I was a resident at East Side Bond for over two years, beginning before the second of three buildings had opened.
As it has probably already been stated, the amenities are nice, the neighborhood is great, and the package machine is interesting, and usually convenient. Also, the "pet friendly" thing is a bit of an exaggeration. It's more pet tolerant, than it is friendly.
The manager that opened the property, who is apparently now managing another local property, wasn't the least bit friendly. There was very little communication from her, unless it was an absurd list of prohibited activities, seemingly fit for a petulant child, not an adult spending upwards of two thousand or three thousand dollars per apartment. The second manager, or interim manager was excellent. She was personable and kind, and an absolute asset to the property. When she left to assume a position at a property closer to her home, I was genuinely sad to see her leave. The current manager is like a ghost. He was there for perhaps the last six months or year that I was living at East Side Bond, but I can't be certain because I almost never saw him.
We did start getting periodic "rules" again, under the current management, but almost zero communication. In fact, the only communication I did receive was a letter stating that I owed $121.80, from a collection agency, after I had moved out. My apartment was in a condition that most would consider to be "excellent" when I moved, despite the presence of two dogs in the apartment. In fact, one would assume that the $500 pet "deposit" i put down, and the additional $1890 in pet "rent" that I paid would cover even the most heinous offenses, but apparently not. In fact, residents are being nickled and dimed at every opportunity.
As a previous reviewer stated, there were multiple parking issues. Many tenants were parking out on Spirit street, so what did they do? They put in parking meters and sent the parking attendant up, every two hours to ticket everyone who was expired. The meters weren't the same as the rest of the meters in the city, so one couldn't use their Pittsburgh Parking Authority app to pay for parking. It appeared that the building wasn't making enough money, so they made it illegal/costly to park on the street adjacent to the building.
It as also mentioned, the attempt to force tenants to park on the lower level, and that the garage was always leaking like a waterfall, but the thing that offended me most was when tenants received a letter letting us know that "for our convenience" they were going to make a handful of the parking spots closest to the door "reserved" at the cost of $400/month. At no point could I see how it was convenient for tenants to have to pay an additional $400/month, for spaces that we were already paying $130/month to use.
At one point they tacked on an extra $8/month fee for garbage. Yes. Garbage. It wasn't in the lease, and it felt like the ultimate squeeze, but it is only $8, so I paid it without a fuss. What really got me though, was that during my multiple dog walks each day, It was apparent to me that Kelly's Bar, whose back door was across the street from the apartment, was dumping more trash into our building on a daily basis, than I was dumping in a month. Yes. Kelly's had access to the building, and employees were carrying bags, dripping with all sorts of food/beverage mess across the street, down the sidewalk and into the building. That mess typically stayed there for days or weeks at a time.
I lived almost direct over the intersection of Penn and Centre. It was an unbelievably loud corner, even for someone who spent much of his life living in cities. That's not anybodies fault, but something to consider for a prospective tenant. However, the construction in that corner of the building has some issues. There is evidence of pipes leaking in the walls (they came to try to fix a similar issue, shortly after I moved in) and more importantly, major sag to the structure. This was evident in at least two of the apartments in that corner, perhaps more. In one case, a bedroom window couldn't be opened because the header wasn't able to support the building above it adequately. As another reviewer stated it appears that there is "less effort to maintain the quality" of the buildings.
When I moved in, they had an incredible coffee machine in the lobby that used Starbucks beans, and hot chocolate mix. It was great, but they eventually replaced it with a machine that produced coffee that tasted like it came from a truck stop. Another promise, unfulfilled.
This property has many nice features and amazing potential, but its problems are likely systemic. Many of the officers of Morgan Communities are under indictment for bank and wire fraud, and others appear to be implicated, as well. Their website promotes the vastness of their holdings, over the "communities" in their name. Greed seems to have a trickle-down effect. read more