Crystal City Lofts

Recently I had to stay in Crystal City Lofts Arlington, Virginia along with my family. It was the worst nightmare experience of my life time to stay at this place for two nights. Although I can write a book about my horrible experiences at this place but I would simply say please please don't ever book this place. It will ruin the whole trip and you will be regretting for the next six months. Elevators don't work, locks don't work, staff is extremely rude and lies blatantly. Staying at this place is the worst thing to do in your whole life time. Avoid booking this place at any cost and and at every cost.

Loud train and airplane noises throughout the day and night. Metro is not as close as they led us to believe.

First off, the maintenance staff at this property are EXCELLENT! Great people who do a really great job. Outside of that, this property is terrible. Noisy planes every 2-3 minutes, loud trains, and the never-ending fire alarms. It is right next to train tracks and right across from the airport, the noise here is overwhelming. The fire alarm system here has had some serious issues, since the day we moved in. Each unit has 2 deafening wall-mounted alarms that have gone off 6 times in the last 7 days. What's really fun is that they go off for about 10-15 minutes, non-stop. If you like a quiet and peaceful place, this is not the property for you or your family.

We lived here for three years and overall enjoyed our stay but sometimes it did get loud from the train and airplanes. We also had a terrible move out experience. We were charged for so many things (damaged blinds, painting, cleaning fee, etc.) that was completely unreasonable and added up to almost $1000!!! Management is also not the most responsive/cooperative. Maintenance was good but things in our apartment kept breaking as well (patio door, lights, etc.) If it weren’t for our terrible moving out experience, I would have given a higher rating but our experience left a bad taste in our mouth after an overall decent experience.

The location is great, but for the price, the amenities are not great. The fire alarm system is faulty and will go off at all hours of the day, interrupting your sleep and work. The "private" garage door is constantly breaking, leaving you to pay for an unsecured garage. Management is constantly changing and progressively getting worse and much ruder. The package room is in constant disarray. Don't bother living here.

Great apartment complex that is close to DCA, Pentagon city mall, and around a 15 minute walk from the metro and crystal city shops. The staff at the leasing office were always pleasant to work with, and attentive to any problems or concerns. The maintenance staff were nice and were always kept up to date on when they were going to be coming in for checks and maintenance. The last few months that I lived there (Spring 2018), there was a lot of construction being done near the garage area/there was only one entrance so that was a little inconvenient.

Accessibility This apartment is *not* close to the Metro. It is at least a 15 minute walk to either Crystal City or Pentagon City, and there are almost no worthwhile stores or shops between the apartment and the nearest metro, Crystal City. Also, there are only two elevators that service the entire building, and only one of which reaches the top floor. Staircases also don't reach all the floors and are located in bewildering places. On top of all that, and I didn't believe it when I read it in another interview, but the entire apartment becomes inaccessible during marathons in the non-Winter months. It was fun to find out that some these marathons also take place right after work hours. Sound Sound insulation is nearly non-existent. The entire building was built with very cheap construction materials so the floors and walls are very thin. Despite being close to the airport runways, the real noise issue comes from the adjacent rail tracks. You will hear every train that screeches by, and they run into the night. Management From the beginning I had frustrating experiences with the management when they delayed my move in by 3 months without giving reason and preventing me from scheduling a tour during that period. Also, for certain units the floor plan listed on Apartments.com don't actually exist, the the management doesn't know the square footage of their own units. They also actively avoid any interaction with the tenants, by ignoring and not returning phone calls while in the office, not following up on maintenance requests, and locking the door without explanation. But they do not hesitate to overbook tours and are chronically understaffed. Also, they seem disconnected with reality by hosting events that end at 5:30pm, which is completely impossible for non-Pentagon workers to participate in. Long story short, it's not the worst apartment in the DMV, but please do yourself a favor and save this one as your absolute last resort choice.

