The Horizons

Giving this apartment complex 1 star for so many reasons. I lived here for two years: 1. During the first week I moved in, the ceiling in my bathroom started to leak and eventually caved in into my bathtub. Thank God I wasn't standing under it when that happened. 2. Cockroaches were a big issue in the unit I lived in. I lived next to the trash room and saw roaches almost daily. 3. My dishwasher broke and wasn't fixed/replaced for months on end. 4. The dryer in my unit also broke and also wasn't fixed/replaced for months on end. I had to dry my clothes out on the balcony because I literally had no other choice. 5. I accidentally locked myself out of my unit once and the ONLY option was for them to completely DRILL through my door nob because the leasing office didn't have a spare key for my unit. 6. The renovations that were done were SO cheap. It was honestly just a nightmare.

There was always dust in our apartment. We would clean and a week later, you could write your name in the dust. Also, the dust had a filmy sort of soot quality to it and it you brushed your finger along it, it would smear. Dust shouldn’t smear. This film was on all over our furniture and windows. The vents in our dining and living room were high on the walls and the ceiling in those areas had dark stains that fanned out from the vents. My air purifier filter had to be changed monthly even though the product recommendation was every 90 days. The filter was filthy every time I changed it. A new air conditioning system was put in place in 2023 but the unit in my bedroom rattled so loudly that I didn’t want to use it. A rep from the company that worked on the installation “fixed” it but that only lasted for a few weeks before it started making noise again. I’ve heard that other tenants have the same issue. They’ve been renovating apartments and when the work was being done on the apartment above us, they began working at 7:30am or earlier and some evenings I could hear them working through 8pm. They’ve been putting money into upgrading the apartments and the property overall but the buildings are over 60 years old. Even with all these improvements, there’s still structural problems and internal problems. If those aren’t addressed, it doesn’t matter how pretty the apartments look, it isn’t worth the price hike added to the lease costs if things keep breaking down. Overall, an unpleasant place to live.

This is a terrible place to live. The staff members are downright rude and will lie to your face. Make sure you get everything in writing from them if you're brave enough to live here. Furthermore, if they tell you construction will take a certain amount of time: Don't trust them. They will say anything to get you through the door then treat you poorly once you sign the lease. They also have a bug problem there. On multiple occasions I went to go get coffee from their machine and found ants in the coffee. I've had packages mishandled and delivered open on the floor. The building has many crusty rooms with 10000 layers of paint just peeling way. Even though this is all bad the worst thing about this place is the SHADY management. It got so bad here the residents got together and considered filling multiple lawsuits. Some of them even did. WORST experience ever!

If you do decide to move in, only live on the backside of the large building facing the forest. The front side of the large building and the small building are extremely loud and difficult to sleep in due to low quality windows, noise from Lee Highway (which has heavy traffic b/c of the middle school located directly across the street), and noise from planes which have a flight path directly in front of that side of the building. Aside from the above, living in this apartment has been torturous, largely due to management (Dweck Properties). The hallmark of this company is steadfast obsession with their bottom line, to the point of refusing to even consider resident discomfort or loss. I’ve been here less than 6 months, and it’s been an absolute nightmare. I wouldn’t wish living in any Dweck owned property on my worst enemy. Dweck constantly works to withhold salient facts from residents. My first full month electric bill was over $300, and for many residents their bills were over $500 that month. Utilities are calculated using RUBS. This means you pay for your portion of the property’s entire bill, rather than the utilities you consume. There is tons of construction on this property. Workers plug heavy machinery into walls, which means residents pay for that. When this bill posted, there was an outcry from many residents as it was absurdly high. Dweck sent multiple emails telling residents the utility bill was correct, and payment was required. There was no transparency as to what formula was being used to ratio the utilities. Many residents pestered Dweck to no end for the formula. On the next month’s bill, despite telling us multiple times the bill was correct, they gave residents a credit because the billing was in fact incorrect. While they have since provided a formula to how utility bills are calculated for each unit based on number of occupants and sqft, Dweck refuses to provide the total utility bill for the property or the exact number of occupied units for each month. My suspicion is if they gave us these numbers and we plugged it into the formula, it would not match what we are being charged. Construction abound. Heat turned off for months, workers have access to apartments from 8am-6pm, construction on walls with asbestos inside them, no rent reduction or alternative living situation offered to residents. Cars get broken into often in the parking lot due to lack of security camera system. Beware my car was broken into.

