145 Front at City Square — Attraction in Worcester

I have been emailing Britteny Bergevin back and forth today and finally reached out to her via phone since I did not hear back to discuss about parking. When we first met Brittany we discussed the rates and she mentioned the parking fees. We were both extremely clear that we wanted uncovered parking spots. We went over the rates with her and what the total cost would be every month. We decided to put down a deposit and gave our notice to our current landlord. I received a surprising email from Brittany today informing us there was only one uncovered spot available. When I spoke to Brittany late this afternoon she mentioned it is a privilege for us to have two parking spots and she never agreed that we would be getting two uncovered parking spots. At this point she was not able to assist me on my concerns and I had asked if I could get a managers name. She refused to provide me that information and said she would be emailing me her managers information. I told Brittany that I would be waiting for an email and that if I could have her managers name and again she refused and put me on hold for couple of minutes. After being put on hold for simply asking for a name I hung up and had my husband called instead. When Nathan ( my husband) spoke to Brittany she informed him that we never spoke about us wanting uncovered parking spots and again that it was a privilege for us to have two parking spots-which we were never told at the time of the application. Covered parking spaces are $150 per car a month and uncovered $75.00 per car. When at the time she informed us of the parking rates we were so surprised and told her we will be getting two uncovered parking rates- we were offended that she acted like if we never spoke about parking rates. She was extremely rude and unprofessional to my husband and I and finally after asking multiple times for her managers name she provided us the information. Which I am glad we did since we never received a follow up email like she told us. We tried working with Brittany- we even asked if we could park in a covered spot and pay for the uncovered rate till one becomes available-she was not able to assist and kept saying it is policy. Brittany said that uncovered spots were never available from the start- this is news to us since we were never told at the time of the application (mid December). Our lease ends in two weeks and now we are rushing to find a place. It is extremely stressful my husband is a federal employee-with the government shut down and now this it’s just not acceptable. We told Brittany that we would like our deposit back and she agreed but I wanted to bring this to your attention for your future tenants. Our lease was going to be for 18 months and we are disappointed with our experience we had with 145 Front. If your calls are recorded you would understand my frustration families should not have to deal with this.

UPDATE: Christy reached out this morning and was able to provide us two uncovered parking spots. We look forward to our stay at 145...

We were initially enchanted by 145 Front St. The downtown location is near many restaurants. There’s a swimming pool and barbecue area, and the building is near area hospitals, which is especially important for medical residents who have to rotate through the UMass system. The doormen/front desk staff are very kind, the hallways smell great, and the apartment and building’s interior are aesthetically pleasing.

However, it didn’t take long for the charm to wear thin. After living here for just under 4 months, my fiancé and I, who both work in healthcare, now feel we were misled. Here is why:

-The gym has five treadmills, three of which have been out of service for over a month, and the fourth whose screen recently broke (photos below).

-The computers at the front workspace, immediately to the left of the front lobby of the main entrance, have technical issues and often don’t work.

-The main entrance garage gate was broken for more than 1 month and wouldn’t open and close for cars to enter or leave (photo below). It has broken more than once during our time here. We are forced to use another gate which, because of the location, is a major daily inconvenience.

-They only allow one parking spot per apartment. Any additional cars are put on a “6 month minimum” waitlist and are required to park off the property in downtown parking lots surrounded by the homeless, drug addicts and shady characters, who at times are actively using substances and give the area an unsafe feel. As a woman and night shift nurse, I feel very vulnerable passing through this gauntlet. When I mentioned this to assistant manager, Kate, she asked me if I had ever lived in a city before, and chuckled. (We have lived in over 6 major cities, by the way, and never had this issue.)

-The wifi we are required to pay for is slow but they encourage residents to utilize this wifi/cable package rather than getting their own because they insist it is extremely “high speed” at 300 mbps. It lags and crashes daily. We’ve even done multiple speed tests (photos below) that show the internet is slow, ranging between 0.25-4.3 mbps at different times of the day.

-When I tried speaking to the assistant manager Kate about the issues, she got defensive, began cutting me off, and took zero accountability for the apartment's defects.

-When you complain to management about the broken computers, gym equipment and gate, they say these are not included in our rent and so we have no right to complain.

-With all the maintenance issues, the building has yet to reach out to residents with either an apology, updates, or reassurance that there’s even a plan to get things back up and running. With all these lingering issues, they have remained unapologetic, unwilling to negotiate rent, or at the very least, sent out a communication to show they care for their residents and appreciate...

The apartments themselves as previously mentioned are of ok quality. There are 3 main issues with the apartment itself.

1. They use a cheap flat paint for most of the walls (this is both hard to clean and easily marked/dirty). This is most apparent in the seating area of any of the kitchens.
2. In many of the apartments, the wet areas suffers from black mold issue (I have no tested whether it is Stachybotrys chartarum, I am hoping not but again I have not tested it). As a result, careful consideration and regularly cleaning must be done to keep mold spores in check.
3. Overall, no careful consideration of the construction has been done. Points 1 & 2 are part of this. But here are more examples: the overhang of the kitchen counter, underneath is untouched and unfinished so when you accidentally touch it, it is dusty and chalky. The lack of more ventilation in the room leads to stagnant air. The materials and design of the kitchen cabinets is poor leading to certain doors to constantly break. The garage is built on the narrow side which causes close interactions with cars. There are no mirrors in the garage to see turning traffic.

The main issue with this apartment however, is not the apartment itself. I believe that even with all these issues it is not bad. The physical structure itself is decent. The reason why I would not choose to live here again is the management and service. There are very notable exceptions. Michael and his team are exceptional, I don't think that you can ask for a better maintenance team. While I haven't seen Ashley (concierge) in awhile she was great at getting things done and friendly. That being said the leasing office has not been great (it's been a steady decline in service and aptitude). Ariel is a rude and dismissive concierge, and doesn't possess qualities fitting for a customer facing position. He is not interested in helping or assisting but more interested in blaming. I believe that other reviews online are speaking about him.

Overall I cannot recommend this place. If you are searching for a semi-luxury/luxury building, I think that Quinn35 is probably your best bet. If you are looking for a place in Worcester itself, I think that Edge is also not a bad consideration. If I were looking for a place right now (those 2 were from research I did when I was looking for an apartment), I would also consider the...