I didn't want people to know my address so I waited until I moved out to write this review.
IT'S VERY COLD HERE. We moved here January 2019. The very first night, the boilers in the apartment failed. We had just come from a warm California so the freezing weather in Connecticut was painfully cold to us. It was about 18degreesF outside and within a few hours of the boiler failing, the temperature in the apartment fell dramatically. We had our pet hamsters with us and we were afraid they would die. We ended up running the oven at 400degreesF and running the dryer the entire night just to prevent the hamsters from dying. I never felt so desperate and pathetic in my life. Even after the boilers were fixed, the apartment was never warm. The heater does blow hot air into the apartment but because of the humongous windows in both the living room and bedroom, the apartment was still cold. We bought a space heater, put up two overlapping sets of heavy curtains on all the windows to block cold air, and put up insulating plastic on the windows to be comfortable. Electric bill in winter was about $150-175 (leaving heat on 24/7). When the weather got warm, I ran the A/C 24/7 for the comfort of the hamsters (and eventually a dog) and electric bill for the warmer months was $75-125/month.
The "fast" internet was slow. I would periodically lose my internet connection, which was particularly annoying during video calls. It's not my laptop. I used the same laptop at work and it was perfectly fine.
The apartment's age shows. The walls have obviously gone through a lot of patchwork and painting over the years. The seal around the windows are poor so insulation is non-existent. The remodel was done with builder-grade materials. The appliances are old but work fine. The stove/oven is electric. The coils on the stove weren't straight so I had to keep rotating my pan to cook my food evenly. Washer and dryer are the smallest I have ever seen but maybe tiny appliances are common on the East Coast? I liked the hardwood and tile floors because it was easy to clean. I also liked the double closets for the bedroom. The kitchen was a bit small for me since there was just one little square of counter top to prep food on but I made it work.
If you like quiet, this is not the apartment for you. Echoes in the hallway are loud so you can hear each time someone walks by. Also, the noise from the street was extremely loud. Even living on the fourth floor, I could sometimes even hear the conversations of people below. Street noise could be deafening loud even with the windows shut because people like to rev their cars and bikes (pretty often). If you like feeling part of downtown, maybe you'll like the noise.
Neighbors seem to be mainly students or young professionals. Everyone I spoke to was very friendly. These residents are polite, clean, and quiet.
Trash room was kept really, really clean. Exercise room was small but useful to have. Not many people used it so there were a few choices of equipment you could use at all times. I didn't use the community lounge but it has a TV and pool table.
Huge perk of this location is convenience. Police department is literally across the street. Convenience store, grocery, dog park, farmer's market, restaurants, coffee shops, and dessert shops are all nearby (1-15 mins walk way). I rented an apartment on the fourth floor with a view of the New Haven Green. I am really glad I did because it was fun to peek out and see what was going on on the Green (concerts, reenactment of Benedict Arnold's army, parades).
Management/staff are really sweet, hardworking, caring folks! It is well maintained and kept very clean by the superintendent, Julio. Ben lives on-site and will be there to help you if you get locked out of your apartment. Corrine works in the office in the basement. Linda and Sandy work in the office off-site. If you need something, just give them a call. If something happens, they're more understanding than management from a large company. I once dropped my keys down the elevator shaft on a Saturday afternoon and they had someone come and retrieve my keys in an hour without charging me any sort of incident fee. Sometimes the wait on the emergency phone line is a bit long but I've always got the help I need. Any time I posted need for maintenance, it got fixed the next day. read more
