322 on North Broad Apartments — Local services in Philadelphia

TL;DR - A beautiful building with great facilities but an administration/management that will frustrate you to no end so consider that heavily before signing a lease here.

I don’t typically write reviews but I was compelled to write this one due to my extremely poor living experience here this past year solely due to the admin/management personnel of Hanover North Broad. As I’m sure you can see from the pictures, all of the facilities are extremely nice: spacious layouts, modern finishes, etc. However, despite all of that my overall experience here was soured because of the administrative staff. The people that initially helped me sign my lease were fantastic: attentive, friendly, and would go the extra mile for their tenants. However, they regularly replace their staff thus their tenure was short-lived and their replacements (Jay, Brandon, & Ian) were an extreme disappointment. They were extremely unresponsive, lazy, and often times would appear annoyed at the simplest of requests. Here are some of the examples of situations we dealt with under this staff:

No one answering the phone during business hours (would always forward to off-site secretary) despite physically seeing them in their offices not actively doing anything Significant delays for completion of routine maintenance requests (one of such was leak from shower which caused water damage to carpeting in nearby closet, which still took a week to address) Losing packages/mail of significant value despite someone in admin physically signing for said mail but unable to find my personal mail/packages upon request A homeless man was found to be squatting in the staircase of East Building during the initial part of my year there and numerous complaints were made about safety concerns but it took management over 2 weeks to address issue East Building Gate leading to garage and front door of East building wouldn’t adequately close thus anyone could access apartments freely from outside. Took over a month for this to be adequately addressed (at the same time homeless person above was squatting, worsening our safety concerns) Although paying for parking at the facility, when an inadvertent ticket was gotten on my car, Hanover wouldn’t adequately communicate that with the Parkway Parking group. This negligence led to them putting a Barnacle (windshield boot) on my car which was a hassle to get off and extremely frustrating. On top of all this, upon moving out, despite hiring cleaners to clean our apartment this same negligent staff then tried to shake us down with insane charges for what would’ve normally been considered routine wear and tear.

Even my movers upon moving out echoed similar concerns they had heard from others about the administration here (great building, negligent staff). I truly did consider living here another year but the frustrations from the admin were far too many to consider putting up with for even another month. What I’ve seen from the management at my current building in just under two months is leagues ahead of what I...

BE CAREFUL: GOOD APARTMENTS; INCOMPETENT SALES TEAM.

My wife and I toured the apartments in mid-March '18 and shortlisted them. The apartments were newer, spacious, modern-looking, and had decent amenities. We met Ian from the sales team and he pretty much 'sold' the apartments to us. He asked us to fill an online application and make a refundable deposit. While filling the application, we realized that the $500 deposit was refundable but not the $150 application fees, which we pointed out to him. He gave us his word that if we like some other place over this, we could give him a call in 3 days, cancel our application and GET ALL OUR MONEY BACK (including the application fees). This was a red flag since the application suggested otherwise, but we still bought what Ian promised.

We left the place to our other appointments. 2 days later we decided to visit all our shortlisted apartments again, to check if our furniture would fit etc. Since Ian wasn't around we met another sales associate who let us tour the apartment, it was during this discussion that we realized that Ian did not inform us about a fixed amenities fees (about $300) and a monthly convenience fees ($20-$30). It seemed odd but we didn't read too much into it.

On the 3rd day we had a change of plans and decided to move a month later than earlier decided. We called Ian, explained the situation and asked him to refund our deposit and he agreed to do so. 2 weeks later we reminded him again and he said it should be on its way. About a month later, we received a check for just $500. We tried contacting Ian and reached him on the 3rd attempt (would never be available in the office). We asked him about the remaining $150 and he said refunding the application fees would be an exception so it wouldn't come with the deposit check, he informed he'll remind corporate again and we should expect another check in 2 weeks.

Another 3 weeks passed and we tried calling Ian again, to no avail. After a few attempts we explained the situation to Chrissy in the sales team and we were told that we would not get our $150 back at any cost, as per their policy. We informed her of our conversation with Ian. We were told that Ian (again, their employee) made a mistake and we wouldn't be seeing that money. We asked her to put her manager Rebecca on the phone, but Rebecca apparently refused to get on the phone with us. At one point we were asked to be a little more courteous in our conversation (again, a realty firm took money under false pretense from a bunch of students, and they asked us to be courteous). We followed-up but nothing happened.

Bottom line - be careful of the sales team, do not believe in their rosy tales, only believe the black letter and check about all hidden fees and charges. We ended up renting the Metropolitan on 15th & Arch, great place, should...

I am not an avid Yelp reviewer. However, I would be remiss if I did not take the time to chronicle a five-star experience that I received. I intended to complete this review weeks ago, but time just got away from me. Let me start off referencing an old adage. Some people come into your life for a reason, some for a season, others for a lifetime. I believe that Brandon Castro of Hanover came into my universe for all of the above. He is completely AMAZING! I met Brandon about a month and a half ago when he was working at a Hanover property in downtown Los Angeles. I had recently relocated to the states after living abroad for four years. The transition back to the states and to an entirely unfamiliar city has been difficult. However, Brandon has been a bright light in this difficult transition. I encountered a major issue when I moved into the complex, through no fault of Brandon. However, he has gone well out of his way to troubleshoot and resolve the matter. He has been patient, diligent, supportive, and proactive. He has been more than just a leasing agent. He has been and will continue to remain a great friend. He has a truly genuine soul and a very optimistic view on life than rubs off on everyone in which he comes into contact. Brandon recently transferred from Hanover Olympic in Los Angeles, which was sold to another company, to Hanover North Broad in Philadelphia. In spite of his transition and move, he remained to committed to the tenants of Hanover Olympic. On the day of his move, there was an issue in the building. Despite the fact that he had no obligations to me or any of the other tenants in the building, he called me personally to make sure I was okay and gave me advice to contact the new management team to address the problem. This is just the type of person Brandon is. He is loyal, dedicated, and really sees his work as more than a 9-5 job. I could say that Brandon and I just have a special rapport, so he gives me specialized attention and treatment, but that would be a lie. Brandon makes everyone in the community feel this way. He has that special way about himself. We all looked forward to see his smiling face and hearing his thoughtful words every time we passed by the leasing office. It was a daily delight that has left a void in the community. I am so sad that Brandon transferred to a new property. A lot of residents are. However, we all support him in this new career venture. Hanover North Broad and its residents are getting a rare gem. Take care of our Brandon as I am certain that he will go out of his way each day to take...