I have lived at Crystal City Lofts for 18 months now. I like the building because it is (comparatively) newer and so the floorplans are more modern, including nice big, closets - a must for me. The location is good and although there aren't a ton of amenities available at this complex, I like that I can go to sister properties for yoga classes, etc. I am not thrilled with the management. The only exception to this is Shirley. She is by far the best person in the leasing office. Always friendly, always works hard to get you what you need, very personable. She works extra hours on her own to make sure things happen as they should. I'm not sure what the manager does - I never even see her and have yet to have the manager solve any problem. I hope the apartment appreciates what Shirley does as I couldn't imagine living here without Shirley in the leasing office. I'm also dreading when my lease is up as I've heard from other residents who have left because Gates Hudson really raises rates at the end of your lease to sign a new lease and stay in your apartment. I didn't have a good experience switching apartments here at the end of my first lease (due to the manager, not due to Shirley who wasn't involved - I wish Shirley had been the one I dealt with!). I don't want to move, but if they try to gouge me on my lease renewal, I won't be staying. Also might not stay if Shirley isn't still around when my lease is up.

I am not renting at Crystal City Lofts for only one reason. First, Shirley was an amazing host. She showed the property well and was extremely personable. I feel like we are old friends! We had a short lists of "must-haves." Crystal City Lofts has the best location--close to parks, a gym, and work. They had wonderful storage options and bike storage, plus are located next to a storage rental facility. They also seem to have an amazing sense of community, starting with their office staff, especially Shirley. The one must-have that was missing was hard floors. The plush carpet throughout the entire apartment is just a no-go for us; we could live with carpeted bedrooms, but did not want our homes to look like the ones we grew up in. But that is not the worst part....we offered to pay for new floors, or pay a lot extra per month in rent if the unit changed them out. Shirley tried to help us look past this, and almost got us there. Ultimately she said management had denied such requests in the past. This is one of the only times I've offered to make someone else money (unit would be worth more per month or would at least get more from me) and was turned down....ouch.

Nice apartment located in between Crystal City and Pentagon City. Staff is supper friendly only reasons we stayed here so long. They offer all types of apartment layouts but it's a little pricy in comparison to other new apartments in the area. Overall, I would recommend it to those who like living in a high traffic area. Also Very easy to get it National Airport if you travel for work.

I have really enjoyed living here for the most part. The complex is located in a very convenient area in the center of Crystal City and a 10 minute walk from the metro station. The apartments are nice and most have been updated to include granite countertops. The courtyards are spacious and the community has 3 grills, large gym and a nice lounge for entertaining guests. Since being acquired by Gates Hudson, I have noticed improvements being made to the community, including daily cleaning which keeps the community looking nice and fresh. There is room for improvement on some things, but this is to be expected with almost any rental community. I feel the parking garage could be updated to be more secure, including adding cameras. Also, sometimes things in the common area are not kept up and it can take weeks for propane to be refilled in the grills or a machine in the gym to be fixed. But, the staff in the leasing office, the property management and the maintenance staff are top notch. Every issue I have ever had has been quickly addressed the the staff go out of their way to make the community welcoming and nice. Definitely recommend this community.

I've been living at North Tract Lofts for almost 4 months and I have no complaints! The one bedroom apartment (738 sq ft) is nice and even if you've downsized like I've done (moving from 1500 sq ft), it is definitely doable while keeping your key pieces of furniture. The staff have been extremely nice and helpful. I love that they packages can be left with them instead of missing the UPS guy because you're not home. It is so convenient to downtown Washington, DC. - 3 stops on the metro. The grounds are always kept nice and clean. Many of the residents use the patio area for get together's and cookouts. They have a great gym however I also want to mention that it sits right on Long Bridge Park so an outside run or even taking an evening stroll is super easy. It is located in a cul-de-sac so there is not much busy through traffic which I like. You do have to pay for parking... but, hate it or love it, that's just DC! If you are looking for convenience and quiet, I would definitely recommend that you give NTL a visit!

I've lived here almost 4 years and have very few complaints. The apartment has great amenities, excellent maintenance staff and is in a great location - walking distance to metro and a 5 minute drive to the city. Rent can be high but it's not too bad if you have roommates. I also love the proximity to the park and restaurants/shops on Crystal Drive and Pentagon City. A few problems are the slow elevators and garage door. The garage door has broken a few times that I've lived here. It hasn't really bothered me because I don't have a car, but I know that my roommate was upset because it's pretty expensive to park your car here and the door was permanently open for a few weeks - not very secure. Overall though, a great place to live. Safe, clean, good appliances, windows, etc. They recently changed management companies and I don't have any complaints so far. There's no pool, but the new company made arrangements for us to be able to go to pools at their other properties in the area.