Concord Crystal City — Local services in Alexandria

I had a great experience in the Concord for the past year. If you can afford the rent, it’s definitely a great apartment to stay at.

Pros:

I have very sensitive ears, so I want to specifically mention the concrete building structure. You hear absolutely NO noise from your upstairs neighbors. In terms of noise between apartments on my floor, there’s always going to be mild talking you from time to time, but it’s never excessive and there’s a good amount of noise damping. The most noise you’ll hear is from the hallway, but that’s very infrequent. I also play electric guitar and I received 0 noise complaints.

The amenities are also very nice. The gym has a squat rack and an assortment of cable machines, dumbbells and cardio machines. In my experience, everyone in the gym was respectful (no music out loud or excessive talking). The lounge on the first floor is nice. And the rooftop terrace has one of the best views in the area. A very nice place to spend some time.

The shower has great water pressure and temperature.

Cons (and fixes):

I had a roach problem for a few weeks which maintenance cleared up very quickly. The maintenance team is very receptive and effective in their work. The leasing office staff and the concierge are extremely kind and helpful.

When I entered the apartment, there was a horrible smell from the previous tenants. Maintenance repainted the walls and it cleared up right away.

My washing machine broke one week, but maintenance came and cleared it up! But make sure to not fill up the washing machine with too many clothes.

The water from the sink faucet had a weird taste, but getting a Brita or any other water filter was an easy solution to that.

There was a pipe burst which caused all the regular elevators to break down for several weeks (only the freight elevator was available for use for the entire building), but it is currently being fixed and most likely be perfectly fine once you move in.

The parking garage is under construction as well (again, will most likely be finished by the time you move in) which forces you to park on certain levels. It wasn’t a big deal, but you might have to spend an extra few minutes finding a spot.

Overall:

The area is relatively nice. There are some grungy areas, but everywhere is safe to walk around during the day. There’s an excellent walking trail at Long Bridge Park which is well lit. The restaurants on Crystal Drive are a mix of fast food, ethnic food and steakhouses (mix of cheap and expensive). Personally, I would go to Annandale to eat. Old Town is 15min away and is great to spend a day.

There’s a lot of construction in the area (quite gentrified), so you might hear some noises the further up crystal drive (but not from the apartment).

The metro is a 10 minute walk (if you cut through the indoor shopping mall) which is very convenient. Downton D.C. is only 4 stops away (15min metro ride).

Final Thoughts:

If I had a choice to live here again, I definitely would. All the cons I listed out were very case by case and will most likely never happen to you. The benefits of a fantastic apartment, noise insulation and great amenities as well as the receptive staff are more than enough reason for me to come back. The 4 stars is simply due to the construction and apartment issues I personally experienced, but are NOT something that would happen with everyone. Ultimately, I would definitely recommend this place for anyone looking for a comfortable, modern and convenient...

This one was honestly really tough to rate. My wife and I lived here for about a year and a half. If you are looking for a quiet, well priced, and renovated apartment, look no further. The leasing staff was pretty horrible after Lexi left. Don't be fooled by the fake Crystal City smile you will get from the leasing agents. They are not interested in helping you in any way whatsoever. We have tried to get in contact with the leasing office several times to finish our move-out and the manager was always "busy" and "would call us in a few minutes". The leasing agents were pretty dismissive when they found out we would be moving out when I took a job in Southern Virginia. I rented at the Concord for a year from January 2018 to about November 2018 and returned from March 2019 to June 2019. Our first stay was so pleasant, we wanted to return because the Concord felt like home. We were close to the Crystal City Metro station and directly across the street from the 27th Street/Crystal Drive Metroway stop. The Concord was an excellent jump off point for our weekend exploration into the DC area.

Then we come to the lead concierge, Justine. Justine is the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). Justine was always there in the morning when I left for work to wish me a good day at work and would greet me by name when she saw me. She got to know my family and was excited for us when we had our first child. Between Justine, James, and Lexi made our stay at the Concord absolutely wonderful. When we brought our son home from the hospital, we came home to a handwritten, personalized note from Justine, James, and Lexi congratulating us on the new addition to our family. When we returned to the Concord for our second lease, Lexi, James, and Justine left another personalized note welcoming us back to the community. Lexi and James, wherever you are, thank you for making my stay at the Concord so wonderful. Your personal touch was felt and made us feel like we were coming home every day. Justine, same to you and keep it up! You are such a great person and we will miss...

This past year living in this building has been an absolute nightmare. First of all, we specifically asked for a peaceful and silent apartment while touring and we were assured that is what we were going to get. I am a light sleeper and my spouse is a musician that needs to record, so silence is of the utmost importance. To our surprise, once we moved in we discovered this is one of the noisiest apartments we have ever seen, to the extent of having to use earplugs to sleep every night since we moved in. The AC equipment is ridiculously loud and the noise from the street and the train is non-stop (even on the 13th floor) As an architect I am pretty confident the facade system in this building is not compliant with IBC or OSHA requirements for soundproofing. We asked to be moved to the other side and the building expected us to pay a “relocation fee” which is the first time we heard of. To make things worse, the building unexpectedly decided to start construction work in the parking levels. Constant noise day and night, not even mentioning the inconvenience to find parking. I was no longer able to work from home since I could not even make calls due to the noise. Staying in the apartment was chaotic enough, to top it off, the three elevators in the building went out of order for weeks, making it almost impossible to get in or out of the apartment. This building has made our lives worse in all ways possible, affecting our productivity, physical and mental health. We asked to be allowed to get out of the lease based on this awful experience but were denied. Bozzuto has zero costumer service. We’ve toured several properties and came to the same conclusion: They design buildings with a myriad of amenities to entice millennials but the quality of construction is appalling and they don’t care about the renter’s wellbeing at all....