I'll start with the good and say that the people who work here are awesome, especially the guys at the security booth. They're super helpful and really accommodating.
Noise: My apartment is on the Hennepin side and is quite loud. I can't have my windows open at night or I can't sleep (more on this later). The walls are thick so noise from same floor neighbors is low but noise carries through main door from the hallway. I can hear a lot of noise from the people above me, too.
Smells: Lots of ethnic cooking going on and the smells always seem to make their way through the vent systems into my apartment. Not ideal.
Heat: Ok, this is the worst and a huge frustration during shoulder seasons. They keep this building super hot every day. I walk into the hallway and start baking. I open my window before bed (and not after as mentioned above) when temps are above 30 otherwise it's too hot. I don't even turn on my heat in the apartment until it gets well below zero. The building is old and air gets pumped through a central air system. So even when I turn the wall AC unit to 'cold', all I get is warm air. In a season like April where it's 50 outside, they've still got the heat on in the building and I'm sweltering in my apartment, I open the windows before bed to cool things off but by morning I'm lying there sweating. Again, frustrating.
My experience here has been fine. It's a great downtown location with easy access to running and biking along the river or shopping and dining on Nicollete. read more