The Witmer — Local services in Arlington

We moved into The Witmer when it first opened and had lived there for two and a half years. Our overall experience was great and we really didn't have much to complain about the facility and management. I'll start with the good parts. The building is in an unbeatable location, right on top of the Pentagon City metro, which is amazing if you rely on the metro a lot. The Pentagon City mall is right across the street, and there are a ton of other stores, restaurants, Whole Foods, coffee joints, etc. within walking distance. The major highways around here (I-395, US-50, I-66) are all super accessible nearby. We truly enjoyed the neighborhood and felt very safe. Our unit had a high-floor, north-facing, unobstructed view of DC that was a treat, especially on the Fourth of July when our own personal balcony was the perfect spot to watch the fireworks on the National Mall. The facility was always clean, modern, and we never really experienced anything dysfunctional. The gym was kinda small but not a deal breaker. All the residents seemed like mature working professionals or young families and we never had any issues with any neighbors or loud noises. The unit was, for the most part, sound proof except the rare occasions where we would hear someone's dog barking at home.

We enjoyed mostly everyone working at The Witmer too. Folks at the concierge were the highlight as they were always friendly, welcoming, helpful, and ready to say hi. The maintenance team was super responsive and professional. They always made sure to respect your space, privacy, and got the work done and got out quickly. We never quite interacted with the leasing office much and any property managers but we knew who they were if we ran into them. The team organized a lot of community events on a regular basis.

Now there are definitely drawbacks about living here, which is not exactly the building's fault, but they're worthing point out if you're looking to move here. While the building is so conveniently located in the center of shopping and transit destinations, it makes for an extremely busy and traffic-heavy spot in the evenings when everyone is off work, taking walks, looking for food, etc., and on the weekends. During dinner hours, delivery service drivers and Ubers all temporarily park their cars outside, making it a traffic nightmare. The busy intersection outside the building can get pretty noisy on the weekends too when it's crowded. Also, the building's garage has a level for commercial parking so you'll encounter all kinds of people who have no idea where they're going. The garage entrance also opens to the busy sidewalk right in front the building so good luck getting out when pedestrian traffic is high, which is most of the time in the evenings and on the weekends. During the last year of our time here, it felt like the fire trucks and all kinds of sirens were passing by surrounding roads all the time, which got a bit annoying after a while. All of these are just the joy of city living, I guess. No big deal if you don't mind all the bustling, and I suppose it wouldn't be as bad if you have an east- or south-facing unit, or face the court yard, away from 12th St and S. Hayes St.

With all that said, we had a really consistent and pleasant experience at The Witmer and would recommend the community to those looking for that city convenience and a top-notch, new-ish facility in the Pentagon City neighborhood. I agree with some of the other reviews about how the parking garage has some tight turns, and the washer and dryer open to a door hinge, etc., but those become unnoticeable after a while so they didn't register with us too much. I also wish the floor plans had more characters and were less basic. But it's impossible to find an apartment building completely perfect, so checking off the boxes on at least the big things are important, which we thought The Witmer had performed well. Overall, the Witmer is definitely a solid option so...

I wish I could give this place more like 4.8 stars because it is overall a GREAT building, the largest pro is definitely the people who work here/live here, haven't had a SINGLE less than great encounter with anyone. My unit itself is pretty good, some people in the reviews complain about more minor details but as someone who lives here casually, I haven't encountered anything to really bother me. I also almost never hear my neighbors except the occasional vacuum, the building is well sealed so I've never had spiders, the roof is great and never crowded, and the location/building safety are all great.

With that said there is just one thing that is starting to drive me a little crazy and thats the total lack of steady hot water, and for a while i thought it was me until i reached out to maintenance (who are very nice, this is not their design its really management who must have made this choice for some reason) and they came the next day (which is great!) but they explained that the heaters are turned up all the way and they are just very small, and that they have to tell people they have about TEN TO FOURTEEN MINUTES of hot water PER UNIT in their shower, which for a luxury apartment that is newly renovated is way subpar. I asked if anything at all could be done at all and they (bear in mind very kindly, this is not their fault, just very annoying) explained that the most i can do is budget the water and make sure i wasn't using the sinks, dishwasher, or washer within an hour or so of showering............... I also live alone in a one-bedroom unit ALONE, and if I didn't, that would mean really only one person can shower at a time. I'm surprised I didn't find anything about this online/nobody else is mentioning it.

Overall the water is something you can sort of get past (but i do miss being able to take a bath, the tub wont even get half way before the water runs to room temp) but i would NOT live here with a roommate (or a partner in a one bed) it would likely drive you insane. I personally have been able to deal with it, but next year I was planning on upgrading from a one to a two bed and moving in with my boyfriend and friend, but after discovering there's nothing they can do about the hot water issue, we're likely just going to have to go with one of their buildings :( which is truly unfortunate because we all love the building/staff/location the most otherwise by a LOT.

One other thing about the water- for a while i thought my dishwasher wasn't working well either, until I realized I was just cleaning, and when I clean, I often wash dishes, do laundry, and run the dishwasher. This also made me realize the appliances aren't the issue, but they run out of hot water QUICKLY, especially if you run them together/around the same time. So overall, having to time to strategize every time I do laundry, shower, and want to clean is honestly a nuisance.

Overall, it might seem like I'm not happy here, but I truly ADORE this building, it's my favorite apartment I've lived in, and if you don't like long showers/good amounts of hot water, you'll...

I absolutely hate bugs, and I keep my apartment very clean specifically to avoid them — so this experience has been incredibly upsetting. I’ve been dealing with a roach problem for several weeks now, first reporting to maintenance on June 11th. I waited a few days to report this because I wasn’t sure what kind of bugs they were cause I really cannot stand them and had to call friends and family to help. Even after management sent pest control on June 16th (which there was confusion on if they were actually sent since my initial conversation with management (TJ) indicated that she thought pest control was supposed to come on a different day and wasn’t aware), I continued seeing roaches — first on my kitchen counter, but now on my walls and floors and even dishwasher. I also now see little ones, which TJ also acknowledged that roaches reproduce fast.

In my conversation with management (TJ) on June 23rd, I was told to wait a full two weeks for the treatment to take full effect, essentially expecting me to live and work in these conditions until then. That is an unacceptable and dismissive response. The two weeks have passed and I have continued to see them during the two week window, and even now on July 2nd. She insisted that I just had to live it and there was nothing they could do. Rather than offering any other solutions or relief, she mentioned that I should be grateful they are paying for my pest control services rather than making me pay. She even floated the idea that I or my neighbors may have brought in the roaches. It felt very unprofessional. There was no follow up from them at the end of two weeks either. It was only when I came down to talk with TJ that she mentioned that there was a follow up appointment. After our discussion, she contacted pest control to have another round of treatment, which requires me to remove all my items. I’m not sure what, if any, follow up was scheduled prior to me bringing it up again and why I wasn’t made aware, esp if requires significant prep beforehand.

On top of that, TJ keeps insisting that they “don’t see signs of roaches” and that this property has “never had these kinds of issues,” despite the photos I have and consistently seeing them in my apartment. Given that I see them daily in multiple areas of my apartment, it’s obvious this isn’t just an isolated issue.

This has been so stressful that I even had to stay elsewhere just to feel comfortable. It’s incredibly disappointing to feel ignored and brushed off while dealing with this problem. I have asked to speak with the general manager and that request has not been met. If you value a bug-free, livable space and a management team that takes concerns seriously, I would strongly suggest looking elsewhere. This is my fourth apartment in pentagon city alone, but it has been my most stressful one. Given the high rent you pay to live here but to be treated this way, I suggest looking at the...