Arrive University City — Local services in Philadelphia

Most Stressful Living Experience: Total Mismanagement, Hidden Fees, and No Support from Rude Staff

The apartment might look beautiful on the surface, but don’t be fooled, the constant stress, lack of professionalism, and poor management can seriously impact your mental well-being. This place never truly feels like home.

Uncooperative Staff and Misleading Information

If you're considering moving into this building, be aware that the staff will not cooperate with you under any circumstance. They refused to let me use any of the building’s parking spaces, not even the designated loading/unloading area in front of the building. When I moved in, I had to reserve a space for $150 and put lots of placards for three nights on an open and really unsafe street a bit far from the building just to unload and later load my belongings. Not only did the staff refused to assist in even the smallest way, but they also gave me incorrect information that caused complications, stress, frustration, and made the entire move in/out unnecessarily very difficult and delayed.

Do not trust the front desk: many residents feel the same. Their behavior is consistently unhelpful and aggressive, and it seems that the glowing reviews about them are fake & fabricated. Almost no one I’ve spoken to has had a positive experience with the front desk staff.

They usually do not show you the actual unit before move-in. You may be unpleasantly surprised by how dirty the apartment is, or by unexpected differences in layout, cabinet style, or window design. When asked, they claim they "don’t know" what the unit looks like or that they're "not allowed" to enter it, a completely false and ridiculous excuse.

Unprofessional and Disrespectful Management

Management is by far the biggest concern. The team is extremely unprofessional and often displays rude and dismissive behavior, even the concierge. This place charges premium rent, but if they perceive you as a student or an international resident, their treatment can become outright abusive. There are clear signs of racial bias among some staff. Fatima, in particular, has a habit of mockingly smiling when residents bring up complaints, as if she enjoys the discomfort of others.

Resident concerns are frequently ignored, and communication is nearly non-existent. Every year, they increase the rent significantly with no consideration for loyal, long-term tenants.

To get your unit, you must sign a large stack of lease documents at move-in, many of which waive your rights to address any future residential problems. Later, management uses these documents to their advantage: not only will they withhold your utility deposits, but they may also charge you unfair fees and even send your account to collections.

If you request to stay even just one to ten days beyond your lease term, you may be charged a rate up to three times higher than their listed future rent, an outrageous and predatory practice. Even though, they are sure that their unit remained empty for over a month afterward; Rather than appreciating a resident willing to stay longer, they used the opportunity to overcharge.

Unfair Fees and Predatory Billing Practices

You’re pressured into using their online payment system. Expect to be charged at least once extra (if not more), typically around $150, for different reasons during your stay, especially within your first month.

Neglected Amenities and Poor Cleanliness

The gym is in poor condition. Most of the equipment is broken or outdated, and none of the screens function. It’s clear that regular maintenance is not a priority.

The pool area is equally disappointing; the furniture and sofas are too dirty to sit on, and the overall space is poorly maintained. It’s not a welcoming or hygienic...

Just want to provide a quick update regarding my stay at AUC. The quality of my experience with AUC has consistently been very positive and a great reflection of the value of the monthly rent I am paying. Particularly, I really appreciate the great support, care, and service attitude from Natasia and Maurice, and because of them, I continue to experience high quality stay experience here at AUC.

Thank you so much for all that you do! I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the excellent customer service of all the staff members at AUC. In particular, I would like to further highlight Dominic, Eddie, and Anita. I have been living in unit 2206 in AUC since June 2021. I have been very proud of my experience as a resident that I was able to successfully complete a residential referral.

Dominic has always gone above and beyond in making sure that residents in AUC, myself included, feel valued and as if we are part of the big AUC family.

Both Eddie (from the maintenance team) and Anita also demonstrated excellent customer care including immediately taking care of my broken AC and ensuring that my stay at AUC remains positive and supported.

These specific AUC sttaff and the entire team members have been showing great customer service attitude that matches and represents well the high quality luxurious living style of AUC. Thanks so much for everyone’s amazing work!

Hopefully, corporate can recognize and reward the team members at AUC with some awards and bonus as well for their amazing work in taking care of the residents there :D

Also, please forgive my...

I have been living in this apartment since Feb 2021, more than 4 years by the time I wrote this review and have experienced more than 4 units including mine and my friends'. I always have mixed feelings towards this apartment building, but recent incidents are driving me away from this building. I am still actively communicating with the team as a last effort so I clipped the rest of the review and added a star back. This would otherwise be a 2 star and 4 pages long full review with medium personal sentiments.

TL, DR:

Cons: wrecked HVAC; extremely unreliable hot water supply; poor insulation from large windows; poorly maintained elevators. The worst thing is that they are all architectural design flaws, and he maintenance team has been overwhelmed by issues stemming from fundamental design flaws — problems they are neither equipped nor authorized to fix.

Pros: close proximity to campus, 24/7 concierge service, garage with enough spaces, average level of amenities including gas grill; nice and professional building management and maintenance teams; price-to-experience ratio is average.

PSA: If you are determined to live here, make sure to get a west facing small unit to avoid the poor insulation problem.

I regret so much that I left my first unit, which has quiet HVAC, non-squeaking structure frames nearby and well insulated windows, since it is a small west facing unit located near concrete load bearing structures so the HVAC is never under stress, and the vibration is well dampened by...