Yale West

Tried calling the leasing office. Very rude. Their mailbox is full, cannot leave message. Every time I call they said we are in the restroom.

Fantastic place to live. Staff are friendly and nice. Apartments are modern, new, and in great shape. Rooftop pool is beautiful.

I’ve arrived at Yale West on the first day of the January blizzard. From day 1, everyone at Yale West has made me feel at home. From Madison, to Tony, to Jared to Cindy, not one concern was left unaddressed. Ryan, the newest member of the team, had already demonstrated a willingness to push the property in a new exciting direction. I look fwd to the next few years at my new home away from home.

A great place to live right in the heart of the city and with a top class management team
City living at its best…

This is the place I call home. Every day after I come back tired from work I see a friendly face at the front desk asking me about my day and greeting me by name. The managers are always organizing social events and are prompt to respond to any query. I love that if something needs to be fixed, it is fixed immediately. I love the location, and I love that my guests can park inside the building at no-​extra cost (unless they are staying overnight). The building is always clean, we have a great grill area (with new furniture), and a pool with a great view of the capitol.
Very happy to live here :)

Moved in about two weeks ago and have not had one complaint yet– staff has been extremely friendly and accommodating, the building is beautiful and flawless, and my room was spotless when I first moved it. It was even stocked with some goodies, which was a very nice touch. Not sure what everyone else is talking about with the rude staff– literally cannot imagine any of the individuals I’ve met thus far being anything other than kind, friendly and accommodating.
As far as the common area, they’re very functional and welcoming. The lounge is HUGE, with a quieter back area with tables and chairs, and the front has a TV, kitchenette and bar area. I’ve already brought my laptop down there and just hung out and it was great, but I look forward to entertaining there as well. There’s also another room with a pool table and more tables and chairs. Tons of space to entertain or just hang out.
The gym is also great. It has basically everything you need, except a squat rack, which is totally understandable and I wouldn’t expect an apartment gym to have that anyway. The dumbbells go up to a reasonable weight, there are kettlebells, and plenty of room to stretch. There are also plenty of treadmills, ellipticals and machines. More than enough to get a solid workout in if you don’t have a gym membership, or even to get a nice workout in if it’s pouring rain outside and don’t feel like leaving the building to get a workout in. This was one of the more important things on my list, and the gym at Yale West more than met my needs.
My apartment itself is a large studio. Facing east, it gets tons of natural light. The huge windows help with that as well. You can tell the finishes are quality– the carpet, the countertop, the appliances. Even the bathroom is huge. Although it’s just a studio, I’ve never felt cramped or felt like I was making any sort of sacrifice in terms of size or comfort.
Best part yet? The price is reasonable. There are a ton of options in the area, but this feels like the newest, the most comfortable AND the best price. Couldn’t be happier to be a resident.

Showed up for an appointment at a slotted time that was confirmed, but they told us we’d have to wait 45 minutes to tour the community. Concierge was extremely rude about it as well.

Agree with most reviewers about awful management. Rude leasing staff. Completely unprofessional and unresponsive. We’ve decided to move out, and it’s been an absolute nightmare getting an email back from management or ever finding them in their offices. When you do they’re lazy and unhelpful. Building itself is pretty, but ventilation in the building is awful! I can smell everything happening in a neighbors apartment. Have complained multiple times, nothing happens. Also construction next door is unbelievable…7am DAILY start time: banging, sawing, hammering. Billing for water and trash and electricity are absurd and irregular, they charge you when they feel like it. I came home once to find my electricity was cut off because they never even billed for electricity. Just the worst.

