Apartment Review for Fort Totten Station - Washington, DC

The idea of moving into a new apartment at a metro station attacted me to this complex. With any new construction project, delays are inevitable. So after spending three months beyond the promised move in date, I was able to move in. Within days, the nightmare began. The building has over a 130 apartment units and there is only one elevator. There is no trash chute on any of the four floors. Instead, a dumpster is located outside behind the building. I have watched people put the trash in their vehicles as they exit the building and drive to the dumpster before leaving the property. To maximize space and increase profitability, Clark Realty elected to include only one elevator and omitted the trash chutes on each floor. Forget about creating a trash room downstairs when you can build another apartment. I guess Clark never imagined that the elevator would break. Well it did and was not operational for four days. The property is being managed by two individuals who despite their purported years of experience, are completely useless. These managers are operating outside of their skill sets. They have zero people skills and are not there to assist you. Simple maintenance request go unanswered. Don't be surprise if the manager tells you to make the reapirs yourself. But they are great at sending out letters threatening to tow cars. It took a month to get the manager to put my phone number in the apartment directory. Then she listed it twice with the wrong phone number. Instead, of sending out another threatening parking letter, she should have used the time to instruct her employees as well as the tenants on what number to use on the telephone pad to buzz people into the building. The heating system does not work. When you can get a person on the telephone from the management office, again the manager and her assistant claim that it works and that we just don't know how to use it. Perhaps they can provide written instructions to educate the tenants on how to use it. Does it make sense to you to have a heating system that once it reaches the set temperature the a/c kicks in so that it does not go over the set temperature. Clark Realty must own stock in PEPCO because together they are both making a ton of money. Based on my conversation with other tenants, the heating bills are high because the system does not work. The lighting around the property is not the greatest. It took two months for Clark Realty to turn on the property lights. Because the apartment complex is at a metro station, there is a lot of traffic. In short, the word "luxury" is a completely subjective thing. The fixtures in the units are new and shiny, but they are cheap. The water pressure in the shower is horrible and the fan makes so much noise that if you are in the bathroom, you cannot hear the phone ringing. Contrary to the advertisement Clark Realty runs, each apartment does not contain a full size washer and dryer. The only units that offer full size washer and dryers, don't have mircowaves. The remaining apartments have stackables.