Cielo Modern Residences — Local services in Washington

I've lived at Cielo for 14 months now and think that potential residents should be made aware of important factors when considering this building. The biggest issues I've seen are the lack of transparent, timely communication from staff, misleading information about fees / building expenses, and a failed commitment to resident safety.

My move-in back in February of 2023 was not a positive experience. Due to property staffing changes, my lease was sent to me only days prior to my move-in date; it caused my move-in day to be unnecessarily hectic and didn't allow me enough time to fully review the lease prior to signing. (The lease needed to be fully executed so I could get into my unit and with movers paid for and booked, I felt like I had limited options but to sign without fully reviewing.) The building was relatively new though, and I chalked it up to new building hiccups that would be figured out sooner rather than later. However there have been on-going issues like this since.

Since moving in there have been multiple occasions where I've submitted communications to the main office via our internal resident app (the method we're asked to use), which have not been responded to. I've had to follow-up over email with the building manager. The most recent one was regarding a safety and security issue involving the elevators which I sent at the end of February. I noticed that the elevators were letting people access residential floors without having to use our digital fobs (FYI: Physical fobs are given to residents for an additional fee, which wasn't clear up front. Mine cost $50). After no response in the app, I reached out via email. After an unhelpful email exchange, I stopped by the office to get more clarity. I was told maintenance was aware, they thought it was isolated to one elevator, and were working with the vendor to resolve the issue. Weeks later the issue was still happening and across multiple elevators not one, so I began submitting maintenance requests, which were closed, not because the issue was actually resolved, but because it was "being worked on." This all came to a head recently when a non-resident got access to a residential floor and entered a residential unit, at great risk to the tenants. In other buildings I've lived in, we've been emailed when safety or security instances occur, so that we're aware and can make informed decisions regarding our personal safety. No such notice about the specific incident was sent; just a vague message today about our duty to not let people into our units that we don't know and clarification on procedures for how maintenance will ask for permission to enter our units.

In addition to this recent incident, I had an unfortunate experience with my lease renewal. I was sent an offer letter about 3 months prior to my lease end date. I asked several clarifying questions in writing, which included whether any additional fees would be added into our monthly expenses down the road. I wanted to know what my expenses would be so I could make an informed decision. I ended up stopping by the office to get answers and was told (which I confirmed, after the fact, over email) that there would not be any additional fees coming. After accepting the renewal offer, additional fees were added, unannounced to everyone's most recent bill this past weekend. The fees add over $100 to my monthly bills. Management sent out a building-wide notice today that they're within their right to charge the fees as outlined in the lease. Some residents shared that management also represented to them in person that it was a charge that should have been happening the whole time, and they might even be collecting back-dated fees as a result. I find this whole process to be very deceptive and misleading.

Living at Cielo does have its perks (awesome neighborhood, proximity to metro, pool, gym). But ultimately, it's incredibly tough at Cielo to make informed decisions that impact your safety and finances, when they don't respond to your outreach attempts in a timely manner and aren't...

In short, I strongly urge you not to sign a lease with Cielo. The list of issues worth mentioning are too many to count, so here are only a few:

If you sort these reviews by recent (as of April/May 2024), you will see an overwhelming chorus of residents alerting you to the fact that Cielo has just sprung "communal" utility fees on all residents without so much as a warning. This has resulted in my and my neighbors monthly utility costs shooting up anywhere from 200-400% (and this is on top of a mandatory $70 "technology" fee for internet, discussed below). Tenants have requested to see a breakdown of the building's utilities consumption and a detailed explanation of how these fees are calculated--because these fees essentially function like HOA fees--but Cielo has not provided that information. As a result, we're now forced to pay for utilities two, three, or four times our own personal consumption, without knowing or understanding where this money is going. I have lived in 5+ buildings with amenities in my life, and none has ever charged a variable community utilities fee. And my utilities have also never been even half as much as what Cielo is now charging me. So don't be surprised when Cielo leasing agents refuse to give you a straight answer for how much you should expect to pay in utilities here: they know they answer, they just don't want to tell you.

Echoing the first point, as a Cielo resident you would be required to pay a $70 technology fee for internet from Single Digits. Cielo has no problem charging that $70 per month, but Cielo disclaims any responsibility over the internet actually working. Instead, you will need to rely on Single Digits' entirely incompetent support, who, in turn, rely on third-party contractors for their technicians. I did not have reliable Internet for the first four months of my lease. It took me--and this not an exaggeration--dozens of hours on the phone to resolve my problem over those first four months. So if you work from home, enjoy playing video games, stream TV or music, or do anything else that depends on reliable internet, think very carefully about the $840 ($70*12) Cielo will charge you in a year for subpar internet. Cielo will let you opt out if you want--but you will still have to pay $70 per month.

