I lived here for one year with my wife and dog, from September 2018 to September 2019, and we had…read morean extremely good experience. We were in building 8504, and our building managers were Carolyn and Nilda, who were both excellent.
-The apartment was in great condition (fresh paint, new carpeting, kitchen and appliances in great shape).
-Their price is very good for the area, and all utilities (water, gas, electric, garbage) and parking were included. There was also a small monthly charge for our dog.
-The community is mostly young professionals, graduate students, and young families, and the community is quiet, clean, and safe. We never had problems with noisy or inconsiderate neighbors.
-The location is good- not quite as close to metro and downtown as other places, but close enough. It was a 13 minute brisk walk from my building to the metro, and about a 20 minute walk to downtown/center.
-The amenities were excellent. There is an ENORMOUS outdoor pool, and a large gym. While we were there, the gym was often not in good shape (broken treadmills), but they are renovating the gym and it will reopen sometime in 2019 or 2020, and I'm sure it will be fine after that. There are also tennis and volleyball courts, grills, and playgrounds. There was a convenience store in the community which closed while we were there- it was really nice to have that and hopefully Summit Hills allows another one to open up. The basement laundry room in our building was fine- clean and in good repair. There is plenty of parking. There are even food trucks that come to the community 5-6 nights/month.
-The dog parks were amazing- they had three separate 50-100 foot dog runs. This was possibly my favorite thing about this community- dogs absolutely love it there, and there is usually a core group of about 10 people who take dogs there every evening, and many more people who bring dogs occasionally.
-The maintenance staff are outstanding. They replied to issues within 24 hours, and often within hours. They do a good job of keeping insects and mice away. In an entire year, we only had a mouse in our apartment two times (both times, exterminator caught them within a day), and never roaches or ants. The groundskeepers keep the community clean and neat.
-The management was very helpful and accommodating with all of the administrative stuff, from leasing, to moving, to maintenance, and they refunded our entire security deposit.
I would like to respectfully disagree with some of the negative reviews that I have seen about Summit Hills, as follows:
Community: I never encountered bad (or smelly cooking) neighbors- the community are young professionals, grad students, and families. I occasionally smelled a little pot or cigarette smoke outside or coming from some apartments, but it was infrequent and really no big deal, and honestly you will find that in any apartment building in Silver Spring.
Insects/mice: I did not have any problems in building 8504- I actually found it amazingly insect-free. I would see a dead cockroach in the basement maybe 1-2/month, which is nothing, and the fact that it was dead means there was effective bug treatment, and the dead one would be swept up by maintenance that day or next. We had a mouse in our apartment just two times in a year, and never a roach, and the exterminator responded quickly each time. I strongly disagree with reviewers claiming there is an infestation problem at Summit Hills- I found the exact opposite to be true.
Management: Consistent with what other reviewers are saying, there was a change in management or ownership while I was there, and things seemed to running less smoothly for a while, but management was always reasonable and helpful to me. They let me extend my lease for 1 week to accommodate a mid-month move, they processed my move-out paperwork correctly, and they refunded my entire security deposit. I have no complaints about current management.
Summary: I give Summit Hills a resounding 5 star review.
