The Current — Local services in Monona

The building is beautiful and the underground parking is absolutely fabulous in the winter....that is if someone isn't constantly parking in your assigned spot. During the time that I lived at The Current, management rearranged the parking spots to better manage parking issues above ground. Unfortunately, their initial communications were sent out via email which feel on deaf ears which lead to someone consistently being parked in my old and new assigned spots. The tenant apparently didn't check their email or text messages over the course of 6 months.....They have since moved to a first come first serve approach so perhaps this is less of an issue now.

That being said, if you decide to not pay for a spot you will want to be prepared to deal with a lack of parking availability above ground. The building does not allow tenants to park in the front lot which leaves you to park on the surrounding streets. Pre -COVID this was definitely an issue for tenants and their guests as there was limited parking due to the success of Buck & Honey's. In addition, you'll want to know that since this building is in Monona you're restricted to parking in city park parking lots during snow emergencies. So enjoy walking back to your luxury apartment from a city park during a snow storm!

In addition to the constant parking problems, you'll want to be prepared to deal with any resident conflicts yourself. My first few weeks at The Current were everything that I had hoped for...a nice new quiet apartment (minus the Bridge Road construction which wasn't all that bad). However, while it is amazing that the building doesn't have breed or weight restrictions for pets this means that you might end up with a large dog living above you.

In my case, this happened to be a 90 pound Shepard and it's owner who might as well have been Sasquatch. You'll hear them (constantly) but you never see them! After being asked to record the noise by management I was basically told that I needed to confront the individual myself. After a whopping 8 months of my ceiling sounding like it was going to collapse, I was able to get out of my lease...but only after multiple complaints.

I moved to The Current and chose to live on the 3rd floor because the woman who handled the leasing told me that they had gone to great lengths to mitigate noise in the building. This is very much not the case and had I not been lied to I would have rented on a higher floor. If you want to live on the channel this is a great building. The retail below is super convenient and overall Monona is a great place to live. However, be prepared to go through the growing pains of a management company that is...

Pros: Maintenance is very timely when you have issues during the week. Had the heating unit in our apartment go out twice during the winter where it was blasting cold air but they came first thing when they came in. View of the river is nice.

Cons: Pricing is extremely high for the size of the apartments offered. First floor business (B&H) is extremely loud for most of the warmer season (April/May through October) with their live music. If you get home after work and are hoping for a relaxing evening, you won't get it until after 9 PM of course they won't show you the apartments during the live music so you won't appreciate how loud until you've signed the lease and moved in. Also went to a new computing system that they don't seem to understand resulting in them forcing tenants to handle finding replacements for their apartment units if you need to leave your lease early (can't do 12 month commitments). In the past 10 years, the places I've lived with let you terminate your lease if you get 60 day notice and pay 1 or 2 month fee but this one you'll be locked in for a full year and on the hook for all of it, no exceptions with the explanation, our software is too complicated to figure out. Being on the river, the thought of having the patio was great to be able to enjoy the view but with being next to the water, you get an insane amount of river flies when it's warm which means lot of spiders as well. You can clean off the patio so it looks great but by the next day the patio will be covered in cobwebs again. Along with those issues, they have an electronic key system (fobs) that work 90% of the time but you will eventually have issues with because they don't keep their door software up-to-date. Has been an issue for the onsite gym and parcel room.

Edit 6/18/2023 : Looks like they're trying to do their best to raise their google review rating by providing incentives to residents (Review rating was ~2.5ish prior to their early June $1000...

First off, they don't do leasing during certain months, which is very inconvenient. Therefore, my "12 month" lease was only 11 months and I had to find a place to live for a month. They informed me my only option was to resign a 12 month lease and then sublet for the 11 months after, which was not a risk I was willing to take.

Upon my move in there were tons of issues with my apartment that I informed them about and noted on my check in list including wet and soap filled carpet. Therefore, if they want to be detail oriented the apartment check-in condition was far worse than the move-out that I cleaned following their instructions, such as "power washing" the balcony which I think is absurd.

I have never not received my full deposit upon my move out from an apartment complex and this would be the first time. They refunded me $440 of my $500 and told me there was three hours of cleaning needed for my apartment. They stated the first hour is free and then $30 for each subsequent hour. When I inquired about what needed 3 hours of cleaning they reached out to the cleaning service who apparently did not provide any information to them, therefore they refunded me another $30. They indicated my apartment needed two hours of cleaning upon reviewing the photos, and would charge me for the second hour. When I asked for the photos they sent me the photos I have attached. I am sorry but I do not see 2 or 3 hours of cleaning in these photos. It was like they were playing games or trying to steal money from me. Honestly, it is about the principle so they can enjoy my $30, but I would not recommend working with this complex.

All in all I left the place in a better condition than it was...