I’ve lived here for about 3 years and it has progressively gotten worse. I love my big apartment with a lot of natural light. My place isn’t renovated and I love the built in shelving and wood floors (not sure why they removed these 2 features from the renovated apartments), but everything outside of the apartment itself has gone downhill. When the ownership changed to Bainbridge, they tried making updates to make the place look nicer, but it’s all done cheaply. They painted my door without letting me know and literally painted my door shut and the paint was peeling off the next day. The leasing staff is often passive and not helpful when issues do arise. The maintenance does a good job, but have never left my apartment without leaving a mess that I had to clean up. During the pandemic, all of the staff has had issues with wearing masks and seem to have a problem with it when I ask them to wear one, especially when entering my apartment, which makes me feel like they don’t care about their residents. I like that this building has a gym, but the water fountain doesn’t work, half of the equipment is broken, and the sanitizing wipes are dry so I have to bring my own. It’s also lacking generally in gym equipment that most people use regularly.

Recent change in management has led to some negative changes to life at the Horizons. They now charges for parking passes, $5 per night, Increasingly passive aggressive emails about rent being due even when accounts are current. All that combined with the fact that the building itself is ancient and borderline decrepit. The water and or heat is turned off. for maintenance at least once a week, i wish i was exaggerating. working from home has been a nightmare here. The walls are so thin, I can hear my neighbor sneeze and the cherry on top... they DONT provide lockout service after hours. Instructions are to call a locksmith. The new manager/management definitely has that soulless, automated, corporate vibe. You'd be better off finding somewhere else to rent, i will when my lease is up.

My apartment smells of mold due to a flood that was never properly addressed. AC does not get turned on until mid May so expect uninhabitable conditions for the month of April and May. An old garbage chute system which has not been replaced in ages, leading to a bug problem. My rent has gone up even with the above issues mentioned to staff, you can find cheaper apartments with 100 x better quality and living conditions. It feels like Horizons only cares about potential prospects and not their current tenants.

I received a quote and applied for an apartment. After paying the fees and being accepted to rent the apartment I received notice that the quote was invalid and my payments would be refunded. Two months later I still have not received my refund

I have been a long term resident, and the improvements that have been made by Gates Hudson are to be recognized. Renovations to the units that i have seen are amazing! As well as the common Areas. The office staff has had some turn over but since 2016 with Walter & Ladonna they have turned the building to another level. Their Customer service goes beyond what i have seen in several years. The Maintenance team is Great and gets things done quickly. I truly recommend anyone that is looking for an apartment to check out horizons! You will not be disappointed!

Do you expect to be greeted by people that work in your building in a friendly manner? Not here. Customer service is extremely lacking. When you go into the office, they ignore you until you start talking to them. Maintenance issues never get handled because the building is old and is in a constant state of emergency repair - taking up all the time of maintenance staff so they don't come help you. Management and leasing people promises issues will be handled, but they aren't. They are turning off the water in these buildings 3-4 days a week in August, which means no air conditioning. If they turn it off for even one day, it takes 3-4 days for it to become cold again. They allow pets here, but it gets dangerously hot for my dog. There is no notice for renters when apartments nearby are going to be renovated, which causes extremely loud noise from 8am-6pm every day for over a month per apartment. Do you work from home? Not here. Location is decent, but only if you drive - Safeway is a half mile walk, there are a few shops, and it is close to 66 (west) and Spout Run, if you drive. Nothing else is walkable - Ballston Metro is 1.4 miles. All they care about here is leasing new apartments - not taking care of residents who live here for a long time. Once you sign the lease, all customer service drops, and they don't fix your apartment. Prices are low, but you get what you pay for.

The one bedroom apartment is a large space with a balcony. The space is oddly proportioned with a tiny kitchen, and too-large living room. The large space is nice, but I'd prefer less space in a better location (with the odd layout, much of the square footage goes unused). Apartment has outdated appliances (stove is temperamental; oven often leaks gas)and torn-up cabinets and countertops. The apartment shows its age. Some are renovated and they run a lot higher, with prices comparable to apartments in more central parts of Arlington and even DC. For the location, the rent is high, and rising. Not a lot going on in this sad part of town. One small shopping strip within walking distance, so most people drive. The parking lot is a mess. They provide no notice for doing work in the parking lot. People park in towing zones, and towing's not enforced. Cars parked in towing zones are left untouched. They say this building is "pet friendly" but you have to pay pet rent monthly, not even just a deposit. It's as if they didn't put any thought into this. Paying to have a pet is in case of damage -- so you should have a pet deposit instead, which is returned if the apartment is left in good condition. That makes total sense. Paying every month makes no sense. Just another shameless way they get money out of you. We had a bad roach problem (in the kitchen, living room, and bedroom) which management attempted to solve by having the bug person spray. It only got worse. We've managed to keep the problem at bay by spending our own money on traps. We've seen roaches in the stairwell, and other places. Package theft is a huge problem. Either a tenant is stealing packages, or strangers enter through propped doors (something mgmt has said they can't and won't do anything about). They don't express concern or intention to do anything about this. Instead of coming up with a solution, they say "have your packages sent to the leasing office," which, weekdays is only open 830-530, so if you have an urgent delivery, you have to wait until the weekend. I've never had this problem at anywhere else. This building is managed by a big company who has lots of properties, so there's no attention to detail or pride. The staff has made errors in our lease that we had to point our ourselves to get corrected, they ignore emails, and ignore complaints. The management is unconcerned and the tenants seem to have given up caring about the problems here. I suggest you look elsewhere.

