Park Chelsea at The Collective — Local services in Washington

My complaints fall into two categories, firstly my move out (I took a new job and had to move to WI): -I had ~3 months left on my lease when I took the job, so I advertised my lease on Facebook. I knew that sublets were not allowed, but that a workaround could be to get someone to sign on to the lease so I was careful to not say the word “sublet” in my post. Despite this, Leasing told me to take the post down. Shouldn’t they realize that DC is an especially transient city? Just an opportunity for them to bleed you dry and make you buy out your lease it seems. -Luckily I was able to find someone new before taking the post down. Leasing, however, would not let me take myself off the lease and have the new tenant be the only one on there, because the new tenant’s planned salary bonus didn’t qualify as “permissible income” to meet the income threshold. -On the day I moved out, I handed my keys back to the concierge like a normal person. Despite this, Leasing later told me I had to pick my keys back up because I was still technically a tenant (which I had the new tenant do since I was long gone). How does that make sense? Aren’t the keys safer in their possession, as literally the ones who issued them? You’d rather me have taken them to Wisconsin and mailed them back months later???

Second, and more importantly, I was fined $850 for throwing a party on the roof. -I generally knew (though I wasn’t told on my tours - plural - of the building) that for common spaces, if you wanted to reserve them for private events it was $200 an hour. Of course I had no desire to pay that, so I went to the most secluded area of the roof that hardly anyone ever goes to, knowing full well the concierge might eventually kick us out (20-25ish people) for some reason so we’d just go back to my apartment. Apparently because we were up there for three hours ($200 x 3), and I exceeded the 2-to-1 guest-to-resident ratio (which I thought only applied to the pool) which garnered an additional $250 “unauthorized event” charge, they fined me $850 a few days after the event. -There was no noise complaint and more importantly NO OTHER EXISTING RESERVATION. I get that those are your rules; but I didn’t know about them (they were buried on the Mobile Doorman app) and do not agree with the rules at all. If you wanna kick us out, again your rules are dumb but hey we’ll still move elsewhere; but what reasoning is behind them fining me almost $1,000 DAYS after the party happened?? Literally the only one bothered by the party was management (or rather the “Events” department that I didn’t even know they had). -They found out about the party in large part due to their security footage; but the concierge didn’t shut down the party until three hours in. I guarantee the party was apparent by about an hour in, so why didn’t they shut it down then? Moreover, if the concierge had “caught” it when he was supposed to, I would have saved $400 off the fine (i.e. two hours’ worth of charges). Essentially I was fined $400 because the concierge didn’t do his job. (He hardly even knew their rules when he came up; he literally had to double check with his boss.) -I almost certainly exceeded the resident-to-guest ratio more than once in the weeks leading up to it alone (and saw other residents do so) but the concierge didn’t even approach me in those instances. What good are your rules if you don’t consistently enforce them? -I spent HOURS pleading my case in painstaking detail and nuance - via email and Zoom - to have this fine stricken; but all they did was remove the “unauthorized event” charge (which tbf was nice). I got the “well cops don’t catch every instance of speeding” argument 🙄 -Worst of all, I never had any big issues with paying my huge rent in my almost 1.5 years there; was never disciplined; knew all of the Park Chelsea concierges by name; and referred several current residents to the building. I was responsible for well over $25k in income for you, but that’s all I am to you: income.

Absolute stab in the back on the way out. No quicker way to...

I lived here for two years and recently moved out due to rent increases. I had a mixed experience during my time here.

The good: -This place is probably one of the most convenient, amenity-packed buildings you could ever dream of. Whole Foods, two pools, the basketball court, the dry cleaner, the 3 gyms, and OH LORD that rooftop is nice. Seriously, if you want great amenities, I don't think you can find a better place. -The apartments- while a bit small- are very nice. I particularly loved my walk-in shower; it was one of the highlights of my time here. The water pressure was also great, even on the highest floors.

The bad: -There were repeated issues with aggressive dogs in the elevators, in the dog parks, and throughout the building. It also contributes to the noise factor. You basically hear barking throughout the building non-stop, and management refuses to resolve the issue, saying that they need to observe it for themselves in order to deal with it. On top of that, even if they do observe it, they didn't/won't do anything about it. Still, even if management did anything, the dog owners themselves are mostly to blame, as the ones that live here are horribly inconsiderate. -There are smell issues due to the trash rooms on each floor, as well as dogs peeing in the elevator/in the hallways. There were also intermittent cleanliness issues in some of the amenities (including the lap pool and rooftop dog parks). -You will have virtually no cell reception if you have an interior/courtyard-facing apartment, and only some if you have an exterior-facing one. -The management/staff here are inconsistent in how they deal with concerns. But when we had health and safety issues pop up due to maintenance failing to do its job, it took months to deal with it and caused us to lose our A/C in the middle of the summer. While the management did compensate us in the end, they did not resolve it in a timely manner and were almost impossible to reach, as they would simply ignore calls. I will say this massively improved once we started dealing with Daria instead of Connor, and once Danny took over as maintenance supervisor. However, there were still issues up until move-out, and the front desk staff appeared to be getting worse when we moved out as well (losing/failing to log packages and the like). -Folks in the building can be very inconsiderate. Also, minor gripe- many ignore the fact that you need an appointment to use some of the amenities and just walk in, even if you've reserved it. -The rent is very high (mostly competitive for Navy Yard but that's not saying much) and the fees are too (especially parking).

There was a lot of good during my time here, but there was also a fair bit of bad. I will admit the good outweighs the bad for me; I would consider living here again if the opportunity arose, the management showed effort to fix the issues, and the price was right. But with that said, I can't give it higher than a 3/5 due to the issues I endured during...

I've been living in the Park Chelsea for about 2 months now. The apartment is fine. It generally works, and when things break the maintenance crew is prompt and friendly. This review is about the amenities.

In short, they'll sell you here on the amenities. They're beautiful and plentiful. What they don't tell you is they basically don't want you using them, and they'll be watching you on camera 24/7, wherever you are to make make sure you don't.

Every time I go to the roof I'm inevitably accosted by sudden security asking if I live in the building. I've had days where I've walked a lap of the roof and been asked 3 times in the 5 minutes if I live there.

Last Monday, I had my family over - my parents and a younger brother. We were hanging out on the roof with a pizza, and the roof was, and I'm not exaggerating here, absolutely empty. Security, of course, came of of nowhere to ask if I lived in the building. I said I did. They asked if anyone else did. We were honest and said no. They told us that I'm not allowed to have more than 2 guests anywhere outside my apartment, so we had to go there, even though the roof was empty.

In short - if you're not in your apartment, assume you and your guests are on camera at all times, and assume that you aren't welcome wherever you are. I'll move somewhere without the amenities next year and save my money.

EDIT: I've now moved out of the Park Chelsea. Some additional notes to add:

1. They will absolutely nickel-and-dime you on the way out over everything not perfect in the apartment. Upon move-in, that is if you dare move in, please ensure to document everything not absolutely perfect with the place, or it will come back to bite you.

2. The app the building uses it BARELY functional. They'll tell you you can book critical items like the move-in elevator through the app, but, in reality, it does not work, and the app WILL allow people to double-book critical items. Please note that management will not care about the issues this causes you, and so ensure that you stop into the leasing office each time you make a reservation to confirm they have it in their system.

3. Honestly, on a personal level, the management staff of the building are simply rude and unpleasant. Not a group of people I'd want to do business with again, and CERTAINLY not a group of people that wants this place to...