Windsor Mystic River Apartments — Local services in Medford

UPDATE: The building has been SOLD to a NEW Leasing Mgt company called Windsor.They took over on 10/8/21. My review is NOT reflective of the Windsor Leasing company, as they are just getting here and have nothing to do with the prior poor mgt. of this building. My review is a review of Hanover Properties leasing company. Hanover did not want us to know. They didn't make good on a lot of things because they were one foot out the door. I do not recommend their buildings. I feel that they are dis-honest people for a variety of reasons. The new leasing company Windsor claims to be up for the challenge of improving the building, so I hope they actually are. We will see and give them a fair chance to see the quality of their mgt. I have noticed, dawn soap, sanitizer and a scrubbing took was placed in the dog spa. Still no waste basket to put the dog hair that ends up clogging the drain. I am not sure if that was done by another tenant or the new mgt. The drain in the spa dog tub however, needs to be cleaned and the drain must be unclogged regularly so that the dog hair in the plumbing does not prevent proper drainage from the tub, otherwise your dog will be bathing is filth from every other dog who used it before you. Of note, several apartments have had issues with mold due to leaks in the building. The old leasing company Hanover, did not disclosure this to tenants who moved in and they had no idea of the history of the apartment. Not good. Very disappointed in Hanover Leasing company.

Not a “5 Star Building”. Here’s why.

What’s pictured: Dog Spa Dog Park Property entrances 1st floor apartments in rear of building

Cons of the building: Dog spa poorly maintained (not clean), no rubbish barrel, no sanitizer for folks to wipe it down to be clean for next pet. Dog park is a disaster. It’s basically just mud. Vandalism Theft Noise in courtyard (people have weddings here…on week nights) Major lack of security in building. Side door in courtyard constantly left or stuck open allowing non residents to enter property. Homeless folks found sleeping in building entrances. Cheap fixtures Walls scuff very easily. They never added gloss to the walls, they are matte so they scuff very bad.No sound proofing in between floors. I hear the tenant above me stomping around, flushing their toilet etc. No monitoring of pool area and no monitoring of pool guests leading to over crowding of pool area. People invite way more than the (2) permitted guests Pool itself is poorly maintained. This summer, I saw someone’s weave (braid floating in the pool, a tissue, balls of hair floating in the pool) Trash on the 1st floor is a problem. It smells up the hallway. Is often overfilled with flies and trash that ends up on the floor. Trash is not covered outside in the dumpsters so it blows all over the property littering everywhere Understaffed Smoking on the property is a problem Lack of trash barrels outside of the building so people throw trash all over the property Overpriced given all of the issues :(

Pros of building: New Modern looking Very nice lobby area, conference rooms. Relatively attentive for maintenance calls of apartments repairs Good sound proofing on the SIDES of each apartment (but not above you). I don’t hear my neighbors to the left or right of me and vice versa. Attractive staff, polished and well spoken Close to beautiful park called Macdonald park Bus stop right out front of building Supermarket 2 minute walk across street 15 minute walk to assembly row or Wellington station orange line They have little socials in the building with food and beverages which is nice.

Update 11/14/21 Building cleanliness is really lacking. Hanover actually did a better job keeping the building clean. Dog spa, rest rooms are horrible and unkept. Dog bags have been replaced with thin bags that rip before they’ve even been opened. Fecal stains on the carpets in the hallways that have been there for weeks. PLEASE CLEAN OUR BUILDING!!!! We certainly pay for it. Most units...

I wanted to love Windsor Mystic River and parts of me did. Our apartment was good, the private dog park was convenient, and the proximity to shops made life a lot easier. The management and offices at Windsor, however, diminished any enjoyment we had from living there and we will never rent at a Windsor property again. There is a litany of issues that they will never own up to, or rectify. Just to list a few:

fire alarms go off at all hours of the day and at night. For 2 years we dealt with random fire alarms that interrupted work, sleep, and peace. We had fire alarms go off at 4 in the morning. They used to send explanations and then just gave up entirely. Even on our last day there, a fire alarm went off. Ask any resident before you consider moving here, they will tell you.

if something is broken, don’t expect repairs for months. Our friend’s AC went out during the hottest months of the year, Windsor could care less. It took weeks to get a replacement/repair in and even when they claimed to fix the issue, the AC still didn’t work. Once everything was finally repaired, all Windsor offered was 6 months free indoor parking. Same goes for their gym, don’t expect any machines to work because they let kids in there unsupervised to break the machines and then they take 6-8 weeks to get new parts. You pay the extra money for the amenities and then you don’t even get to use them. The last month we were there, the pec fly, leg extensions, and lateral pull down machines were all broken.

Car dealership tactics: they will try to squeeze every penny they can out of you regardless of how long you have lived there because all they care about is money and profit. You had free parking when you moved in? Guess what, now you have to pay monthly for parking but nothing improved to justify the cost. What’s their excuse? “We charge newer tenants for it so we have to charge you for it, too”. If you don’t want to pay their ridiculous fees to park inside, you have to pay to park outside but alllllll the patrons to the Ford tavern and nail salon don’t have to so they can just take all the spots. I had to circle and wait for customers to leave just so I could park at my own apartment.

They just straight up lie to you: THIS is undoubtedly the part of living at Windsor that made me realize they don’t care about you. If you lose a guest parking pass, they will lie out of their teeth and say it’s $100 to replace the parking pass because it allows you to “park anywhere in the city”. That’s an absolute lie and that same exact parking pass is .20 cents on Amazon. Best part is, if you call them out on it, they will apologize and not charge you for it. It’s such a scummy practice that they will utilize on a regular basis to get as much out of you as they can.

If you decide to live here, KNOW YOUR RIGHTS as a tenant. Fight back tooth and nail on their ridiculous fees and charges. When you call them out on their lies, they will back down and reduce or remove the fees. There are TONS of other apartments in the area, and an even better one...

When looking to move into Boston last Summer, my partner and I were looking at several apartment complexes and other homes. What caught our eye was the superb rating of this place. Everyone seemed to mention how great Skylar was, and it seemed too good to be true. How could an apartment complex have such a great rating?? All the other ones we looked at and toured were lower rated and didn't seem to have anything special about them, especially for the price. We looked through the reviews to see if it was a scam, but couldn't pick up on anything obvious.

It's probably clear from the 5 star review now, but thankfully it did turn out to be true.

When first moving in, the neighbor above us seemed to walk around quite a bit late at night. This made us doubt our choice about the location since the creaky floors made it hard to sleep through the night, but talking to Skylar to see how we could resolve this worked, and it's been quiet ever since! It's likely the neighbor didn't realize how creaky the floors were and needed to be a bit more mindful of their steps.

Skylar is fantastic to work with and is always willing to go out of her way to help. She (and possibly others on the staff) organize community events at least once a month and sometimes twice a month. They range from comedy events, to yoga, to dance classes (Skylar teaches Bachata dancing!), to Xfinity sponsored get togethers.

My partner and I had a dog staying with us for a short time and the doggie bags around the property and green spaces nearby are wonderful to take walks in.

Really, the only downside here is the location. Although we've met some great people in the building, it's been a bit tough for people we've met in the city to come out to our place if they don't have a car. There's no close T stop, and bus routes to get here are a bit lengthy. However, it is close to Fells Reservation which is great to take hikes and get some fresh air!

Other than location, we've had a rather positive experience here! The free parking for the first car outside is nice and the grocery store across the street makes it easy to run out and get any last minute ingredients!

We'd definitely renew our lease if we were a bit closer to some of the places we'd like to be, but at the moment it seems like the price and location might not be quite the right fit in the end. Either way, still a really great...