My boyfriend and I recently moved here from the midwest in July and we love it! We took a leap of faith and signed the lease without viewing the apartment first because we were moving from so far away in a short amount of time. We are so lucky that this place is fantastic. The property managers, Mark and Nora, were very helpful and flexible with our move-in date and loading dock reservation time. They were prompt in their responses to any and all concerns we had prior to arriving at the Horizons. They are always friendly and happy to help in any way they can. We live up on the eighth floor which gives us an incredible view. I have lived in the DC area before and never dreamed we could have an apartment that was affordable and had a view of nature. There is a grocery store, hardware store, library, and drugstore right down the street which has been really convenient. We can easily bike to the Ballston metro stop in 12 minutes or less. There is a bus stop right behind our apartment that will take you directly to Rosslyn Metro Station. There is also quick access to the Custis Bike Trail. The parking at the Horizons is also ample and free. The amount of square footage we have for the price is really something special. I love the floor to ceiling windows, large balcony, and hard wood floors. They even have a maintenance person who lives in the building, so if you need help, you can get it fast! He came at 11:00pm one night shortly after we reported that our toilet was taking long time to fill up. There is also a nice little gym that is never busy, and a beautiful community room that you can rent out if you want to have a party. We also got free pool passes to use at the "sister communities" Crystal Towers, and Crystal Plaza (check their websites, their pools are gorgeous.) I'm also impressed with the laundry facility. It is extremely rare to not be able to find and open washer, and the washers and dryers are high quality, they don't ruin your clothes. Lastly, this place is so pet friendly. Every time I come and go I see at least one person walking their dog. I'm glad we found this place and we don't plan on leaving anytime soon.

The apartment itself is decent, but the experience with management and the property has been a big disappointment. They have failed to do each and every repair that they promised would be done when I moved in. They have brought in pest treatment to apartments every month so far, which is not ideal for pet owners in studios who have no place to restrain the pet (they treat bathrooms and kitchens). The worst part, however, is that management literally cannot do basic addition or subtraction, or pretends not to in order to try and scam tenants. I had to go back and forth with The Horizons and parent company Gates Hudson multiple times when they charged me move in fees and refused to give me credit for payment that had been made. They first claimed the payment was rejected for insufficient funds. When I provided proof that it had been paid, they acknowledged that it had been paid and yet did not give me credit for it despite me following up with them numerous times. They tried to correct their ledgers and gave me a "credit" on my account while still charging me $30 that I did not owe them. They could not or would not do the basic math involved in bringing my account to $0.00 despite me providing them with multiple ledgers and proof that everything had been paid. I finally contacted my bank, and of course the regional manager refused their calls. Fortunately, the bank returned my funds. Neither Horizons nor Gates Hudson responded to my correspondence informing them that the bank had returned the funds as a fraudulent transfer. Needless to say, I have been repeatedly disappointed.

I have been living in this property for several years. I live in one bedroom apt with a fantastic balcony view to the National Cathedral. Location can't be beat. Walking distance to shops, convieniene store, local schools, and restaurants. The bus stop is around the corner and walking distance to Ballston Metro stop. Area is quiet, nice and safe. Nora, the manager goes above and beyond to meet residents needs. Property is neatly clean and very well maintained. The property overall is in excellent condition and property management is outstanding.

I Lived at the Horizon East West for 6 years. I really enjoyed the location and the manager was very nice. Unfortunately the air conditioning systems leaked and has been for years. My child and I became seriously ill living there due to the mold infestation. When we complained they refused to remediate. We moved away but still have very high sensitivities to mold. Rent at own risk this is a very dangerous place.

The Horizon East-West apartments are a great choice in the Arlington/Northern Virginia area. The complex is conveniently located for public transportation (several bus routes and a long-ish walk to Metro, but the buses take you there directly, so it's no problem to get to Metro) and also Route 29 and 66. There's plenty of shopping and dining within easy walking distance. And the area is green and pleasant, with an active neighborhood association. The building itself is clean, with well-maintained common areas. The apartments are huge (our two-bedroom is nearly 1,000 square feet) and well-laid out. And the rents are reasonable, especially considering the high housing prices in this area. If you're looking for new living arrangements in the Arlington area, give the Horizons a look. you won't be disappointed!