The Louis

Sadly, this is not a place I can recommend. Our lease is up in October and we will be leaving. Rent includes several hidden fees that go well above and beyond the monthly rentals. The net /​net is the costs aren’t worth it. Living on 14^th sounds like a great idea but the traffic, sirens, club music and drunk crowds (especially on weekends) makes it impossible to sleep without earplugs and an eye mask.
Elevators haven’t worked since day one. We’ve been stuck in them twice and they make noises like they’re 20 years old. Also, the young college crowds that frequent the building on weekends have literally destroyed the interior.
Lastly, parking is an absolute nightmare because the lot is shared with Trader Joes. Expect to wait up to at least 20 minutes trying into get into the lot on a Saturday /​Sunday. And even if they tell you that you can bi-​pass Trader Joes patrons to get through… it’s impossible and dangerous!
I will say the concierge staff and leasing office associates are all lovely.

I’m shocked to see so many bad reviews. I have lived in the Louis since August 2014 and LOVE it. My apartment is incredible and with the other great residents and the amazing staff at the front desk, it truly feels like home.
The roof is a wonderful place to hang out – I couldn’t be happier living here and have told several friends looking for new places to look at apartments here. I am impressed by the thick walls and windows – i never hear street noise or my neighbors!
I have lived in several «luxury» apartments and this has been by far my best experience!

We lived there for almost a year and the only thing nice I can report on is the front desk staff. They are kind and friendly. At first look, The Louis looks clean, stylish, and attractive. Its clean, and that is about it. We were promised things, before our lease was signed, that never came true. Its expensive, and you expect to have a nicer place for the money. But that isn’t what we received at all.
The building is riddled with problems. 1. The elevator breaks often. its scary and unsettling to be stuck in an elevator, period. 2. The parking garage is a giant problem due to Trader Joes traffic. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but trust me, it is. 3. Our unit had a bad smell coming from the water heater. They never found out what is was. So our place just smelled like sewage. 4. The maintenance people come in, unannounced, at any time. Once, I was coming out of the shower (naked obviously) to find them in my living room. Not cool. I had to install a lock of my own to keep them out. 5. Cabinets broke, the bathroom sink came off the wall, outlets didn’t work, and on and on. 7. Windows were nasty dirty when we moved in and no one ever cleaned them as promised. Finally someone tried to find the stains were not removable. 6. Hope you’re a heavy sleeper because The Louis’ walls are thin and 14^th street is loud. Weekend nights are really really bad. 8. The beautiful looking rooftop is its own mess. The grills work about 20% of the time. Thats fun when you’ve invited people our to cook out! Also, its a bad house on the weekends.
After living there a few months, I was amazed at how many people would give their unsolicited complaints about The Louis. It felt like people wanted to know if they were the only ones with problems regarding their unit. We broke our lease and moved, at great expense to us, just to get out. That should tell you how bad it was. We were willing to move again, just to get out! I know other people that did the same thing. Some of the staff tried to make things better but ultimately, nothing ever changed and things kept happening. They even offered to move us to a bigger unit, but knowing all the problems others were having, we thought it was best just to leave. Sad situation!

Just way too expensive for what you get. And the leasing office finds new and original ways to gouge you every month.
The location can’t be beat — but it can be a bit much, too. Going a block up the street, or down U street, will get you better views, cost considerably less, and be a little out of the screeching coed weekend scene.
Speaking of screeching coeds: There are college students from GW whose parents splurge for apartments here — and it often feels like a dorm. And rule out the pool in the summers, unless you want to fight over a small scrap of cement.
Pros: The front desk staff is helpful and nice, the gym is often pretty uncrowded, the common spaces are kept clean.

The building is amazing and in such a great location! It is obvious that it is well taken care of and I would venture to say this is one of the nicest buildings in DC. The folks that work the front desk are amazing and so friendly!
There are some major drawbacks though. Management doesn’t seem to have it together just yet. For example, this is the only building I have ever lived in where they ask you to pay for common utilities like electric and gas. This is in addition to your Unit specific bills that you receive. It is frustrating to pass this additional cost on to residents in an already expensive building. Additional $ 50−75/month to light up the hallways! The residents are slowly filling up the building and not everyone respects the common areas as much as others. Smokers on the roof with burn holes in the furniture, trash everywhere sometimes from the parties and they even make you pay to rent areas of the roof for certain parties. Sometimes it feels more like an overpriced college dorm than a luxury apartment building.
With that said though, the amenities are great. The gym is nice for novice workouts but don’t expect to get everything you want and cancel that gym membership. The roof is spectacular!
Overall, it’s okay.

I tired calling the Louis’s leasing office three times to make an appointment to tour the building. I only received one message and tried calling back twice to only leave a message with the concierge to never hear back from the leasing office again. This shows why the building has several empty units. It also reflects on the poor management. I ended up signing a lease at Capitol View on 14^th.

I’ve been living here since July, 2014 and I love it. The neighborhood is great, you have access to EVERYTHING. The noise is expected as U street corridor is active with 14^th street being the center of a substantial amount of traffic. As mentioned above is this is expected. A note, Living above trader Joes means that you will most likely be shopping earlier in the day or late at night as the lines are quite insane, all the time.
Everyone has issues when moving into a new building and the Louis Leasing office (Evan, Jin and Nicola) have gone above and beyond to cater to my needs. The foundation of my relationship with the Team boils down to the personal relationship. The team takes care to provide a superior service while adding the human touch that ensues that even when requests require a bit more time, communication is provided and this always has resulted in my satisfaction.
I highly recommend this building.

Agree with Max W and Max H (although it seems odd that Max W no longer has their post up). Rumor around the building makes it seem that management doesn’t like you to be honest about your complaints (ie they give incentives for you to keep your mouth shut). Parking is the biggest pain in the rear. Granted I don’t move my car often, but don’t even think about leaving the garage on the weekends. The leasing office says they are working on making this better, but honestly I haven’t seen any improvements. Not to mention, there are always loading trucks blocking your view outside of the garage along with heavy pedestrian crossing. It would be nice to walkways have someone directly traffic, not just on the weekends. Like I said before the weekends are so crazy do bother moving your vehicle. The décor of the building is nice, however you can’t buzz your guest up to your apartment. You have to physically go down each time to greet your guest. We have been told this is for security reasons, but then I don’t know what we pay for 24-​hr front desk service. This is a very very big inconvenience. The gym is way too small for the amount of people in the building. The business center is nice but oftentimes the ink is too low for printing. There is a coffee machine in the lobby, but it NEVER works! It is always out of water or malfunctioning. I don’t have a big problem with the hot water, although I do admit, it runs out pretty damn fast. But, I can tell you that my power bill is crazy high. It probably has something to do with the fact that the appliances stay on unless u tun them off. For example, the dishwasher once done cleaning doesn’t just shut off by itself after the cycle. Same for washer and dryer. This stinks bc you have to be home to get his stuff done and cannot just start in the morning on your way out the door. The location is nice with a lot to do, but honestly due to traffic, I would honestly suggest living off one of the side streets. This is a new building and although they are working the get the kinks sorted out, it has been a very slow process. The staff is nice, but not very helpful.

Continuously shocked at how inept the managing office is… overcharge me, take forever to put my name on the call box, tell me the wrong rent amount, break promises to clean windows… Great building but TERRIBLE management.