I have seen a massive decline in how the building is managed

I am not one for providing a review but in this instance, I felt like it was necessary:

I have been a resident of 3003 Van Ness since 2014. I moved out in early 2024. Over the years and very recently in the past few years, I have seen a massive decline in how the building is managed.

I will start off with the positives - the pool, utilities included in the cheap rent, and the maintenance staff are very nice. That is all.

Of course, with cheap rent, comes with issues which I list below:

Community Issues

  1. Building management is not accurately screening prospective residents; they just want the money. Unfortunately, there have been many issues that require the police and/or fire department to consistently come to the building. A tenant was falsely ringing the fire alarms. Someone poured gasoline on the west side and I believe the person just gained access to the building. A tenant was found stabbed in the west side elevator. Of course, whenever the police is involved and when the building decides to send an email, they say it is an isolated/domestic incident.

  2. There are mumblings of drug dealing occurring in the building in which the DC AG is looking into.

  3. The building’s common areas are not maintained. There are consistent broken lights in the courtyard; the cement flooring of the courtyard is not leveled; washing machines consistently break; the gym’s equipment is not maintained; doors do not properly lock allowing access from the public.

  4. The building is not good at communicating with its residents. There are short notices of “emergency” repairs or fire alarm testing. Sometimes the notices come after the fact

  5. It seems like water heater, or the heating/AC unit that runs the whole building consistently breaks down.

  6. I know people, especially those on the west side, have issues (noise and what not) with UDC students since the school uses the building’s apartments to house them.

Personal Issues

  1. I have had a huge rodent problem. A while back, I had an exterminator come and lay down sticky traps. He said the building needs to close all the holes (which he found in every room). He recently came back (a week before I am scheduled to move out) and was not surprised the building has not fixed the holes. He said his job would fix the holes but the building does not want to pay them. It is cheaper for them to have maintenance do it. This is a problem with other apartments too. When the building inspector came, he too made note of the holes and would tell the office to fix the holes. When it came time to renew my lease, I spoke with a leasing agent who became aware of my issues. Nothing happened. I think the rodents have chewed through the dishwasher’s wires which now don’t work. A week before my scheduled move out, I have been facing a persistent rodent problem every night.

  2. I had to go in person to the office to get a response to my numerous emails about the rodents. When I showed up, apparently they put my apartment number on the list for the exterminator to visit. They did not respond to my email telling me that. The least they could’ve done was respond to my emails.

  3. What is also infuriating is the fact that the building has no problem reaching out regarding what it takes to move out and ensuring they receive their money, and scheduling the move out inspections. However, they couldn’t bother take care of their residents when they have a rodent issue.

  4. Speaking of the building inspector, he found three outlets that do not have an automatic shut off which is a violation. He also found that my door entrance does not automatically close (another violation). None of these issues have been fixed. The building has been concerned with getting ahead of the building inspector and fixing the outlets in the apartments he has not visited to avoid these fines. The outlets issue is a building wide issue.

  5. I am unable to cook things at high temperatures and cook things on the stove top, because my smoke detector goes off. Another issue I raised with the leasing agent at the time of rent renewal who said someone would come take a look at it. Nothing happened.

Another issue that is out of management’s control but I would still like to point out, crime in DC has gone up and has infiltrated the Van Ness metro area. Given these circumstances, management should seriously take resident’s concerns regarding broken doors.

I am glad I went month to month instead of renewing my lease so I had time to find alternative housing. It is unfortunate the building’s management team has severely deteriorated the complex. I will say that if someone still overlooks these issues, they should move into the south side. The south side has less problems than the west.