Andover House

I chose Andover House for the excellent location, surprisingly spacious studio floorplan (it's practically a 1BD without a bedroom door), and the great views on the east and upper south sides of the building. However, I've also been continually impressed with the maintenance and management staff since moving in. Lawrence from the maintenance team is a real one, and I've never had to wait more than 24 hours for a response, even for low-priority requests. The management team is very communicative with notices concerning renovation noise and other community updates. I'm already planning to renew next year!

This review is for all potential renters and as well for all Executives at UBR Properties.
I want to share what a wonderful experience my son is having as a resident of Andover House, located 1200 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20005. I am as well as my son permanent residents in Calabasas California, 91302. I learned of Andover House in my travels to Washington DC in April of 2018. The purpose for my trip was to identify a place for my son to live while he spends the next two years in Graduate School at John Hopkins University.
The reason I choose the Andover House was its quality of location as well as its amenities, but candidly One of the most important Issues for me was the on site management and the quality of their work in the care they show to the residents and concern for the residents living there.

I am and have been for forty years a builder and owner of Apartments and Commercial property, so I have a vast knowledge and experience of real Estate, and know real quality valuable Management. The person who has these qualities is the current Manager of the Andover House. His name is Dylan R. Acker, he not only possess all of these qualities but he is in my opinion a valuable Asset to the Andover House and It's corporate owners. I highly recommend you visit this property if your in the market
and want peace of mind like I have for my son residing there.

Best
Marc

Andover House is amazing. Such a great neighborhood, everything is super convenient & the apartments are extremely well-appointed. The best part is the onsite team. They are very professional and will make you feel right at home. Highly recommend!

Very clean and very quiet. No noise from below or above us. Or even outside of the door.

Stayed at a very comfortable apartment in the complex

Clean, friendly, secure.

Beautiful

Good place

在这边租了一个apartment，住了2天，非常漂亮干净，喜欢！去各个景点都方便，下次还住这里

Хорошо оборудованные апартаменты, в пешей доступности основные достопримечательности Вашингтона

UPDATED 04/02/2023: Upgraded my rating from 2 to 4 based on my move out experience which was seamless and given that the maintenance issues were handled promptly during later part of my stay. That said, UDR certainly should do go a little easy on annual rent hikes for current residents.

A little background about me: I moved to Andover House in February (mostly because of the 2 month free rent promotion and a need for change) and have been a Logan Circle neighborhood resident for about 5 years and lived in 3 different residential communities.

I will try to be as objective as I can in weighing the pros and cons of living here for sake of prospective tenants who may appreciate a fuller picture prior to making an informed move-in decision.

The cons first since they outweigh the pros:

- Delays of management in taking care of the nitty gritty of a residential building. Example: The window cleaning has been delayed for many months now. What good is an apartment with a view when the windows are blurry! Simple public health protocols like refilling the sanitizing station in the gym and the lobby have been neglected for weeks sometimes (one would assume precautions are even more heightened in these covid times).
- Constant drainage problems with bathtub and sink. To exacerbate the problem, there is a deafening noise that comes with turning on hot water in the tub. It will be a perfect setup if you are someone training yourself to accustom yourself to cold shower. On a serious note, you will find this (drainage, plumbing etc.) to be a somewhat ubiquitous issue with other resident reviews here.
- Insulation on windows is very very thin. This is something I can't emphasize enough if you really need a good sleep and aren't much used to wild spontaneous poor stereo sounds from junk ATVs, 4 AM groupies at random times of the night or even afternoons. I am much used to cacophony but this is just another times decibel up. This is written out on the lease, I think, but it will do much better for your sleep and ear health to find a newer building with thicker windows and insulation or perhaps a slightly quieter street.
- You will pay for everything. By that I mean water, trash, sewer, gas etc. There are many apartment buildings where you don't need to pay for water, sewer, gas. In my first building I moved to in DC, I didn't pay for anything except internet. This is something to know in advance and perhaps tally values provided by all buildings in the neighborhood prior to locking in your ultimate choice.
- Lastly, except for one day time concierge, I have seen quite literally around 4 concierges leave in a span of 3 months. That only tells me it is a matter of time before the new ones are also en route to better horizons —time will tell. This, more than any other issues mentioned above, speaks volumes about the management and work culture of the management company UDR. But if you make the mistake of proactively calling UDR line, a nice lady in Texas who is utterly oblivious of your living situation in DC may soothe your pains.

Now, despite all the cons, there are some pros:

- For prospective tenants who just moved to DC proper and work downtown, WH or K st and also need to be close to Whole foods and a plethora of fine dining restaurants, bars and HHs, this building offers lucrative convenience in terms of walkability and nightlife which will be reflected in the rent. One may argue other buildings in the area do too and I can't provide a rebuttal to that but convenience is the main selling point here regardless.
- If you are someone who needs a relatively private apartment gym and good enough equipment (as in dumbells up to 50-60 pounds, several machine setups, a couple of cycles and treadmills, no barbells though), I would say the gym is decent enough for a full body compound workout. I don't usually see weights bigger than 35 lbs in many apartment gyms but on the other hand, there are some buildings with gyms size of Vida fitness. So tread accordingly depending on your priorities.

Whatever your lease says, add ~$150 to get the real number that you'll be charged just for rent + hidden fees (this is in addition to utilities, parking, etc)

The apartment, building, and staff are all good, just be aware that the price on the lease is not the price you'll pay