I've lived at Perkins Park for over three years. The first two years were in
the main Hoisery building, the latter 1.5 years were in the new townhouse style
buildings on the same street. Due to work transfer, we left early. I believe
the experience between the two buildings to be much different, which I'll
explain.
First off, the style of the main building is excellent. Although greatly
modernized, many of the original factory artifacts remain. The ceilings are
probably fifteen feet tall, the walls have very large open windows. The walls
are bright, the space is open, with average (but matching) appliances to
compliment. You get the sense of openess, no clutter space. The building itself
is also very open. Even during a rainy day, you get out and stretch without
getting wet.
The main building apartments are fairly quiet, but there is some noise coming
from above and below. The ceilings are essentially bare wood, so you can see
why. The walls are two feet of solid brick. With the windows shut, you're lucky
to hear a firetruck outside. With the windows open though, there's a bit more
noise, to which I'll explain later. With a few exceptions, the apartments seem
well built. You get a "solid" feel to them.
The townhouse apartments are a different animal. These were built brand new. We
stayed in a dual level style. These are a modern style apartment, granite
countertops, imitation wood floors and matching appliances. Upstairs the
ceiling are high, but not as much as the main building. These apartments also
offer a nice patio space off of the back.
The townhouse apartments fall short though. The most obvious problem is the
noise. The building lacks sound insulation, so hearing the neighbors in all
four directions is not difficult; to the point that we could listen to other
conversations. Then there is the outside noise, which again, I'll go into
detail later. The apartments are also put together cheaply, with a number
finishing touches that were missed. To name a few: the front door wouldn't shut
unless pushed, the doorbell doesn't work, the woodwork around the entrance door
curls up, the spicket out back isn't attached correctly, the downstairs carpet
separated the first week. Before we moved in the builders marked a number of
areas that needed correction with tape, missing paint mostly. The materials
also feel cheap. The floors are a cheap imitation wood, and scratch very
easily. I've lived in many places with quality oak flooring, I've never seen
floors scratch like the ones in this apartment. The drawers in the fridge and
dishwasher do not operate properly. The kitchen sink won't drain without having
the garbade disposal running.
The space in the townhouses are not laid out well either. The downstairs has a
large open room in the center. It'd probably make a good play room for kids.
But with the number of doors and closets, it'd be tough to make a family room
or put furniture in there. We were also shown two closets in that room. One
housed the furnace, the other had a waterpipe. The waterpipe ended up being the
sprinkler system stack. Unknown until after we moved, we were locked out of
some of that closet space as a result.
For the general property between both buildings, the outside area is landscaped
nicely. There are open park style areas, with the scenic riverwalk in the
background and Lowell's canal system integrated into the area. Downtown is
about a five minue walk.
Allowing pets is a great selling point for them, and was initially the main
reason I went with Perkins. There are many dogs, and is obviously a pet
community.
The biggest issue that I had while living at Perkins Park were the outside
buildings near the complex. Directly across the street, there is a baseball
field and a college dorm. Very close by in the other direction there is a
hockey arena. The baseball field goes non stop from mid spring to mid fall. The
proximity makes the anouncer seem a bleacher away, and you can hear every
announcement clear as day. There are only so many times that I can listen to
Bon Jovi without going mad. To a lesser extent, the dorm and hockey arena also
add noise. These three buildings also add a substantial amount of pedestrian
and car traffic. Going the wrong direction on a night with a game, can mean
adding 1/2 hour to your commute.
The facility has a great number of rules and fees. They have no problem with
explaining, or charging you for these either. The base rate on the website is
one price. But if you want more storage, have a second car, pets, want to move
apartment, you name it; they'll charge you for it.
Although some of this may sound negative, the main building was not that bad.
The thick walls really blocked out the noise, so long as you don't feel the
need to open the windows (I like AC). The atmosphere, and allowing pets are
really a very nice plus for this building. For the townhomes, I wouldn't
recommend these at all. The noise and the cheap feel are not what I would
expect given the amount we paid for the home.
So overall, I'd move back into the main building...so long as I don't find
another mill complex that allows dogs.
*Rent listed below includes rent and all fees from the townhouse.