The Westerly — Local services in Washington

EDIT: Went through application process. Was approved IF I had a guarantor or went through a third party called The Guarantors that they wrok with (big props on this option). Was approved there, and all we had to do was wait for the 3rd party and the westerly to finish details. I've read this takes time and did ask to change units so it was stalling out a little. A friend mentioned the ability to "airbnb style" (NOT airbnb itself- I refuse to use them directly, the owners often are on other, better sites and allow direct renting as well) rent a place there for a couple days to week so I could talk to the leasing agent and office and The Guarantors all at once and get moved in since it was weeks after the gaurantors had accepted me and a lease should've been negotiated, written, and The Guarantors should've been able to come back to me with their required deposit and no one was communicating well. I'd just seen airbnbs for the Watermark at Buzzard and RiverPoint that were almost identical but with those hiked up, unnecessary fees. I paid via cashapp (safer account to put out there with a recent breach at my job), was given keys (FOBs with the Westerly marked casing around the rental door one), and proceeded to go up, look at it, see couch, bed, toiletry basics, dish basics, living basics. Left and stayed with my partner at their place. Sunday night I took a small suitcase in and showered around 9pm then left to work a night shift. Came back in (through security, using the keys I'd been given) around 5am or 6am Monday morning. 1130am 6 cops and 2 people who worked at The Westerly, but never actually identified themselves, we're at the door. The cops said something about living somewhere without a lease and I, very surprised (and having a severe neuro-based panic disorder disability that I can die from) said I'd just gotten there. Here is where I start to have issue with The Westerly itself. A woman (from westerly) cut over the police and tried to push forward through them calling me a liar saying (in atrocious grammar) that I was a liar and they had just been there SATURDAY NIGHT and talked to me about this all and told me to vacate. I politely, and mildly freaked out, explained how that would be impossible. Cops took over again. I was beyond compliant, didn't ask for paperwork or to even call a DC resident or my friend to figure out the deal because this woman was glaring daggers at me&randomly yelling accusations she failed at framing as questions. I noticed at one point the cops had surrounded me, but to box HER out from me (I was at 1st responder). Was thanked by the police for handing them the FOBs without being asked to, and for rushing around to grab my two little bags I had. They didn't take my ID.

The male Westerly employee, upon hearing I'd already applied for a MUCH larger and more expensive unit and been going through the proper channels and been in continued contact and just wanted to finish my process with them and sign a lease that was guaranteed to be paid (3rd party- remember?), double checked with me about the application and that I'd just stayed there to get everything done faster and see what it was like at the same time made sense and he didn't see why we couldn't work something out since I'd been going through the correct channels. I'd even turned down a unit somewhere else because I felt the Westerly was worth it and Callum seemed to be trying very hard to accomodate mine and my son's requests for a different unit. The woman had made up her mind a out me without me ever having met or spoken to her. She was nasty, aggressive, and had no right treating me that way. Will be looking into the legality of what I went through so the proper people are held responsible. Reaching out to Bozzuto directly about the female who was clearly emotionally unstable&triggered my disability[mentioned], which severely impacted my health Callum Davis showed me a few units in March. Callum just made the entire experience feel... like that's where mine and my son's home should (and...

I moved into The Westerly on June 18, and since then, the extensive list of issues I've met would make me warn any potential residents to look elsewhere before having to deal with this leasing office's lack of accountability. To this day, all of the reimbursement I was told I would receive for these issues have not been given, despite me reaching out to property management several times.

When I arrived to pick up my keys on my move-in date, I learned for the first time that they were not ready and that the leasing office had not finalized my lease yet, despite finalizing everything on my end. I was forced to wait to move in, and it took over a half hour to receive my keys. I had movers who I paid by the hour, and at the fault of The Westerly, I had to pay them more than I should have had to.

Before I entered my apartment, I was informed that it was still dirty from construction and that, although apartments were normally cleaned prior to residents moving in, mine was not, with no advanced notice. I was encouraged not to unpack too much and to move my items aside so that an employee could come later to clean my place. Because of this, I could not fully utilize the movers I was already paying more than anticipated due to the leasing office's failure to prepare. The agreed upon date for staff to clean my apartment was June 19th, but I still found films of dust around my apartment. I then was required to do much of the cleaning that was actually the stated responsibility of the building.

