1213 Walnut Apartments — Local services in Philadelphia

I’m adding a star for the ability to walk to work in Center City and the concierge, who generally are very nice and helpful to their best ability.

First, I am a firm believer that if an apartment does not have the proper equipment or capacity to handle dogs, then it should not allow dogs. I have lived in buildings that allowed dogs but the buildings had plenty of measures in place to keep non-dog owners happy: soundproof units, daily sanitizing of public areas for dog waste, and strict and efficiently enforced bans against noncompliant owners (picking up waste, noise). Moreover, because the rules were so strictly enforced, residents either had very apartment friendly breeds like Greyhounds or similar breeds that didn’t require constant supervision, or had dogs they knew from personal experience were non high maintenance. 1213 Walnut has failed to set any expectations, rules, and consequences with dog owners and hence this apartment is overrun with badly behaved owners and their pets. I have never seen so many breeds that require at least a backyard in other apartment buildings I have lived in and owners who have no clue how to take care of these breeds. I lay the blame for this dog situation squarely on 1213 Walnut for lack of any enforcement and for its lack of foresight in allowing barking dogs into units where the walls are so thin you can hear your upstairs neighbor walk around in sneakers. The cleaning is atrocious: there is now a permanent stench of stale urine on the amenity floor when you get off the elevators.

Second, the amenities themselves: as a preface, I am paying $2300 a month for a studio and I expect some quality. The exercise room’s treadmills, the FOCAL point of any exercise room, are uncalibrated and one of them even tilts to the side. There are only two ellipticals. The exercise room is functionally equivalent to a Motel 6 fitness center; it certainly is more spacious and looks nicer, but I need for the equipment to be more numerous and for it to work. I constantly have to wait for a broken treadmill. The rest of the amenity floor I don’t use generally. It’s nice looking but the few times I used it I wanted more privacy for WFH calls; internet is fast.

Then the appliances and the layout of the $2300 studio itself: not great. For the layout, the apartment lacks privacy when the window shades are up. I can see straight into my neighbor’s apartment. That’s bad, especially since the bed space is right next to that window. The bathroom is a nice size but, again, for $2300, there should be a tub. I like occasional baths for relaxation but maybe it’s not as important for others. The layout, however, is not as bad as the appliances themselves. The appliances need to be updated. The dryer does not dry completely and has an issue with the dryer sensor, so it stops prematurely on almost every load. The dishwasher is a half size and the oven is a half size and the fridge is a half size. I would’ve given the small sizes a pass but it goes with the cheapness mentality of the management. It’s also an overall small apartment: barely 500 sq ft. On the plus side, and very important: the climate control works fine but it takes like 15 minutes sometimes to switch on.

Lastly, management: incompetent. I don’t know what it is management accomplishes, but as a lawyer, I hold competence in the workplace in high regard. Management straight up lied when they told me in a memo that it would take a business day to make repairs to my HVAC. It took about a week. And whoever was in charge forgot to lock my door at the end of four of those days even after me reminding them after the second time it happened. I would come back from work to find that my door was clearly unlocked: you could see from the daylight seeping through the door that was slightly ajar. Nothing was stolen but I want to share this story to show how little management cares and, if you get mad at incompetence, you’ll be in for an infuriating lease term.

I won’t stay here past my lease term because I’ve found so many other options. Shame on you,...

I have been a tenant in this building for approximately 2 years in one of their most expensive units, and this review, while extensive, is worth your time to avoid a year of harassment, racism, unsafe living conditions, and threats.

First, a look at just some of the problems

Weekend parties resulting in smoking, loud music, general debauchery in the common area that nobody from management stops. It is beautiful to come home after a long week and walk right into a cloud of cigarette smoke.

Break ins, robberies, harassment of residents by strangers walking into the front door. Why may you ask? Well the front door was left broken, for a very long time. When it did lock, it is commonplace for night staff and weekend staff to not check ID's or ask anyone who entered behind someone where they were going - leading to some very bad situations.

Lewd and obscene photo shoots by strangers wearing barely any clothing and utilizing our common areas as their personal studio.

Apathetic, slow or non existent responses from management about safety concerns.

