There's a lot about this apartment complex that's wonderful -- the kitchen is beautiful -- it has much more space than in the other apartments I've lived in, with granite countertops and an island with a small seating area, and very modern appliances. I would prefer a gas stove to the glass surface electric stove, but at least this is better than the electric stove in the apartment I was in eight years ago, with exposed elements that were hard to clean. For me, the most important thing is that the unit is designed for handicap access, which means, among other things, that the microwave oven is placed at a much lower level, so it can be reached by someone sitting down, or in a wheelchair, and there's space for the wheelchair to maneuver between the stove, the sink, the refrigerator, and the island.
The living room is a bit small in this apartment, but I like having a deck, and there are big closets. There are storage units available, and I was able to get one right next to my apartment. Each floor has a trash/recycle room with two chutes, one for each function -- the cutes aren't big, and I will be curious whether the chutes ever become blocked if someone tries to dispose of too big a bag of trash at a time.
There is just one key for everything but one's mailbox -- it's an electronic key-shaped piece of black plastic that one needs for the front door (except at the leasing office when it's open), the apartment, the trash/recycle rooms, one's storage unit, the common rooms (including the one from which one can get to the pool), and getting from the garage to the main building (and vice versa). The keys (and locks) can get recoded as needed; somehow they were able to change the code on the lock to my storage unit so that my key worked with it. There's a $100 deposit for each of these coded keys, so losing one would be a big deal.
The configuration is interesting -- the apartment is on an inside corner, looking out on an attractive courtyard, and yet I think the units are arranged in such a way that one doesn't seem to be looking directly into someone else's window.
The building management and maintenance people are helpful and responsive, and security seems fairly good, though it's a bit unnerving that in the lease there is a statement to the effect that the security is to protect the property, not the tenants (my guess is that this is the general priority in many buildings, but I haven't seen anyone acknowledge it before). The leasing office is open business hours, and will sign for packages (and send email notification that a package is being held; one can request that the package be brought to the apartment door).
One of the main reasons this isn't a five star review is the inadequate guest parking and the noise level so far. The parking problem is at least partly because the anti traffic zealots in Cambridge forced the building to have only one parking space per apartment; at least some people don't have cars (it's not a bad walk to Alewife, and there are two daily shuttle busses each way to Alewife), but for those who are older and need helpers, it's not easy to hire helpers who are willing to walk from Alewife.
I moved in quite recently, and maybe the noise problem will improve, but there's been music with loud bass thumping as late as 3 a.m. Saturday night, and a lot of the afternoon and evening today (Sunday). I may need a really heavy duty white noise machine. An additional noise problem is that I think they are using an astonishingly loud gas-powered leaf blower (in the Zen Courtyard, yet) -- it's generally for a brief period but shouldn't happen at all.
It also seems really inconsiderate that there aren't handicapped parking places near the central elevator, and there isn't a power assist on the very heavy doors between the garage and the apartment area -- these are two modest changes that would make this building much more usable for someone disabled. read more