I lived in Parkview Tower Apartments for about 3 years before recently moving out, first in a large studio and then in a one-bedroom.
First, the good:
-Management is usually friendly and helpful.
-Maintenance always came within a day or two whenever I had something that needed to be fixed.
-The building is kept clean.
-Parking lot, pool, laundry room, and fitness center on site.
-Walking distance to downtown Hartford, and close to West Hartford center.
-Heat, hot water, and cooking gas included in rent.
-Good size apartments for the price.
-Residents seem friendly, for the most part.
-New windows were put in recently, and are a huge improvement over the old ones.
Second, the bad:
-My floor ALWAYS smelled like garbage. There's 1 trash room on every floor with 2 garbage cans for 17 apartments.
-The stairwells made me feel like I was in prison.
-Fitness center leaves a lot to be desired, but to be fair they did attempt to improve it during my time there.
-No change machine in the laundry room.
-St. Francis Hospital is across the street, so you'll hear sirens a lot.
-Plumbing seems to be the least-maintained thing in the building. My shower was constantly clogging every week or two, and the basement floods in heavy rains.
-Thin walls, especially in the bathroom.
-Pool only gets sun for about 3 hours a day, so it's always freezing cold.
-My mail was constantly getting sent back to the sender with an "address doesn't exist" label. Office said it was an issue with USPS, USPS said it was an issue with the building office. I would also get mail intended for 4 other people, who I assume lived there before me, even though management makes it clear that you won't get your mail without your name on the mailbox.
-The outlets in my apartments were very loose. I could hardly ever get a two-prong plug to stay in the outlet.
Finally, the ugly:
-THE PARKING LOT. By far, the worst part of living in this building is the parking. You get one parking pass no matter how many people live in your apartment or how many cars you have. People just park wherever they want, including in the middle of the lot (where there are no parking spaces). Apparently, they have hired a towing company to try to fix this, but I have never seen a single tow truck in the lot, and people continue to park anywhere. The security is a joke. Although it technically is a gated lot, the gate is broken all the time, and when it does work, it's up most of the day. You can also easily walk right around it. Plus, the advertised 24-hour CCTV surveillance is a gimmick. I know this because my car was broken into in the parking lot, and when I asked for the security footage, they said the cameras are just for show and don't actually work. The lot is also shared with St. Francis employees, so there's almost never anywhere to park close to the building. I have no problem walking a little farther, but the back part of the lot is sketchy and poorly lit. If there's a snow storm, it's even worse. You would think living in New England they would be prepared for snow, but it takes a long time for it to be plowed.
Overall, I give Parkview Towers 3/5. Decent for the price, but not great. read more