520 Park Apartments — Local services in Baltimore

I live on the 6th floor, in their standard 1Br/1Ba layout "The Park."

Pros: -Location. You are only 2 blocks away from the monument, which is where there are a lot of restaurants, bars, and people walking around. But this street is extremely quiet. No one is loud outside after 11pm, even earlier on weekdays. Also built directly on top of the marketplace, where there are many food stalls that are all pretty good. People have described Mt Vernon as a food desert, since the main grocery store, Eddies, closed. But this location is on the southernmost part of Mt. Vernon, so its only about 4 blocks away from Streets market. It's a nice grocery store with most things you'd ever need, even a small Asian section. But it is expensive, so for bulk, I drive to Safeway. -Staff. The folks that work in the leasing office are all very nice, never had a negative experience with any of them, and they know my name. -Maintenance. The drain for my dryer was clogged since the day i moved in, I tried to fix it myself, it improved, but not great. Put in a work order and the maintenance team fixed it two days later. -Internet. There's 3 ethernet ports in the living room, and 2 in the bedroom. They all connect to a patch panel hidden in the wall next to the breaker. I put a switch in there, so I have reliable gigabit wired internet. -Pool. The swimming pool is in the other building on the same block, on the second floor. I was there on a Saturday afternoon and it was just me and the lifeguard for a while lol. Some other people showed up eventually. It's actually a beautiful pool imo, has a shaded section, nice chairs outside, can look out onto the street. -Huge windows. I love natural light, and you get plenty of it with the enormous windows they have. Double paned glass, which blocks out most street noise, besides the ambulances from Mercy hospital nearby. -Granite counters, dark brown cabinets, stainless steel appliances. It's a nice aesthetic.

Neutral -Noise. There is absolutely no noise in between walls. I've never heard a TV, voice, or anything from my adjacent neighbors. But you can certainly hear everything going on in the hallway. -Ceilings. I actually love the tall ceilings, but the reason I put them in neutral is because whenever I am on the phone or a teams call, people think I am talking to them from an 18th century cathedral. A rug might help dampen the reverb :) -Not much going on in the building. Most of the residents just keep to themselves it seems. Not a huge problem for me, cause I'm also a fan of just staying inside. But would be cool if there were events or something for residents to build a sense of community.

Cons -Package theft. I had a package stolen, but that was mostly due to the negligence of the delivery driver. Any package should be taken to the mailroom and it is secure there. Locked up and you get an email with a QR code to get in. But if the driver doesn't actually bring it in, it's just a coinflip. If someone is in the leasing office, they'll bring it in for you. Just unlucky timing on my part. I got a full refund, but just annoying to deal with. -Don't trust the small elevator. I got stuck in it before and heard the same from other residents. Thankfully, the other two normal size ones and the freight elevator work fine.

Overall, the pros far outweigh any cons, the management is great, especially in comparison to some horror stories I've heard about other buildings in the area. Really enjoy...

Currently 520 Park Apartments is neglecting and evading their responsibility for breaching the lease. At the end of January, I let the main office know that my closet started smelling like garbage. This was a few days after all tenants received an email to not put your garbage in the trash chute because it’s compacter was broken. Although it had been fixed, the smell pervaded my closet and the area close in proximity to my closet. Management wrote an order to the maintenance team. Their solution was to use a “Fog machine” to “air out” my apartment, I was informed the machine had a strong “scent”, but gave them permission to use it, as this was not my area of expertise, I entrusted them to take care of the situation so that my apartment could return to a livable state. The effect of the “Fog Machine” lasted less than two days. This time the entire studio apartment smelled like garbage, with the worst part being in my closet. Another order to maintenance was issued and the same treatment was used. This continued to be a problem I spoke to management again at the end of March, no official order was ordered to the maintenance team. They came to my apartment, used the “Fog machine” again and lined the baseboards with caulk to “Seal out” the smell. I could tell this wasn’t the problem as there were no visible cracks in the baseboards. I suppose they can say some effort was made, but the problem was not solved. I had enough as this scent permeated my furniture, my clothes, and my hair. In the beginning of April, I left to stay with my parents as this was affecting my social life, career, and sleep. Not long after I emailed my notice to the 520 Park Apartment Management that I was leaving. They had breached the lease, and it is simply wrong to charge a person for an apartment that smells like trash. The response from management was that the maintenance team “didn’t smell anything”. I responded that I have at least three witnesses that did smell the stench and wrote that they have breached the lease as the apartment was not in livable condition according to Maryland and Baltimore law. They have responded ignoring the topic of the garbage smell, and are accusing my of being in violation. I seriously question the integrity of this complex. Considering that my closet shares a wall with the garbage room and that I have three witnesses who can testify to that the smell is the same as that of the smell of the garbage room. My statement is not far-fetched, and my informing the apartment of their breach is not wrong. I have had all my things moved out for over a month. Unfortunately, not long after I had a family emergency in which my mother was in the hospital requiring my constant care as no one else in the family was available followed by other extenuating and emergent circumstances I was unable to respond to their false accusations for a little over a month. I have tried my best to deal with this peaceably, but from these interactions I can only conclude that they are dishonest and do not care about the tenants in their apartment complex when an inconvenient issue arises. It was just as inconvenient for me as it was them, if not more since I had to move back out, put my things in storage and search for a new Apartment...

Update: Employee referenced below has left but the new manager Colleen has been very responsive. She is actively working on improving the package issues at these apartments. This lease was transferred to the sister apartments next door which are called 500Park apartments and are also run by WPM Management. I will post a review there.

I had to quickly rent an apartment in Baltimore without having much time to research. These are nice apartments with a nice lobby. It seems very safe and the location is great. The reason I am writing this review today is that one employee has gone way above and beyond his duties to help with any issue we have had. His name is Keenon and he is the most pleasant employee. He is very professional. He definitely is not a "this is not in my job description" staff member. He lets you know that he cares about your issue and he will try to find a way to help if he can. He always seems to be in a good mood despite having to navigate the pandemic. I don't think it is Keenon's responsibility to design a better system for receiving packages but I will tell you that he will go way out of his way to try to do what he can to make sure that you get your package.

I am not sure if they are short staffed like everyone else but he always seems to be at work when I need his help. I was an HR Director/Employment lawyer for thirty plus years and I can tell you that from my experience, Keenon is a gem. It is rare for someone who is not rewarded monetarily for each task to help whenever you ask and to offer that assistance with a great attitude. I hope that upper management realizes what a great employee and reward him for that. I also hope that a better system for packages is implemented to relieve him of me having to call him so much so that he has more time for his other duties. I feel bad for constantly asking for his help.

I would have given 5 stars but I think there needs to be lockers with a code for packages or a building receptionist. I will update this review when the issue is fixed. They are saying it will be fixed by the end of hte year which I don't think is acceptable. Right now packages are just dropped on the floor where anyone can pick them up and that is what is happening apparently. If someone in upper management reads the reviews, you can see this is the main complaint listed which is a pretty easy thing to fix. The apartments are great so why not fix the one issue so that it does not show up in reviews online? Tenants mainly rely on online shopping in a city so this definitely needs to be addressed. Before I decided to lease an apartment here, I would ask if this is fixed. If not, make sure that you have access to an Amazon locker or alternate mailing address. I think the nearest locker might be .5 miles away which is not reasonable during bad weather especially if you have a large package (not for the amount of rent). I will update this review if the problem is addressed. I am only rating this five stars because this is mainly a review of Keenon individually. I am sure there are other very helpful staff members but Keenon is the one I have dealt with the most. Brittany has also...