While I was finally allowed to move into my apartment, the ceiling started dripping water. The maintenance team then informed me that part of my HVAC unit was missing and I would have to keep my air conditioning turned off to prevent it from leaking. I had to rely on a portable air conditioner for about a month, all while in the middle of an Excessive Heat Warning in D.C. For four straight days, the board taped to my window (to allow the portable A/C to vent) fell off the wall, causing my apartment to be at least 80 degrees for a majority of each day. Every time this occurred, I had to contact emergency maintenance to fix this. In multiple instances, no one ever came to fix it. This also let in dozens of gnats and some mosquitoes that I found for the days following around my apartment. These were overall borderline unlivable conditions that I was forced to deal with.

I completed all my pre- move-in tasks on the website provided by the leasing office prior to my move. This included a section for me to state that I don't own a vehicle. Yet, I have still been charged $300 a month for garage parking that, to this day in October, I do not have (and never had) access to.

After a number of emails to The Westerly, I finally met with the Property Manager on July 17. At this meeting, he told me he would 1) reimburse me an hour for my movers; 2) waive my amenities fee; 3) waive my parking fees; and 4) see if the building could compensate me for rent in June. It is October, and absolutely NONE of these things have been completed.

I have reached out to the building regularly to request a follow-up on these actions since my meeting, and I have only been met with silence. I did not want to resort to public reviews, but after being ignored for months I do not feel I have any other choice.

The lack of professionalism and follow-up I have been met with is inexcusable. I am owed a significant amount of money, and for what I am paying to live here, it is unjustifiable how unprepared the building was for my move-in and how, over four months later, I am still dealing with the repercussions of it. I was originally enticed by this new building and was excited to be a resident here, but the sheer amount of major issues I have encountered since I moved here and the continued difficulty addressing them has made me completely regret...

FAKE REVIEWS LEFT AND RIGHT TALK TO REAL RESIDENTS DURING YOUR TOUR ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES! Employees are getting fake reviews posted because Bozzuto expects them to do that, if you see a name mentioned it’s a fake review solicited or posted by an employee of Bozzuto!

BEWARE, DO NOT LIVE HERE! TONS OF FAKE REVIEWS FROM BOZZUTO. 1/3 of the building is Section 8 housing and Bozzuto doesn’t disclose that to those applying. Management struggles to answer simple questions about how we are billed and what we are paying for. Residents are nickeled and dimed left and right beyond the charges we were told to expect. The building is actively under construction and a fire took place with residents in the building, no alarms sounded on my floor. Most of the amenities partially work or have intermittent problems. The parking area was scattered with nails from construction, I had to pick them up myself to protect resident’s cars.

This building is EXPENSIVE, Bozzuto markets a “sanctuary” experience and this place has been anything but that. It’s evident that Bozzuto squeezes everything they can from their employees (they’re badly short staffed here and need help) and tenants in order to maximize their bottom line. I am incredibly disappointed by my time here as I was once excited to live in this gorgeous building with so much potential.

Trust me and the other reviews, don’t live here until they get their stuff together.

Edit 1: the $300/month “secure garage” has had multiple cars broken into and two stolen out of it. This building seems to be a target for crime and the security guards actively don’t do their jobs. Instead they sleep in the lobby while our cars get broken into and let the side doors and garage doors sit wide open.

Edit 2: 136 of the units in this building are for “affordable housing” this wasn’t disclosed to the majority of tenants in this building who are paying full price. All of the problems you could imagine from this are present and we were never told before signing leases. There are multiple people walking around this property with ankle monitors on, which is unacceptable for the price that a lot of us are paying to be here.

Edit 3: management seems to be posting fake reviews from people who likely have no association with the property. If you are reading this, trust the reviews that have reactions & votes on them and not the super short “this is a nice building” reviews with 5 stars 😂

Edit 4: on 6/1/24 there was an armed robbery where a man was held at gunpoint in the property. The robbers bypassed the flawed and ignorant security this building has in place and got in robbing him at gunpoint. Bozzuto is too cheap to pay the folks they hire decent wages so the security & concierge staff are very low tier. Security guards are old or lazy or sleeping on duty or all three because Bozzuto is too cheap to hire decent employees so their work is a joke.

Edit 5: there is at least one resident with an ankle monitor on and multiple guests that frequent this building with ankle monitors on. Bozzuto doesn’t care if you have to deal with potential criminals while paying $2500/month for a 1 bedroom. Too bad for you I guess!

Edit 6: Bozzuto and their employees are submitting tons of fake reviews and the “property manager” is responding to reviews pretending that he cares when in my own personal experience the entire management team including the person that responded to this review have been very non-responsive, dismissive and generally negligent at managing this building.

Edit 7: a resident car in the garage has multiple bullet holes in it, residents are referring to it as “the shootout car”. Begs the question “who do they have us living here with?” But residents have already been curious about the supposed background checks they’re running on new residents because they don’t seem...