"Facade" projects that have gone over stated time blocking use of common areas with heavy equipment.

Swampy floors from broken HVAC condensate line, this took weeks to remediate and I was enjoying soaked feet for weeks.

Multiple missing lights in the hallway of the "Penthouse" floor, for not days, weeks, or months, but years. Missing lights in the gym as well.

Elevators that go down and take weeks to repair.

The most disgusting and vile smelling dog park that management refuses to give staff properly cleaning tools and supplies for.

A trash room that they do not actually want you to use, because the trash chutes are "broken". So trash and cardboard just build up and it smells terribly in your hallway.

Lack of care of exterior of building, including leaving v omit and urine stains for days, sometimes weeks, at a time.

Racist employee who verbally attacked myself and others. When this entire incident was caught on camera, they refused to take an incident report or even acknowledge the employees behavior. They then aimed to delete all the footage and cover it up. No apology was ever issued, either.

Now, where things get even more disturbing.

My main review was attacked by their staff and reported extensively in order to get it hidden from Google.

They then sent an email stating the owner would sue me.

They up'd my rent by ~30% and tried to financially destroy me.

Then, when all this harassment didn't work - they pushed me into legal mediation to waste my time.

I attended, spoke my grievances, and asked for theirs.

They did not respond to the mediator with a list of issues, let alone one issue. They had absolutely no proof to provide to the government mandated mediator that I was a bad tenant.

Then, apparently not satisfied with their strong arm mafioso tactics not working, they sued me.

To cherry on top display what slumlords Goldenberg Group Company are, they didn't sue me for owed rent, I was paying the absurd " revenge rent " they were charging me, - they sued me for their legal costs - ..that's right... for suing me.

I am currently in the process of filing a civil suit against this building and certain employees, individually. I am a person of decent means and have been put through absolute hell by these individuals - just imagine what they would do to you if you have a problem you want resolved and cannot afford to fight back when they inevitably seek revenge for you simply wanting to live in a clean safe space.

Do not let the kind leasing agents fool you, once you sign that contract you are in managements hands and they are aggressive, angry, bitter, and careless individuals.

I am sure I will be sued (again) over this review, and that's fine because my suit is already in motion - and now I will hold absolutely nothing back from the years of evidence I have collected showing the pure incompetence and negligence of this company.

Bless you, be safe, and my very strong opinion is avoid this place...

I absolutely love this apartment complex and feel like I lucked out! I moved to Philly almost two years ago and lived in another high rise luxury apartment complex and was so ready to get out of there due to its terrible management.

~my review is based on living here for 6 months in a one bedroom A5 layout

Pros: THE STAFF. Everyone I have interacted with here is so friendly and anytime I’ve needed something, I truly think they go above and beyond. Everyone is always saying hello and the concierge is always super reliable and they really pay attention to who comes in and out of the building. The maintenance staff is also super friendly and I’ve learned a few first names with out even putting in a request! Location. I don’t think you can beat living in midtown village -Amenities. Always super clean and people here respect the covid protocols Apartment. The floor to ceilings windows are my favorite part. i get so much natural light that I don’t turn on my lights until 7-8pm. The shower/bathroom is huge. I love the light grey/cream aesthetic. -Packages. Some are delivered in Luxer One and others to the concierge. They enter in packages immediately and don’t charge a yearly or late pick up fee like my last complex did. -Trash. Trash room AND recycling on every floor! -UTILITIES. For one person in a one bedroom, my monthly utilities has ranged from $50-80. This includes summer months so a steal compared to what I’ve paid in older buildings. AC/Heat: This is big for me since my last building switched AC to Heat every fall. Sometimes my apt would get to 90 degrees because there was no option for AC. This building lets you do both year round and AC/Heat kicks in immediately.

Things to keep in mind/ potential cons: -If you are sensitive to light, you wont be a fan of the floor to ceiling roll up curtains. They don’t help reduce much light. I don’t believe there is a way to get black out curtains / put anything up to fix that -Not a lot of counter space for the kitchen -Dishwasher is smaller than average -if you are sensitive to noise, location probably won’t be the...