The building and concierge are great, the management is a nightmare. Such a frustrating place to live. I have been here almost three months and still haven’t received a utility bill despite calling both the building and the submetering company several times. Management says that it takes time for your first bill (3 months, really?)…the submetering company says that management is registering the apartment as unoccupied still. They accept online payments but want to charge you $ 30 to make a payment each time! No matter whether it’s debit or credit. The email addresses listed for management bounce and no phone numbers are provided to contact them directly (only the generic number for the management company). My lease documents are nowhere to be found on their website. I’m sure I’ll have even more nightmares to speak of when I try to move out. On top of all this, the building is like some giant frat house. My first weekend here was a holiday weekend and a drunk girl was sleeping in the elevator when I work up. Beer cans and other things can be found all over the place in the morning on the weekends (though the cleaning staff is quick to get things cleaned up). Overall, it’s just not worth the price tag.

Happy to have moved out of there. It was good when Bozzutto managed. New management (WRIT) was a nightmare and very unresponsive and in some instances very unexperienced. Beware of what they charge you when you move out (I gpt a couple of unjustified charges). Lots of better (and newer) options nearby. I have un-​recomended this place several times.
They are currently building a hotel adjacent to the building, so if you do decide to move to this property, get a deal that will be worth being besides a construction.

The aparments are nice but the community has the worst management team ever: rude and inattentive to residents needs. The business center has no privacy what so ever-​it is in the hallway in front of elevator. And the printer is constantly out of toner. When I placed maintenance requests no one even bothers to contact me to fix it so it has been over a month and still nothing is fixed. Stay away. I regret I moved here. Plus it is far from the metro station-​15 min walk adds to commute quit a bit.

I’ve lived in Yale West for almost 2 years, and I love it here. The location is perfect for all the things I enjoy doing. There is a 24 hour Safeway across the street; and Gallery Place is less than a five minute walk. I am able to walk/​bike to work; and to most events in the downtown area.
I have utilized all of the amenities in the building; and they are well maintained by the management company. The staff has great customer service, and are willing to go the extra mile to make things happen. There are resident events, at a minimum, once per month which generally get a good turn-​out and allow you to meet your neighbors.
I have noticed that people are complaining about the water bill; however I live in a one bedroom and my bill has never been more than $ 50; which is pretty standard for a downtown property.
With all of that said I think the property is great for young professionals and would recommend it to anyone looking to move downtown.

Just left Yale West.
Important:
The water billing here is super sketchy. They bill on «estimated» usage. I’ve uploaded a picture of our bill that shows our crazy $ 80 water bill as well as the «bill processing fee» another reviewer mentioned. We paid this insane water bill for the last 4 months of our lease agreement. What bothered me most, more than the expensive rate, was that they billed us without any warning. After many complaints, they issued an email and continued to bill us this crazy fee. Be warned…
Pros:
–Great location.
–Friendly neighbors.
–Tia the head concierge is amazing.
Cons:
— The appliances look nice at first, but they are VERY loud and of low quality.
— The only bathroom for your dog is a 2′ x 15′ landing strip in the back of the building. Gross.
— Staff, although friendly, seem to change every 1 – 2 months. I’ve seen at least 3 different managers since living here (only one year). In fact, not a single employee that was here when I moved in still works here.
My advice:
Think twice…

