Apartment Review for Greenehouse Apartments

The Greenehouse apartments occupy a renovated BVD underwear factory in downtown Baltimore. The property manager, PMC, is a Pennsylvania-based company that also manages the Abell and 101 Wells in Baltimore. I had little knowledge of Baltimore when I moved here, and chose the Greenehouse because I liked the downtown location, and because I liked the style of the apartments: lofts, some of which have hardwood floors. Also, several of the comparable apartment buildings in the area did not have availability.

Although the Greenehouse, like all buildings, has strengths and weaknesses, I would have to say that overall, the weaknesses outweigh the strengths. When my lease expires, I will probably look elsewhere. I will list the strengths and weaknesses of the Greenehouse below.

STRENGTHS

(1) Style. Above all, the Greenehouse is stylish, especially for people who like a particular "rehabbed warehouse" look. There are hardwood floors, and exposed bricks and beams. (Unfortunately, all of this style comes at a high price -- please see "Noise," below.) The appearance is a welcome break from the somewhat sterile sameness of many other apartments.

(2) Price. While by no means cheap, the Greenehouse rents tend to be slightly less than the Zenith next door.

WEAKNESSES

(1) Noise, noise, noise. I cannot emphasize this enough. I have lived in apartments in several major US cities, and one city in Europe, and the Greenhouse is by far the loudest building I have ever lived in. The noise gets under your skin, and starts to affect your sleep, and your mood.

(1a) There are three primary reasons for the extreme noise level. The first is the building's location, which is essentially a "perfect storm" of decibel creation.
-- It is located on the corner of Pratt and Greene St. Pratty is merely very busy, while Greene is one of the busiest streets in the city (because it feeds directly onto the interstate). But unfortunately, that is only the beginning.
-- Across the street from the GH is the University of Maryland hospital, which has one of the largest trauma centers in the country. That means there is a constant stream of ambulances, day and night.
-- As if that were not enough, there is a major fire station two blocks away. (These facts can easily be confirmed on Google maps, for people who are so inclined.) The result is that the sirens literally never stop.
-- Finally, Camden Yards (the Orioles park) is next door, which creates as much noise and traffic as you would imagine.

(1b) The second reason for the extreme noise is the building's design. To put it bluntly, the rehab of this former factory was done quickly and "on the cheap." Attention was paid to style, but not to insulation / sound proofing. Specifically: the walls and floors are very thin. I happen to know from direct experience that there is no subflooring; in other words, your upstairs neighbor is walking on your ceiling. The result is that you can hear absolutely everything he or she does and says (I can hear telephone conversations word for word). The unfortunate problem is that solving these problems would be so expensive as to be prohibitive: basically, all of the floors and walls would have to be ripped out, insulated, and rebuilt. That's not going to happen.

(1c) Finally, the building is relatively small (6 stories), so every floor is pretty close to street level.

I live in earplugs, but it doesn't help, so be warned. My neighbors feel similarly -- it leads to a fair amount of inter-apartment strife, as you can imagine. If you think I may be overstating the problem, at least take the time interview some of the residents (preferably not in the presence of management).

(2) Location. A perfect storm of noise, as described in detail above. If you want to live downtown, I think there are convenient options that do not have quite the same noise issues.

(3) Parking. Residents use the Hilton garage, which is off-site. Not a huge deal, but obviously less convenient than on-site parking, particularly when it's raining, or you are bringing home groceries, dry cleaning, etc.

In summary, while I like the style of the Greenehouse, I would advise others to be wary. At the very least, do your due diligence, and be certain that you can tolerate the noise before you sign a lease.