Review History for MaldenCenter

Pleasant Plaza


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MaldenCenter

Resident 2005 - 2009

1/13/2011

***UPDATE 2011 - I NO LONGER RECOMMEND THIS BUILDING. I WILL POST A SEARATE,NEW REVIEW*** Let me mention some good stuff first: The brand new, gorgeous Malden YMCA is 1 block up the street. Everything is walkable--Stop & Shop, CVS, Blockbuster, pizza/Italian/Chinese/Applebee's, ice cream parlor, Dunkin', bowling, post office, park, playground, T & commuter rail, 3 quite nice restaurants... all of those are within a 5-minute walk of the building. There are new benches outside in the private plaza area, and many residents like to sit and chat there. Until a couple of months ago, we had a different building manager, Dianne. As the other reviews mentioned, she could be kind of tough, but she was a nice person. She knew all the tenant's names, and their kids' names. She even kept the baby pictures on a board in her office and had candies for the kids. But now we have a new building manager, Sara. Lots of reviews have talked about this. It's a disaster. She is seriously one of the rudest people I've ever encountered in a professional setting--let alone in residential management. One of my neighbors is convinced she must have been a corrections officer in the past. I have no idea if she completely lacks manners or if she just refuses to display them around anyone who lives here. It's pretty clear that she hates us. I can't imagine she'll be here long, so don't be too scared off. :-) This is a very friendly building where lots of the neighbors sit and talk, and you will see the tenants with kids, whose kids are playing together. And lately, *everyone* is talking about Sara, and *nobody* seems to have had any kind of encounter with her that could be described as positive. It has only been a few weeks since she arrived, and she has already eliminated visitor parking, even though some of the longer residents have visitor parking in their leases, and despite the fact that this neighborhood is ineligible for Malden resident parking stickers *and* all of the local lots and garages tow cars left overnight. So it's a big deal to eliminate visitor parking. But Sara did it by giving everyone about 2 days' notice, via a note stuffed under our doors. She didn't even bother to write it in complete sentences. It was full of mysterious rules, like "Homemakers will no longer be allowed to park in the garage." So either she hates stay-at-home moms or she doesn't know what homemakers are. One way or the other, you can start to get the picture... She also does really ill-planned things like leaving a note outside our doors after 8:00 PM informing us that there will be no water the following morning. How many people do you think found that note on their way out to work the next morning--furious, frustrated, and unbathed! Our old manager, Dianne, always announced these things up to a week in advance, and posted extra notices in the elevators, at the security desk, and above the mailboxes. Maintenance has always tended to be slow here, which I think lies with the manager, and not with the maintenance staff. When maintenance comes to your unit, they are super professional and nice. Same goes for outside contractors who occasionally have to come in for something or other. Since Sara came though, you have to go in the office and beg to get your maintenance request attended to. Some people have said the lobby/interior are not well maintained. I think that's not correct. They just don't have new furniture. But they are clean and orderly. The aquarium, for example, is always crystal clear, and the floors definitely get cleaned every weekday. Also, some posters have said the security staff doesn't make you feel safe, or something like that. Honestly, I'm not sure what they mean. True, there are no muscle men on the security staff. But everyone for the past several years on security has been very, very nice. There are definitely some residents who come from countries where they lived a wealthy lifestyle with servants. Maybe they think the front desk security should come and fix their kitchen drain, or whatever, after hours. It's just a culture clash. The security staff is definitely friendly and polite by New England standards. Apartments are pretty soundproof from each other. You might hear water running in another apartment, but you won't hear anyone's TV or conversation. You do hear downtown noise if your windows are open--especially from midnight until 2 a.m. from Hugh O'Neil's Pub down the street. Unfortunately, those patrons are very loud, very drunk, and there are frequent fights on Fri/Sat nights, often with the police responding. This is a bigger issue on the front-facing side of the building. Laundry machines were replaces a couple years ago--front loading, high efficiency. One laundry room per floor. I wish it were in-unit, but it usually works out okay. Closet space is quite decent. Closet doors are crummy and tend to get unhinged. Heat/AC is strong, but you can't pick which you get. 6/15-9/15 is A/C. The rest of the year it's heat. Most years, April to mid-June can be quite stuffy in the apartments. You can turn the heat off, of course, but you can't get any cool air. A few times, there have been pest issues. Those have been dealt with aggressively. Compared to my old apartment in the Fenway, it is nothing! The indoor pool is usually a nice temperature. The gym is popular with a lot of residents. If you're health-conscious, it's great! There's even a sauna in each dressing room (men/women), although I never notice anyone using it. The community room is pretty late-'80s, but it's big enough, and it's pretty convenient for birthday parties or other get-togethers. It has a complete galley kitchen. Summary: Apart from the manager, Pleasant Plaza is actually a pleasant place to live.

    Review 14 out of 42

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