The Van Dorn - WAM Partners

Steve S _{on Google}

Aug 11th, 2021

I lived here for two years and moved out three months ago. Avoid at all costs. In no particular order:
-Mice, and baby mice. See pictures
-Big roaches. See pictures
-Radiator extremely loud (clanking/hissing) and very bad smell (ocean/dead fish)
-Weak plumbing; toilet constantly clogging
-Water from faucet/shower takes minutes to heat up
-Shower randomly gets scalding or freezing for a few seconds
-Hot water unexpectedly out in the building for a day or so every few months
-Old, drafty building (energy efficiency rating of D - 29/100) & old/cheap A/Cs and other appliances; my electric bill was extremely expensive
-Building wired only for Spectrum internet; I paid $80/mo. (cheapest option) for 200/10 Mbps. For comparison, I now have FIOS 300/300 Mbps for $40/mo.
-Everything in the apartment is janky: for example, I had to open my dishwasher to open my utensil drawer. As another, my wife was lowering the blinds and the entire mount fell on her hands and wrists, bruising and cutting her badly. The super said it was improperly installed (obviously), but blamed someone else, of course
-Thin walls; can hear neighbors' conversations, and more, clearly
-Thin floors; upstairs neighbors very loud, downstairs neighbors texting us to please keep it down when we're just walking around
-Elevator constantly breaking, and once out of service for over a month straight. I got stuck in the main elevator three times, and in the service elevator once
-Laundry room is terrible: far too few machines (always waiting), they are very poor quality (destroy clothes over time), and constantly breaking. A few times my clothes got stuck in the washing machine, submerged in soapy water, overnight, and once for three days. Mice and roaches also in basement
-Management extremely slow to respond to emails (average response time may be over a week, after many follow ups)
-Late to return my security deposit (over 2 months); had to follow up, with no response, a half dozen times.
-Have to pay rent by check (in 2021?)
-The area is terrible: extreme homelessness problem, streets generally unclean (trash, urine & feces), massive "forever" construction project several doors down, the street shut down for over a week in winter '19 and over a month(!) in winter '20, due to the hazard of ice chunks falling from the skyscrapers (killed a woman)
I've never written a bad review of an apartment building before, but this place is hellish. I strongly recommend you choose somewhere, anywhere, else.