The View at Forest Park Apartments — Local services in St. Louis

The View at Forest Park was a (mostly) great building when I moved in in 2022, but a lot of things changed in the course of a year. The views are great and the units are very spacious. It is also a great location if you like walking to restaurants or to Forest Park.

Moving in and out of the building is difficult. You have to park on the side of the building and drag all of your stuff up/ down a ramp to the basement and through a large utility room just to get to the elevator. It is a labor-intensive process to be aware of.

Additionally, from the day that I moved in one of the three treadmills in the gym was broken. About halfway through my lease, a second treadmill broke and was never fixed. The gym in the building was one of the reasons I chose to live there, but I had to go at odd times to be able to use the one working treadmill. They say they are doing renovations on the building, including the gym, but they did not fix the treadmills for the year I lived there.

It is worth inquiring about whether they will be renovating units near you. The unit above mine was being renovated for months and it was extremely loud. Most of this took place during working hours so if you do not work from home it may not be an issue, but it makes working at home much more difficult. In addition to noise from nearby renovations, the building itself is undergoing massive renovations. I'm not sure if this is related or not, but our water was shut off incredibly often, sometimes with warning but sometimes without. It was always for less than a day, but very inconvenient nonetheless. I'm not sure why they would need to turn the water off multiple times in a month.

My rent was raised nearly 20% which they attempted to justify by saying that the renovations would be great. They also raised the parking fees a significant amount. It is clear that they do not have an interest in preserving the community that existed before Mills bought the property and they were not willing to negotiate at all.

There is a required $300 pet deposit as well as $30/ month pet rent PER PET. I understand a pet deposit, but I do not understand the purpose of a pet rent that expensive. It feels like another way to make more money just because they can.

I was charged large amounts for common area gas despite there being no mention of that in my lease. Additionally, they charged me for gas through their third party billing service despite my lease explicitly stating that I would be paying directly to the gas company. When I attempted to get clarification about the gas charges and billing methods, it was extremely hard to get in contact with anyone. When I did finally get responses, they were extremely vague or did not address my issue. I never did get clarification about why the billing and gas charges were different from what was written in my lease. In general, the people who work there are nice. But trying to get any type of clarification about issues can be very difficult and I left feeling like I had been cheated a bit as I never did get an explanation about the gas charges. I recommend being familiar with your lease and asking questions before you sign it so you aren't surprised by anything.

Ultimately, I am disappointed by the increase in rental price and feel like many people have had to leave the building. It felt like there was a strong community in the...

Edit June 11, 2023

I am taking away 2 stars mainly because they were doing heavy renovations works on a weekend. Hacking, drilling, loud hammering works. Started on a Saturday. And was told it would take a few weeks.

I understand renovations needed to happen. Sure. But why do heavy loud works done on a weekend when people need their rest?

Ever since Mills Property bought this place, it’s been problems.

They occasionally cut the water to our apartment as well with NO NOTICE. Just all of a sudden. No water. When we complained, they keep saying it’s emergency drain down and water repairs. Multiple emergency drain downs?

When will this ends?

Original

This apartment is amazing. Among all the apartments we have stayed in while living/working in St Louis CWE, Townehouse is the best, if not one of the best.

It all comes down to one word: management.

The management is fantastic. They take ownership and responsibility over the care and safety of tenants. Let me give you a few examples.

When we first moved in, we signed for an assigned covered parking spot. However, one night when we got home at about 8pm we found someone else occupying our spot. From previous experience with other apartment management, we don’t think they can do anything about it. So we decided to park somewhere else. Then, as we walked past the frontdesk, Ashley asked us how’s our night? And we told her, well, someone took our parking spot. And she was, “let me deal with that. Meanwhile take this lot”.

We were pleasantly surprised. Afterwards she called us back at 10pm updating us that the person who parked at our lot is an existing tenant. And she have sent an email to them warning them to get their vehicle removed else they will tow the car.

Another example is the management, although they don’t remember you by name since there’s 200 over units, but they know roughly who you are, where you live, where you are from and who lives with you.

And another example is the management notifies the entire support team when someone new is moving in. So they know who is moving in, which floor and unit. And they ensure the freight elevator is booked for the entire period.

One more example is recently when it rained so heavily that it flooded CWE, and all 3 elevators broke down. And the management took it upon themselves to help the tenants with sending any deliveries up to the tenants house. And they still ensure the trash on each floor (22 floors) are cleared. And they send emails every couple of hours updating us on the update with the elevators repair. That is just amazing.

I can’t recommend Townehouse enough. They have just been amazing. And I foresee us...

DO NOT RENT HERE. As others have pointed out, the management is simply awful. Mills Properties is a joke. Everything was fine here until they bought our building earlier this year and since then it’s been horrible. One day in April they decided to start noisy construction work as early as 7am. They did not notify residents this would be happening. I woke up to a loud drilling noise that sounded like it was in my apartment. I thought it was my upstairs neighbor and nearly knocked on their door until I realized it was maintenance people working on the gym two floors below. Since then, countless mornings (including weekends) have started with LOUD drilling, hammering, and other noises that last the entire day. We were told it would only last a few weeks. Six months later, it’s still happening. It’s happening as I write this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called Mills to ask about their schedule, when it will be finished, why it starts so early, etc. no answer, no callback. I’ve left countless voicemails and have called during alleged business hours. No response. I’ve emailed them. no response. They started this invasive construction without ever telling residents and only gave an update here and there when informing us we wouldn’t be able to enter our mail room or that the gym (which we pay for) is closed. Speaking of the gym, they spent weeks “renovating” it but there are multiple machines that still do not work. All they did was put a bunch of fitness buzzwords on the wall and update the bathrooms. The equipment is the same and it’s not functional. Obviously, all of these changes were to raise rent, which they did. If I re-signed here, I’d be paying an extra $400+ per month. Without sounding mean, I’m not sure what the in-building management does other than give tours. They don’t return calls from residents. They don’t make their emails known and there is not even a leasing office email on the website. You have to fill out a text box in the resident portal. They don’t respond to this either. During construction, there has been dust and debris everywhere, amenities closed off, constant noise, and an unstable living environment. My sleep and work schedule is completely at the will of this company who doesn’t communicate. I’m awoken when they begin and I have to leave the building entirely to take any calls. It’s pathetic. I could go on for hours about how bad this company is. They could cut my rent in half and I still wouldn’t renew my lease. There are many other apartments around here you should pursue over this place. Just make sure they’re not owned by...