I’ve lived here for about 6 months now. Love my apartment! I have a very large studio– much bigger, with more closet space than most other studios I looked at. The best part is I have a corner unit with a full wall of windows on one side and two large windows on the other. The amenities are great, the concierge staff is always friendly and helpful. The one maintenance issue I had was fixed in no time. Can’t beat the location (my main reason for moving here).
Now the cons– the leasing staff is pretty incompetent. They are very eager to get you in the door and show you all the options (I assume they work on commission). They were offering a great rent special– a $ 2950 rent concession to be used any way you want (such as all up front, or spread out equally throughout the year). That basically got me to sign the lease because the concession spread throughout the year was the same as what I was paying for my old place much further away. The gentleman who was helping me was friendly, but first he had no idea the floorplan I wanted to look at even existed (luckily I had printed it out from the Yale website). Second, he gave me the wrong rent price (only a difference of $ 20/​month but still– get it together). Third, he failed to tell me that the rent price he quoted was the price with the rent concession already included. I found out when I was signing the lease that the «market value» (aka real rent price) was actually $ 250 more a month than what was quoted (this makes a big difference when your first year lease is up). Next, he also didn’t tell me that water/​sewage/​trash is not included in the rent. It only ends up being $ 10-​$ 12/​month but it was the principle of the fact he didn’t disclose this until I was signing the lease. Basically, Yale West nickels and dimes you to death. In addition to rent, they charge for water, sewer, trash, a $ 50 per month pet fee in addition to a $ 400 non-​refundable pet deposit. Electric is also a separate charge, luckily its not too much. However, in addition to all the little fees here and there, if you want to pay your rent online through your checking account there is a month $ 10 fee, plus some other $ 5.00 fee for a company to split up the water charges based on usage per apartment. You want to park in the garage? $ 200/​month (luckily street parking is plentiful for only $ 35/​year).
While I love my actual apartment and the location, sadly I probably won’t be staying here as the leasing office offers absolutely no incentives for their current, responsible tenants to stay. I’ll be calling Bozzuto (the building manager) to try to negotiate another lease, but neighbors of mine who already had to either re-​sign or give notice, have said the leasing office won’t budge at all on negotiating. They won’t offer another rent concession, meaning you have to pay «market value» (i.e. $ 250 more a month, which I don’t think this place is worth) and that’s if you sign another year lease. If you want to lease month-​to month, it’s another $ 250 on top of that! Good luck to Yale West suckering more people in, but I know at least 4 units that will be vacating since they aren’t willing to negotiate and can imagine they’ll lose more than that.

I’ve lived here for about two weeks now. I’m going to address some of the other reviewers remarks then go into some of my own detail.
As opposed to the other reviewer, I had absolutely no problems with the leasing people. Initially I contacted them by email and they were very responsive and answered my questions. I came in to view the place (I had setup an appointment by email) and they were ready to go when I got there. I ended up applying on the spot. When I signed my lease a few weeks later (beginning of May), my offer (same as when I applied) was my first full month of rent free and they held to that. Unfortunately for me… later in the month (end of May, if you’re keeping track) they typically waive the end of the month and have the next full month free. Bad timing on my part… my lease had already been signed… oh well. So… since they’ve been open for a little while longer… seems to me they’ve fixed the leasing assistant problems they had with the other reviewer.
The rent is a little pricey but I have one of the 1 bedroom + den apartments and it is quite nice. The appliances and fixtures are all brand new, the billiards table is pretty decent and the salt-​water pool on the roof is amazing. The building is probably 1/3−½ full at this point so it hasn’t gotten too crowded… (yet… maybe you shouldn’t live here…)
Safeway is right across the street, which is very convenient (it’s open ²⁴⁄₇) and there are a few restaurants in the area as well (Taylor Gourmet = delicious, chipotle, etc).
The building is pet friendly. I believe some of the dog breeds are restricted and you can only have two pets per apartment. The concierge at the front desk are always very nice.
Update: Sorry everyone, I don’t live here anymore. I will note they usually have a refer-​a-​friend thing where the person living there gets money ($ 500 i think?). If you can find someone that lives there, maybe they’ll split it with you.

Yale West is a new apartment building near Chinatown and Mt. Vernon Circle. They opened in January.
I seriously entertained moving here but timing and the peculiarities of the leasing office ultimately scuttled the deal. Here are the things I ran into:
* Leasing assistants were nice but not as knowledgeable as one would expect. The leasing manager was often holed up in her office, and never in my three trips to the building said hello.
*I waited 40 minutes during the open house to speak with someone. In that time, there were two leasing agents on staff and one additional couple looking at the place. By the time someone spoke with me, I had 10 minutes before my next appointment. Basically this was a wasted trip.
*The «deals» that were offered were rescinded 48 hours later. Fair enough, they reserve the right to rescind deals, but it is aggravating to have a deal on the table Wednesday only to be told Friday when scheduling a lease signing on Saturday that they would no longer honor the deal.
*The apartments are nice, but for the price I’d look around the area if you have a month or so to sign. Pricing here is more for emergency situations where you need a place today.