Review for River Place West Apartments

The building stinks, noise carries through the floors and among the units easily. We used to have an issue with cockroaches but it looks like management has increased their efforts in fighting roaches. Not yet successful, but they are trying.

Iwo Jima memorial band starts practicing at 7 am from Memorial Day through Labor Day every Tuesday. Then it performs on Tuesday nights. So, don t plan on having a nice peace and quiet on Tuesday mornings or evenings during the summer. My windows are facing the memorial and it is a share torture on Tuesday.

My downstairs neighbors fight a lot, and smoke a lot. So there we are on the floor above them sniffing on the second hand smoke and listening to incessant quarrels until 1 am.

New management is awful. I don t know who was there before I have been living here since March 2006 but they are awful. The cute signs that they hang around the building are written in a patronizing and oftentimes scolding manner like we are a bunch of 6-year-olds. Management ladies are also very nosy. I had my air filters changed twice now and every time the manager comes in, she is loud and has no idea about boundaries and privacy.

There is absolutely no parking for visitors anywhere at Riverplace. There are 500 units in each building (50 units per floor x 10 floors) = 500. Times 4 buildings = 2,000 units at the Riverplace development. And absolutely no visitor parking! And that is right in the heart of Rosslyn where parking is already so bad!

I had a friend come over to my unit to pick up a monitor once. She parked by the curb in front of the lobby with her emergency lights on. She ran upstairs got the monitor and then came downstairs. Her car got booted and the security guard gave her a $25 ticket.

On the ticket he wrote that the car was parked for less than 3 minutes!! And still charged $25! We went to the New Management office to complain on Monday (since this happened on a Memorial Day Monday and everyone was closed) and all we got was more loud and obnoxious management ladies scolding my guest and myself for stopping by the curb to pick up a monitor. In a nutshell, humiliated and still without our $25, we did not achieve anything.

Moving in and out of the building is a major ordeal. You have to make an elevator deposit ($100) and have to have one of the management ladies write you a handwritten note. If you don t use the elevator but still want to use the loading/unloading dock, you must get a management permission first, otherwise your moving truck we get a boot and you will get ripped off by another $25 parking fine.

The vents do not carry any air. They are gross. I removed a cover grid from mine and noticed that the vent chutes have not been cleaned for years (probably since the building renovation in the 80 s). The units themselves are old (never mind that my 1-bedroom is only 513 square feet). They were remodeled in the 80-s; so the carpets, windows, appliances, and cabinets are all in a dire condition. The bathtub sliding doors were so disgusting that I had to pay my own money to replace them. And the heating/cooling units rattle as they have outlived their useful life. So get some heavy dumbbells to put on top of the heating/cooling grids, otherwise you won t be able to fall asleep.

There are only 3 elevators for the whole building (and they are decent) but there are no freight elevators (one of the elevators simply has metal doors instead of wood, but it s the same size as the other two). So if you have large sofas or bulky armchairs be prepared to haul them to the 6th floor on foot!

No washers/dryers. I think this applies to both apartments and condos alike. The entire 500-apartment building does its laundry downstairs in a laundry room. There are probably no more than 2 dozen washers and maybe a dozen and a half dryers downstairs. A few times I had to wait in line to do my laundry during the day. Don t even think about doing your laundry at night or on a Sunday (any time) as all of the washers/dryers would probably be in use.

The property is generally clean. Looks old of course, but at least it is clean. I hear the maintenance man vacuum the hallways periodically. Another nice feature the mail. The front desk is open until at least 10-11 pm daily, so your packages can be retrieved at any time (in case you are working late).

Location of course is great. But then remember this is Rosslyn. It s a cement box. There is no entertainment here at night and all places typically close by 5-6 pm (with the exception of Chipotle open until 10 pm daily) and Cosi (I think that one is open until 11?) In any case, if you want to chill out in a coffee shop after work or simply enjoy a nice meal, it s not going to be happening in Rosslyn within walking distance form your Riverplace apartment. It would either be in Clarendon (or beyond) or Georgetown.

One nice thing there is a CVS within walking distance, so that helps a lot when you don t feel like driving to Target.

In any case - I can t wait to move out. The summer is finally here and I am actively searching for a new place.