Apartment Reviews for Riverhouse - Arlington

They will raise your rent well over a $100.00 each year! until you reach $200.00 or more. Old building well keep, great service but just to high for such an old building. You can get a new apartment on Pentagon Row, The Metropliation with washer and dryers, control your own a/c for a few dollars more. I don't think your rent should be raised that much each year. My apartment still had the 1950's old bathroom cracked tile, stained bathtub. <P>

The Riverhouse apartments are so convenient to so many things! Having moved to Arlington from Northern NJ, we were used to having everything within a 5 minute drive. Now we have everything within a 5 minute walk. The apartments are adjacent to a supermarket, across the street from a pharmacy, 2 blocks from a Metro stop, across from 15 or so restaurants, and of course a step away from a huge shopping mall. The building itself is very well maintained, very clean, and very quiet (at least on the 4th floor). There is a modern gym with weight machines, treadmills, stairmasters, etc. which can get crowded during peak times. The pool is quite large and there is never a problem finding a washer/dryer in the laundry room. Security presence is always felt. There is electronic key access to the building for residents. The drycleaner on the premises accepts all of your Fedex/UPS packages and leaves you a note under the door to come pick them up. The roof has an observation/sun deck which has great views of the Pentagon/Washington Memorial/Capitol. Regan National Airport is 10 minutes away. Overall, renting here has been wonderful and well worth more than the rent we pay! <P>

If you think about it Mr. Stupid/Anonymous it is the most educated place to live if you have done you research. Old Ugly, smelly is the way you made it get over youself and try saying somthing nice for a change or move out .xoxoxo <P>

My husband and I have lived in the James building for 3 years and we absolutely love it here. Great view, excellent location, awesome neighborhood. The rent is reasonable when you think of proximity and convenience - and it's half the price of surrounding apartments. It would be nice if they enforced towing though...A lot of people who do not live here take up all the parking spaces to walk over to the mall or restaurants. Other than that, the Riverhouse is a wonderful place to live. We would buy our apartment in a heartbeat if Riverhouse were not rent-only! <P>

This place is convenient for sure -- the rats like the proximity to Pentagon Row and the Korean restaurant attached to the building, too, not just the renters who like to eat out. Plenty of rodents scurry around outside in the daylight so if you're squeamish, think twice about moving here. You'll have to hike a long way from the parking lot as the good spots are taken up by abandoned cars the management doesn't seem interested in towing. They're not interested in anything except being surly - don't expect the front desk person to ever even grunt your way, much less greet you. And I hope you don't mind hearing your neighbors, because you can hear through the walls. The security car just sits in place most of the time, doesn't drive around.

Ok, I'll let you know first off that this is going to be a raving review.

I've lived in 10 apartments across 3 states (CA, NY & VA) from my college days through to today, and where I am currently living is far and away the best experience I've ever had in an apartment.

I'll list what I deem some of what makes Riverhouse great:
1) One block from the DC Metro.
2) Huge apartments. Newer buildings tend to pack in the units. This building was built back when hallways and apartments were more spacious. They also do a great job keeping with the upkeep (new carpets/windows 2004/2005) so that it all looks current. Also, the windows are Huge and you can open over half of the window coverage area.
3) Large pool. Many apartments have pools, but they can get crowded. There are 2 pools and one of them is huge with lifeguards on duty every weekend.
4) Large gym. Now the gym is not as large as the new Bally's across the street, but it's the largest and nicest gym I've seen in an apartment.
5) Front desk staff on 24/7 & repair people living on the premises. We had a faucet break at 5pm on a Sunday evening, and had the repair guy in our place by 6pm repairing it. I don't know if this is the norm, but I was impressed.
6) Eats - Food. I already mentioned the metro being close, but how about 15+ places to eat across the street in Pentagon Row, and that's not counting all the places to eat in the Pentagon City Mall (we don't eat in the mall often - who does, it's a mall - but we often eat at Pentagon Row across the street.) Pentagon Row offers everything from Starbucks to Irish Pub to Sports Bar to Wolfgang Puck to multiple ethnic cuisines.
7) Shopping. While this isn't often a priority in choosing apartments, at least for me it isn't, having an Eckard and a Harris Teeter (high end supermarket) in the next block is as convenient as heck. I actually walk to the store to get milk or other stuff instead of driving. That's a change from CA. As for other types of shopping, there's a huge shopping mall anchored with a Macy's and Nordstroms a block away, not to mention the Best Buy, Borders and Costco 2 blocks away.
8) Reasonable Rents - I'm not claiming rents in Arlington are cheap - they aren't. But because Riverhouse has 3 large buildings in the complex with probably 1200+ units they are constantly under pressure to keep renting them as people move out. Even with the normal apartment turnover (my guess is 20% turnover a year) they would have to rent 20+ units a month just to keep up. You can't charge market rents and keep that many people coming through, so they have to reduce the rents a bit to draw that many people in the door. For comparison sake, check out the apartments across the street which rent for 60-70% more. Yes, they are brand new and nicer, but they are also much smaller for a lot more money. As I said before, Riverhouse isn't cheap; it's what I would consider a bargain for the features and location.
9) Security - Many buildings have security. I'm talking secure access points, 24/7 front desk staff, etc. But this is the first apartment that has it's own security staff driving around the premises. While security isn't a priority for me myself, being married, it adds to my piece of mind seeing the security people driving around the buildings in their little green Neon's all night, every night.
10) Location, location, location  While the apartment is in Virginia, I can make it from my front door to the Lincoln Memorial or Washington Monument in under 7 mins tops. The location is probably 5 minutes from the 66 freeway and 3 blocks from the 395 freeway. An additional benefit to living here which people may or may not find relevant is that Virginias state income tax is ? that of Washington DC. So while were living 5-10 mins from the city, we save thousands on my tax bill. .
10) A bunch of misc. little things. Every Monday morning the management provides free coffee and donuts in the lobby. They have a book exchange every month. They have a drycleaner in the basement run by an incredibly sweet woman. They have catered parties & bar-b-q's either in the lobby or in big tents outside 6-8 times a year. Catered food, free beer and wine, etc. (I've never seen an apt do this before and its a nice touch.)

Its probably appropriate that I list some negatives for balance, though honestly its hard to come up with some.
1) Parking  There is a choice between paid underground parking and free parking behind the building. 90% of tenants opt for the free parking because its pretty convenient - despite the week or two of snow we get each year - but if you get home at the wrong time sometimes you have to part a hundred yards away from the building. I dont mind, but my wife sometimes gets annoyed.
2) The buildings are big. Before we moved in, back when we were looking at apartments my wife said Id never live in a big building like that. Famous last words. Now she loves the place. But if you have an aversion to big buildings then Riverhouse isnt for you. A note though: Even though the building is large, you almost never see that many people. I cant explain it, but in over 2 years weve only seen half the people who live on our hallway.

In summary, overall Im thoroughly impressed with the management and operation of the Riverhouse apartments and Id be hard pressed to think of how it might get better aside from lowing the rents. =)
Thats my write-up. Hope it helps.