Waterloo Place

Great place to live, clean & thick quite walls

I lived at Waterloo for five years. Some decent things -the price of the rooms relative to the space and other neighborhoods is decent, the garage parking is functional and cheaper than other buildings with paid parking, and the location is convenient for JH students given the shuttle stops are practically next door. Service tickets are usually addressed quickly. The bad things - the units and building itself are in significant need of renovation. The appliances are energy inefficient, probably older than many of the renters, and had issues semi-regularly while I lived there. Speaking of energy inefficient - the walls are very poorly insulated, and you'll pay out the nose. I had a pipe burst in my roommate's bedroom from the lack of insulation, and it took Waterloo close to an hour to come and turn it off. They then took two weeks (and multiple attempts) to get our unit back to normal. Several parts of drywall in his bedroom had to be replaced, and when one of the handymen were ripping out the wall we could see there was no insulation in the wall besides some trash (e.g. coke cans). The walls are thin, so you'll probably hear your neighbors. The building is like an M.C. Escher painting; the layout confuses most people, and there are a ton of stairs for pretty much no reason. It'll be good for your health to get that cardio in, but moving in and out will be a pain. The elevators constantly are breaking down, along with the gates and garage doors. There's been a ton of new management cycling in and out, and they've generally been a bit hapless overall. Lots of stories of them not handling moves in and out right, security deposit/rent issues, etc, lying about security issues, etc. I had a frustrating experience with the current management when moving out. As the elevators were not working consistently, I asked them to ensure that at least one of them was operational for my and other move-outs that were scheduled. They failed to do that, and blew me off after.

If I had it all to do again, I would have never moved into the Waterloo knowing what I know now. The staff could not have cared less about the residents and the building was always filthy dirty. Not once in the year I lived here was the elevator cleaned, the public walkways swept or the garage free of litter. I often walked through the complex only to find old bags of snow melt laying around and dog feces in public areas. Susan and the leasing office team had a constant "it's not my problem" attitude when it came addressing complaints, especially when I complained about vagrants sleeping on the property. Concern for resident safety and security ranks low on the priority list at the Waterloo. On a daily basis you can walk around the "secured" interior of the complex and see people who clearly didn't belong there roaming about. There were numerous break-ins during the time I lived there and my computer was stolen right from outside my door when I was moving out! My suggestion for anyone is to find literally anywhere else to live. Waterloo and it's current management team does not deserve a single penny.

Raising rent 12% each of the first two renewals. Out of date interiors with floor plans that have waist height dividers. Charge per month for valet trash . FOBs out of order regularly.

Of the apartments in the Mt Vernon area, the Waterloo represents one of the largest apartment complexes. The staff attempts to give residents many opportunities to mingle with other residents. Also, over the past year, they have tried to improve residential life here. Some of these attempts have unfortunately made things less convenient for residents of the Waterloo (namely, the closing of all trash chutes and forced use of the Trash Butler service).

Love living here and what this place has to offer my only issue is how thin the walls/windows are so you hear a lot of outside noise. Also the downstairs of my apartment in the winter stays much colder then the upstairs unless I have a fire going.