The Clark — Local services in Philadelphia

Disclaimer : All that glitters is not gold : Before signing, the leasing staff will charm you with quick responses and glowing promises. But the moment your lease is inked, things shift dramatically. You’re no longer a valued prospect — you’re a tenant tied to a contract loaded with hefty penalties. If the apartment turns out to be nothing like what was promised, you’re stuck — unless you’re willing to pay 10 thousand dollars to break the lease. Now, let’s talk about the day-to-day reality of living here. At first glance, this place seems luxurious — upscale finishes, sleek amenities, and a modern vibe. But once you move in, it quickly becomes clear that the shiny surface hides a lot of deeper issues. Let’s start with the most obvious: noise. The apartment is far from soundproof. I specifically asked about this on the tour and was told it wouldn’t be a problem. But from day one, I could clearly hear street noise — buses, trains, constant traffic — even with windows closed. Unfortunately, a 15–20 minute apartment tour doesn’t give you enough time to evaluate that properly.

And the ceiling insulation is practically non-existent. Every footstep from the unit above echoes through my apartment. I recorded a video and showed them (as requested by the management as a proof), I raised this concern, but — as you’ll see is a pattern here — management did nothing.

Maintenance is another major frustration. If something breaks or needs attention, expect long delays, vague responses, and no clear timeline.

• The gym air conditioning has been broken for over two months, Imagining during 110-degree summer weather like now. Despite repeated resident complaints, we’ve only received generic emails that they’re “working on it.” The gym is essentially unusable. Imagine it's 2025, and management still takes over two months (and counting) to fix a basic issue of AC in gym in the scorching heat. • Elevator 2 has had a recurring issue for over five months — the fourth-floor button frequently stops working (every other day). Management knows about it. but.... Tell you even more about how the system works! • The lobby has been closed since February due to flooding. It's now the end of June, and it’s still blocked off. Five months to reopen a lobby in 2025? It says a lot about the pace of action here. • Most recently, I had an issue with the bathroom faucet. The overfill holes in the sink were backing up, making it hard to wash hands — especially frustrating for someone like me with a bit of hygiene conscious. I requested a simple upgrade to a taller faucet, and not only was the request denied, but after raising concerns again, I was eventually told I had to submit a special exception application request - that further will require higher management to approve it (can one imagine this 😊) — even after that approval. I am supposed to bring my own plumber and buy my own faucet and to get it replaced. Totally unnecessary red tape when we paying rent of ~2K / month There are plenty of other issues, and their lack of response just keeps going—but honestly, I’ve got better things to do, and so do you.

This is the truth many people don’t realize is: (like any other industry), we work hard, pay our rent on time, and contribute directly to the salaries of the very management and staff who ignore us. Yet, when it comes to delivering even basic respect and responsiveness, we’re treated like an inconvenience. That is not just disappointing — it’s unacceptable.

In summary: This property is all about appearances. It looks great from the outside, but when it comes to comfort, upkeep, and management support, it consistently disappoints. After reading this detailed comment, if you still decide to move into this apartment, please — don’t blame anyone else. It was my mistake for not doing more research and digging deeper into the property’s history before signing the lease. So if you read all of this and still choose to move in, don’t blame management, don’t blame the community — just know that you were warned. Blame no one but yourself....

I really hate to give such a low review, especially considering how nice the on-site staff has been, but there have been too many unfortunate incidents concerning building quality and the management company.

Amenities/Building (1/5): In the winter there were pipes that burst, flooding multiple units on every floor, the hallways, and most of the lobby area. This water gushed for over an hour and our entire floor watched in horror as people tried to move their soaked belongings/ furniture out of their apartments and up the hall. For months after this the lobby was unusable with there not even being a proper walkway to get from the front door to the elevators. We had to walk through plastic sheets that hang from the ceiling. The hallways on each floor were missing ceiling tiles and huge areas of drywall where they tried to fix water damage. Construction continued for 5-6 months with no real updates on the cause of the flooding, the extent of the damages, or a timeline on repairs. The lobby, study rooms, and coffee areas were not in use and nothing was done to accommodate. Separately, in the summer the gym air conditioning broke and was not fixed for months. As for the units, it is clear that corners were cut for the sake of cost. Applying painters tape led to entire patches of paint being remove, the fan in our bathroom was never installed, hardware such as door stoppers repeatedly fell out of the wall, etc.

Communication (2/5): Upon our first few months moving in there was virtually no communication with residents concerning issues. This includes fire alarms going off repeatedly without warning, power occasionally going out for a moment, and the aforementioned flooding incident. I give a 'higher' rating only because towards the end of our lease term it became clear that there were better attempts to keep residents informed.

Parking (3/5): Upon moving in we were informed that there was a wait list for parking due to about half of the large lot being reserved for teachers of the school next door, even when school is not in session i.e. nights, weekends, and the summer. Despite this we did not have trouble finding street parking within a block of the building for the majority of our lease term so that was not too bad. As more people moved in, however, parking did become increasingly tough to find in safe areas near the entrance. Also, after about 5 months we were told it was our time to get off of the parking waitlist, but that the price had almost doubled despite no changes to the lot itself.

Safety (2/5): The area is not the most safe with robberies periodically occurring at the gas stations nearby, a few hit and runs to parked vehicles outside the building, teens fighting near Market St, and the occasional homeless person going by. However, a plus is the need to scan in to every entrance and there almost always being someone assigned to the front desk.

Staff (5/5): Amira was our leasing agent and especially helpful when needed! The front desk staff, leasing agents, and maintenance were very nice and truly are the highlight of the building.

Security deposit experience (0/5): After getting an initial confirmation that we would be receiving our deposit back, weeks later we were just emailed a move out charge summary. It details a fee for rent despite all payments on our end being completed, a utility amount of over $400 despite our bill never exceeding $100 for a month, and a "security deposit clearing" fee. Instead of an update on when we would get our security deposit, we were told...

I have been deeply disappointed by the lack of professionalism and communication from property management. Here are some of the issues I’ve encountered:

Almost a month ago, the ceiling in the communal area collapsed, causing water to flood the space. Fire trucks were called, alarms were ringing, and yet, I only found out about this because I happened to go down to the communal area at that time. Since then, parts of the walls have been cut off, there are protective barriers in the hallways, and it appears that even the floors where the apartments are located have been damaged. We were promised an email explaining what caused the collapse, and yet there has been no information provided whatsoever. When I asked about rent adjustments, I was told there would be none, despite the fact that I can no longer use the communal space and am paying significantly more rent than new tenants in the same apartments. Additionally, there is no clear plan about when repairs will start or end, which very clearly signals that the management is not even trying to create a safe environment for tenants.

There have been other instances where management has failed to provide a proper response. For example, there was a fire alarm that went off, and fire trucks arrived at the property. Not once did management provide an explanation or any updates about the situation. It's completely unprofessional to leave tenants in the dark during something as serious as a fire alarm and emergency response.

The property management recently changed their payment system, which left me unable to pay my rent on time. After several attempts to make the payment, I reached out via email and received no reply. To make matters worse, they deactivated the old portal login, and I had to dig through my browsing history just to find a workaround. Even after initiating the payment, it didn’t go through, and I was slapped with a $50 late fee for something that wasn’t my fault.

One of the most alarming issues with this property is the absolute failure of management to communicate during emergencies. If you are not home when an emergency happens—whether you're on vacation, traveling, or away for work—you will have no way of knowing that anything occurred. The entire building could catch fire, flood, or suffer major structural damage, and yet, management would not inform you... I can only wonder what has happened while I was...