We've been living here for around 9 months and cannot wait to move out. There are some nice things about the place but after today I cannot give Clocktower any more than one star.
The Good:
-We like the apartment itself quite a lot. 2br/2ba, master br is quite spacious and has a nice walk-in closet. Basic appliances and fixtures but we haven't had any major issues. There's a "bonus" storage area above the kitchen area that we love. We're on the 5th floor in phase 2 on the parking lot side.
-We've never had any problems with noise from our neighbors. The walls are quite thin so we do hear them sometimes, I could see it being an issue with different neighbors.
-The on-site convenience store is nice.
-There's plenty of surface parking.
-Just upgraded their community management software, the new software is quite nice and easy to use.
The OK:
-Leasing office is OK to work with. Sometimes they are very responsive and accommodating, other times we've gone days without an email response. They're usually pretty good about giving advance notice about things like water shut-offs, though that seems to happen more than it should. Once they sent out the wrong date and never corrected it, so we were caught off guard by the water shut off. It's nice that they sign for packages at the office and have decent availability (until 8pm) to pick them up.
The "Bad, but not 1-star bad":
-Speed bumps in the parking lot are super super high. We have to go about 1mph over them (not an exaggeration, my wife has rolled backwards off the top of one because if she goes any faster she'll bottom out). The highest one is also missing almost all of its paint, so it's nearly all black.
The "Bad, but not Clocktower's Fault":
-We've had some recurring issues with smoke smell in our apartment. Management has been very responsive about contacting those we think are responsible and taking some steps to seal our wall a little better.
-There's a ton of construction going on right next to the building. The road out of the parking lot is in terrible shape due to this and has been for months.
-There's a lot of noise pollution from large trucks, both from the construction and from the loading docks across the parking lot.
The reasons I'm giving this 1 star:
-The heating situation in the winter is insane. Without ever turning on the heat for our apartment, it was regularly at 76. We slept with the window open and a fan in it at first, but that gave my wife all kinds of trouble with her allergies, so we ended up running an air conditioner in our bedroom at night. ALL WINTER LONG. Blizzard outside? A/C or it's 76. Sub-zero temperatures? A/C or it's 76. This proved to be a huge issue for us and we decided we were unwilling to spend another winter in the building. Would probably be better on a lower floor, but other reviewers have mentioned mold concerns on the lower floors.
-THE FIRE ALARM. Oh, let me tell you about the fire alarm. It's gone off 4 times that we're aware of since we moved in (perhaps more when we've been out of the house). The first two times were both at 2am, and it's gone off twice this morning, once at 6:45am and once at 12:15pm. This is BY FAR the worst fire alarm my wife or I have ever experienced. We have experienced fire alarms in large office buildings, college dorm rooms, etc. Nothing we have ever been through is even 1/100 as bad as the fire alarm at clocktower. I have no idea how it's even as loud as it is, and on top of the usual blaring there is an earsplitting constant shriek at the worst possible frequency that makes it literally unbearable to remain in the building. Oh, did I mention we have two cats? Yeah. They are absolutely terrified of the fire alarm. One of our cats was so traumatized the first time she threw up for 3 days straight afterwards. She's never thrown up other than that. This last time, we couldn't get her out from under the bed to take her out of the building, so she had to wait through the entire alarm (10-20 minutes of the worst noise you've ever heard). And she wouldn't come out for at least an hour afterwards either. And our other cat is now afraid of normal everyday beeping noises. Having a fire alarm go off 5-6 times a year would be annoying but understandable for a building of this size. Having THIS fire alarm go off even ONCE was enough to make us want to move.
I hope this has been a fair and balanced review. I tried to cover the good parts as well, though for the reasons I've outlined we are completely fed up and will be moving out as soon as our lease is up (probably even a bit sooner). Without the last two issues I think we'd probably still be moving, but not with anywhere near the same urgency. read more