If not already clear from the above points, the most Cielo will ever care about you is right before you sign their lease. But once you sign a lease, all bets are off. So, as you consider where to rent--and spend tens of thousands of dollars--make sure you are not deceived by the dozens of 5-star reviews in here from non-residents, which have greatly inflated Cielo's overall Google rating. These reviews largely discuss how Cielo gives a great tour and how Petros is great (true); but ask yourself, will any of that matter once you live here? Once you sign a lease, and promise to give Cielo your money, Cielo has no incentive to treat you well if it hurts their bottom line. And if my experience is any indication, Cielo will actively exploit that dynamic by extracting as much money as possible from its residents while simultaneously providing as few resources and services as possible. So, I stress in the strongest possible terms that you read the reviews written by actual residents very closely (which in more detail recount the steady stream of crime taking place in our halls, broken appliances and A/C, poor maintenance, lack of transparency and communication, etc.) Those reviews, like mine, have been written in the hopes of saving you from being stuck at Cielo, paying unknown amounts of money each month, living in a faux "luxury" building, and becoming a member of a community that is collectively frustrated, angry, and disillusioned.

P.S. If circumstances change, I will provide an update to or delete this review. If there is no update, please assume the status quo has...

LCOR management of this building sucks. 16 months here now and my experience here is going down fast. So why do I still live here? Because often times residents (victims) just move elsewhere when the lease is up, complain to get out of their lease and nothing gets solved. We leave the mess for someone else to inherit and it just becomes a vicious cycle of hard working people being royally screwed by these management companies. Kindness doesn’t equate to good customer service. Kindness is just a piece of customer service. Customer service is actually Kind Staff + Quality Product + Ongoing Attention to My Needs. We have too many ongoing needs that are not being met by LCOR and Cielo. This building often smells. In the elevators, they have placed mats in them. They are disgusting. The hallways have carpet that are not shampooed and cleaned regularly. Hire a bigger staff to maintain this 500 unit building. You knew what was required when you built it. SAFETY and SECURITY. I feel like “It is DC” so we don’t have to really give attention to the safety and security of a community is the business decision that is being made. We have had numerous incidents in this building that could have been avoided if LCOR would listen and act. A residential concierge is not Secret Service, but a residential concierge is supposed to serve as a barrier between access from the outside and our homes. 1Valet is building app LCOR uses to make the community “smart”. It isn’t smart that when you press Main Entry button on the digital app to enter the second set of doors that it unlocks the elevators for 2 minutes. That’s not smart, that’s dumb. That is a security violation. So what happens is people follow residents and gets on the elevators. And even in the last month or so, you don’t even need a fob at times. The elevator access has been totally unlocked. What has that resulted in? Stalkers inside the building. Burglars, the unhoused checking doors for homes with stuff or homes with nothing. Why hasn’t 1Valet fixed the system? If you’re paying a vendor for a service the way it works is you tell them the issue and they send a technician in the following days. Residents including myself feel unsafe in our homes. We received notice from the Cielo Team stating “As you can appreciate, no one can ensure your safety. Please remember that your security is the responsibility of yourself and the local law enforcement agencies.” Actually we don’t appreciate the tone death statement. COMMUNICATION. I swear that these folks have never heard that “Communication is the Key”. See what offends me the most is not the issue, nor the lack of quick resolve of an issue. What offends me the most is failure to communicate. Cause stuff happens and I get it. As I write this very review, residents received their monthly statements in which there must be a technical glitch of some sort. This was communicated to the staff by multiple people today. So instead of sending out a community wide email saying “Hi Resident. We appear to have a glitch in your monthly statements. We are getting with the provider to correct this issue, etc”” Nothing yet. When stuff happens in this building regarding safety and security, those things should be communicated to the residents. Yeah, I read your email that security is the responsibility of myself. But if you can’t communicate the security incidents, then what is your commitment to provide a secure community. No one is asking for an armed guard. But a “hey we just got word a man in a blue coat with old navy sandals is in the building exposing himself. We are looking for him with law enforcement”. You know, so we can secure ourselves like you told us in the email. Provide active management of this community instead of this passive style. We pay for Luxury/Active...