The Metropolitan at Lorton Station

Its ok. We were only here for a year. Nice building but that’s it. We had water issues since day 1, they had to come and fix our sink at least three times. Then during the summer the A/​C unit or something related to that broke down and took 4 days to fix it. However, what really made us move was the thief situation in the parking garage, both of our cars were open and some personal items were stolen. When trying to address this issue with management, they were too busy to handle it and told us to come back, we didn’t bother and never received an update/​apology on that issue. Buy something if you can, if not keep looking I’m sure there are better options.

Love it. I have been living here since January of 2014 and have absolutely no complaints. The lease office staff are exceptional, garage parking is awesome, and the building is quiet.

I really enjoyed living at the Metropolitan. Firstly, it’s in a great location that is easily accessible to all major highways, which made for a more bearable commute. The building was new and well-​kept and the staff was always extremely welcoming and attentive.
The things that were the most important to me were that 1) I saw two bugs in my apartment the entire year I lived there. TWO. That’s amazing. 2) They didn’t try to scam me out of my money when I moved out.
The best part about living at the Metropolitan was that I could transfer to another Kettler community when I moved out. The Kettler community I am in now managed just as well. I am really happy that I chose to live at the Metropolitan!

You have $ 1600. You can a: buy a house in the country, b: rent a two-​bedroom at the Met in Lorton c: buy a townhouse or condo in the city or suburbs you’ll never be able to sell or d: rent a basement apartment in Old Town, where one opens the door to let bugs out instead of in.
Currently, I’m opting for d, I aspire to a, loathe option c and recently disembarked from option b. I know, it’s Lorton. I work in Alexandria, so it was an easy commute for me (but still a commute). The neighborhood sucks. You can’t walk anywhere save Lorton Station, where the restaurants (Pane Vino and some other shithole) blow and they don’t even have anywhere to buy cigarettes. You COULD walk to the 7 – 11 on Route 1, if you like near-​death experiences and being ogled at by men who apparently have never laid their eyes on womankind before. In a nutshell, suck and blow.
But that’s not the Met’s fault, really. The building is awesome, clean, well-​thought out and spacious. There is a pool, a hot tub, a gym (adjacent to a bathroom with showers), a business center with Macs and PCs and a lounge with shuffleboard, a pool table and wide-​screen TVs. There is a four-​story covered parking garage – I don’t think I felt a drop of rain the whole time I lived there.
My apartment had a balcony, which was great for smoking, apartment-​gardening (cayenne peppers, herbs and tomatoes this year) and watching your sausage dog bark at other canines. Yes, they allow pets. Even really really big pets, like the hellhound that used to live above me and rain down kibbles ‘n’ bits and drool and fur when I would chill. Thankfully he moved out about two months after I moved in.
I won’t lie, I moved in because I got a hook-​up, so my rent wasn’t as expensive as the normal going rate, but even if it was, paying what I pay now and comparing what I had, I’d still live there if I worked on Ft. Belvoir or in Woodbridge, etc.
The property managers are on-​point, they make sure things are fixed ASAP and there is a courtesy officer patrolling at night just in case. They do bi-​monthly, fully catered events like pool BBQs, karaōke nights and casino nights, complete with beer, booze, food, entertainment and prizes.
My only complaint is that there’s an annoying glitch that whenever the power goes out (happened about five times while I was there due to storms), the fire alarm will go off, and it can only be turned off by the fire department. Far from zen when you’ve got a hypersensitive hot dog in the crib yip-​yapping. O! His brain is so small!