is falling apart. * Safety: I would say this area is quite safe and the lighting is well maintained. Dolben had an on-site security guard, but Equity Residential got rid of him. I guess it wasn't worth their while? There are separate locks to provide access to building separate from the apartment. I feel very safe in this large brick building during the winter storms and fall hurricanes. * Amenities: Heat is provided, but this is an analog service and you can't reasonably heat your apartment as much as needed. Hot water is recurrently not available. At least once per month the hot water is out. Air conditioning units are provided in the living room and bedrooms. They are old and inefficient and expensive. Gas heats the stove which works just fine. There is 24 hour gym which is nice. The pool area is quite nice. It is not heated however. They also provide propane grills, but only within the pool area, which is open about 3 months per year. Probably because they don't want to pay for propane for the residents. * Pets: Their pet policy is very liberal and most anyone can provide for their best friend here. Unfortunately they try to get away with charging pent rent which is illegal under MA state law. The location is across the street from a dog park and they provide a basic walking area for the dogs to use. * Location: Really not that close to the T, about a 12 minute walk. Not as close as they imply. Nestled in-between two parks - enjoy this aspect. The voting location is just across the street. About a 10 minute walk from the Harvard Quad. 20 minute walk to Davis and Alewife. 30 minute walk to Harvard. This place has so much potential. Unfortunately from the moment Equity Residential bought this place they have tried to squeeze out every penny from their residents, while reducing quality, and providing close to inhabitable conditions (frequent lack of hot water). They cannot, or will not address these issues. They also frequently employ illegal practices like collecting pet rent and community fees. I'm not ever clear why anyone moves in here - maybe they've been misled. Make sure you speak with a current resident before ever considering signing a lease for this place to get the whole story.
    Manager

    8/2/2013

    Walden Park Apartments
    Thank you; we do appreciate your honest feedback, and apologize that you are dissatsifed with some aspects of our community. We work hard each day to make sure all of our residents are happy and comfortable in their homes, and we read these reviews to help us learn how we can improve. I hope you and I can work together to make things right. As for your concern about pricing, we do adjust rates to best reflect the current market value for the types of apartments available. These rates can fluctuate daily, and we do our best to communicate rate changes to residents during the renewal process. We apologize for the hot water shut offs. We have not had to shut off hot water for several months, and will do our best to prevent this from happening again. We have recently completed several projects at the community, including elevator and laundry room renovations. Thank you for your patience while we worked to make improvements to Walden Park. As for the laundry prices, I have been the manager since February 2013, and the price has remained constant since then. Please let me know if you have any further feedback. I am available to you if you would like to talk about any of the issues you've mentioned. I can be reached in the office, or at gleger@eqr.com or at (617) 868-1151. Thank you.

    Review 9 out of 44

    Share This Review

    Check Availability

    Walden Park Apartments

    March 2024

    Sun
    Mon
    Tue
    Wed
    Thu
    Fri
    Sat
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10
    11
    12
    13
    14
    15
    16
    17
    18
    19
    20
    21
    22
    23
    24
    25
    26
    27
    28
    29
    30
    Beds

    0

    Baths

    0

    Share This Review