Rooftop 252 — Local services in West St. Paul

UPDATED review below. It’s unfortunate that this building has faced delays during construction. But that’s always likely to happen with big construction projects like this. Signing a lease for a building that isn’t even completed is a risk. And I was fully aware of that risk when I signed. But I have had no issues with the owners of this property. They have always returned calls and answered my questions promptly. They have never given me any false promises about timelines or guaranteed anything they couldn’t control. It’s been exciting to drive by every now and then to see the progress being made. I’m hopeful we’ll be able to move in on the date we originally planned for. But if not, the property owners have been very helpful in putting multiple back up plans into place so we won’t be hung out to dry.

Will update my review after the move in process is complete and have lived in the building for a couple weeks.

9/30/2020 After living here for our full 1 year lease and moving on to something else I feel I can share my thoughts and opinions. Overall the building was nice. Its new construction so everything is nice and clean. Really liked that the units had the internet router/Wi-Fi already hooked up, so you just need to go online and start the service. No need for a technician to come by. Unit was mostly quiet, its a wood framed building so you shouldn't expect silence. Appliances and fixtures were nice and modern.

Where I had issues was with the management company. They tout being "Family owned" all over the place but don't seem to know what that means anymore. I think they've been riding the wave of "Family owned" for many years and have made little improvements to keep up with the quality. Family owned should mean higher standards than a corporate company. Not equal or worse.

When we first moved in the building was still in the final stages of construction. All the units were done, but non of the amenities were open. So when I asked multiple times if wed get a rent rebate or reduction while the amenities weren't open I never got a real response. Just run around "well I'll talk to X, and they'll talk to Y" ect.... This building is priced a little higher than the average market rate for the area, and with it being a "luxury" building the amenities are part of that. But for the first several months of our lease we had no access to the "ROOFTOP" that this place is named after. Or the gym. This is a new market for them as their other buildings are brick buildings from the 70's. But they need to understand that "market rate luxury buildings" will attract a different consumer and needs different management techniques.

There were also several times when I would call in a maintenance issue and would never hear back or see the issue fixed. Not a huge issues as all the calls were for stuff around the building and not my unit. But as someone who works in the apartment industry that didn't sit well with me. The snow and ice removal was terrible too. Any time it snowed, there would be an ice/snow patch right by the doors for weeks. They would never lay down salt or scrape the ice back.

Their COVID response was next to nothing. No info disseminated to residents about how the MN mask mandate required multifamily housing to comply. No increase to the buildings cleaning schedule. No posting of signage around the building at any point. The only correspondence I recall getting was an email from Lea in late march saying she'd be working from home. But after that it would take several days to get any kind of response from the office.

Overall this isn't a bad place to live. The building is nice and clean, and now that all the amenities are open its a decent value. But I think the Management company needs to understand that a new "luxury" building has different standards than old 70's buildings. And they need to reflect on what being "family owned" actually means to them and how that family legacy...

Amenities are great. The leasing office staff is friendly and helpful. The building caretaker is awesome!

The maintenance team is terrible. I have only called for two issues. Both experiences were unpleasant.

The first problem was the dishwasher. My partner called it in. Two men came in, looked at it, and then said there wasn't a problem. She called again. They came again and stated we were the problem. There were bones and other things in the plumbing system which affected our dishwasher. The previous tenant didn't seem to have a great track record with the complex but I guess us new tenants are the problem. We had only lived in our unit for 3 months at that time. They blamed us and were very disrespectful to my partner. She hasn't felt safe or comfortable to call them for a repair since.

The second issue is running water. We received a call from the front office that our water usage went up drastically. They asked if they could send maintenance to check it out. The two men came in, looked around, and found the issue. It was a running toilet. They extended the chain on the flapper and called it good. 2 months go by and I notice the water bill is $150 both times. I expected the first month bill to be high but not the second. My job causes me to travel and work late. So I haven't been home enough. I noticed this morning (8/15/2024) the running water. I called it in at 7am with as much detail as possible. I had very little hope that it would be checked but nonetheless, I don't have the tools, knowledge, or experience to fix it myself. I arrived home at 5pm today. To my surprise there's a note stating that the flapper was replaced. I was really hoping it was true so I checked the toilet. It's untouched from when I left it this morning. I don't even know which toilet was checked. Everything looks untouched.

Maintenance team is rude.

Update 8/29: Lea is amazing! She goes above and beyond when taking care of the residents. She's been helping us consistently with many issues we've faced while living here. We've been locked out, dog ate a key fob, setting up the Lux portal account after months of struggling, getting maintenance out to do their job, and she helped us set-up our water bill account. The customer rep wasn't taking no as answer with their deals and promotions so Lea took over and sped things...

I lived here for 4 years. Between neighbors banging on the paper thin walls and the rude management staff you had it was probably the worst place to call a home. They would have broken doors for months as well as appliances that did not work properly. The cheapest possible appliances and the dog park was disgusting. Wreaked of urine as it was never cleaned. The best part is I’ve had my car towed MULTIPLE times. That shitty pass they give you? If it falls off your mirror well there’s $400 to get your car back. You move into a dirty apartment and they’re quick to garage you for a spec of dust when you move out. When i finally was free of this awful apartment complex they squeezed me for more money. 1. Never putting in my move out date to utilities so im still being charged. 2. When i moved out they required 60 day notice. So i ended up paying them for a month and a half of me not being there. Fine. But then i asked them to take off the $100 worth of storage lockers and they told me it stays with me lease. Which was never told to me. Absolutely a sham. Far better buildings with better staff and better maintenance out there. I’m sure i won’t see a dime of my security deposit back after...