I was incredibly excited to move into Sterling this year, but ended up disappointed. Upon move in, I noticed the apartment had almost no natural light or ventilation. On top of this, my bedroom had no window. I didn't expect the window to be a huge issue, but it made it difficult to spend a lot of time in my room. Additionally, our granite countertop was split in several places when we moved in. The leasing office did not want to fix our countertop because it was expensive to repair.
The maintenance staff was generally responsive, but most of the time the job was not done well. For example, we had our disposal replaced, but were left with the smell of rotting food and mildew in the apartment because they did not bother to clean up after themselves.
The roommate matching program was a joke. My roommates were on completely different schedules than mine, making it difficult to fall asleep when they wanted to stay up (especially because the walls are so thin.) I could often hear one of my roommates talking on the phone or watching Netflix because our rooms were connected through the air ducts.
Speaking of the air ducts, the air conditioning/ heating drives me insane. It is unbearably loud. It makes it impossible to watch Netflix or listen to music. On the bright side, it dampens the other noises in the apartment. I would often have to turn off the heat if I wanted to study in my room because its so irritating.
Although my room was cramped, the kitchen has plenty of cabinets and the bathrooms are large. The whole apartment feels somewhat cheaply made, but I guess you can expect that with student housing.
The company will nickel and dime you for everything they can. Despite the high prices, they make you pay for coin operated laundry. Nearly every rent payment option comes with additional fees. Parking beneath the building is $175 a month, and they require you to commit for the entire lease. Losing your key after hours will cost you $50. The workout space could not accommodate more than 2-3 people at a time, which is not nearly enough for the number of people living in the building.
The leasing office staff are very friendly and the building is in a nice neighborhood, but I would suggest looking at other apartments. Sterling comes with too many frustrations for the high prices they charge.