Virginia Square Apartments

The only good thing about Virginia Square apartments is the M-​F full time front desk and maintenance staff that were hired when the building was still owned and operated by Archstone. They go above and beyond to provide exceptional customer service.
When we first moved in, the office center had a working printer, fax machine, coffee machine and water. All of these amenities were removed when Equity took over. Also, breakfast used to be provided on Friday mornings, and holidays were recognized with something festive. Equity has also subsequently increased our rent and parking fee after decreasing the level of services provided by the building.
Next, dogs used to be allowed in the common rooms and on the roof. The rules implemented in the past few months have destroyed the pet-​friendly aspects of the building. It’s also worth noting that for the majority of the 2014 summer the patio section of the roof was closed to residents for repair. SO much for paying a premium for those great views!
If you make the mistake of touring Virginia Square apartments, do not be deceived by the monitors on the exercise equipment in the gym. They are not set-​up for you to actually watch TV.
The most egregious incident that has caused us to decide several months in advance to not renew our lease, is the ongoing elevator outages in the building. As of today, one of the elevators has been out of service for 16 days and counting. A resolution has not been communicated to residents.
Rosie, Young, and other Equity employees are not providing rent concessions, or even any regular communication about this outage. Instead, residents are forced to wait upwards of 15 minutes for an elevator during busy times of the day. If this were the first elevator incident, we could possibly understand. Unfortunately, continued elevator outages have become an all too common occurrence in the building. That, coupled with the strong trash odor that has begun to permeate the 1^st and 19^th floors are causing to move out as soon as our lease ends, or sooner if Equity will let us leave early without penalty.
There are many great buildings in the Virginia Square area. Unfortunately, Virginia Square apartments is not one of them.

The location of this building is undeniably good, particularly if your commute will be to DC. It’s nice to have a concierge to pick up packages and generally they are helpful and pleasant. The upgraded apartments have substandard appliances. Dishwashers that run for hours yet don’t dry dishes. Ovens that don’t accurately reach the needed temperatures. The kitchen cabinets are few and small. The AC and Heating units are routinely malfunctioning and the thermostats are entirely inaccurate. The smoking in the building remains uncorrected so the stale stench of smoke leaks from apartments into the hall. Sternly worded emails sent to the population seem to be ineffective. This is the fourth Virginia building I have lived in. For location I would rank it well but truthfully, I would recommend ANY OTHER BUILDING in VS or Ballston for management. Be careful when you depart as you will not see your security deposit returned even when leaving the apartment in pristine condition (and having photos to prove it). To aid in this post departure nickel and dime grab for more money, they will not do their final walk through with you… they deliberately wait for you to be long gone. For me, they generated a wholly inaccurate statement of costs owed which not only failed to reflect my payments already but double charged me for parking and rent. Moreover, a bogus charge of $ 50 for not removing the cable that Verizon had installed under the carpet line. (even unplugging the cable caused an alarm to sound which I had no idea how to correct, other than plugging it back in.) There is allegedly a clause in the lease which requires you to professionally shampoo the bedroom carpet and despite having absolutely no stains or damage to the rug, they will hit you with a $ 100 shampoo charge at lease end. The employees in the building assured me that only if the carpet is stained is this charge assessed, but the reality was they retained it from the security. Upper management in the building fluctuates often as it appears that they have a hard time retaining good competent people. Thus, dealing with management can be difficult when you’re trying to overcome gaps in ability to process details, logic and facts. Because of the sneaky, underhanded bogus charges they assess at the end of lease term, I would urge others to live elsewhere. There are plenty of fabulous buildings in the area. (go to Pollard Street, along Wilson or Fairfax. or go to the newer buildings toward Clarendon and Courthouse with far better management companies at the helm. My experience in other VA apartments and the experience of many of my coworkers living throughout DC and VA has not been as unpleasant as here when it comes to dealing with the corporate management. The hidden charges and post departure arrogance and indifference is enough to make me say go elsewhere. Location is great but it’s not worth being taken for a ride in the end. If you do live here, be mindful to not trust in what you are told by staff as management routinely will override it and disregard it entirely.

Leasing staff is not knowledgeable, and dishonest. GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING — they will surprise you with fees, surcharges, etc — totaling upwards of thousands of $$. The equity purchase of this property destroyed every positive review that may have been posted before.

We looked at a lot of 2 bedrooms in this price range between Courthouse and Ballston, and this place is by far the best.
PROS
* open floor plan — lots of natural light
* newer building than most of the others around here
* great value — rent only went up nominally after a year
* 5 second walk to Virginia Square Metro station
* friendly staff
* quiet neighborhood
* convenient location — 2 blocks from Giant grocery store, several ZipCars nearby (including 2 outside the building), and just a 10 minute walk to all the restaurants, bars, and shopping at Clarendon
* proactive property manager — sends emails to notify us of any building happenings
* solid gym with views of the Capitol and Washington Monument
* rooftop terrace — great views for July 4^th fireworks
* iMacs /​printer in the business center
* WiFi in the 19^th floor clubroom (which also has a conference room, kitchen, flatscreen TV, and pool table)
* automated emails when you get a package
CONS
* our kitchen is a little small, but manageable
* master bedroom is smaller than guest bedroom, so we set up there instead — leaving us with a slightly smaller closet and an unused hallway to the guest bath that we converted to a storage space

This review is a little premature given that I have only lived here for a few days. I write few reviews, but felt compelled to give credit where credit’s due.
I have been impressed with the level of service experienced so far in my new home. Melissa, the Archstone leasing person with whom I have dealt is nothing short of amazing. She has worked to ensure that we are comfortable in our new home and is always ready with a smile. I could go on, but I’ll just say that it makes the transition a lot easier.
Outside of friendly /​helpful staff, we were greeted with a welcome pack in our new apartment including a free pizza from Domino’s ensuring that we wouldn’t have to cook and unpack at the same time. The apartment itself was clean and the carpets look new (important because the building permits animals). The physical building is also in good repair.
Other amenities I appreciate include email notification for package delivery. A small touch, but still nice. The loading dock /​reserved elevator for moving in purposes is pretty standard in the area but convenient nevertheless.
If I had to note areas for improvement, I would say that the hallways could be brighter and would probably benefit from more air circulation. A few reviews have commented on the price, but I feel like the rent is in keeping with other options in the area.

Lived in these apartments for 5 years and enjoyed just about everything. Management was very responsive to all maintenance requests, the apartments were spacious and quiet, and the staff was very friendly. You can’t beat the location, literally steps from the VA Square Metro Station and within easy walking distance to all the good stuff in either Clarendon or Ballston. Safe neighborhood, friendly neighbors, and it’s an extremely pet (dog) friendly building.
The only drawbacks were the price and the noise from the windows. The window noise (as someone else commented) was rather annoying. When the wind blows, especially during the winter, the windows rattle. The price is super high, but then again so is everything else around here.
Bottom line, if it weren’t for a job change, I’d still be there and would recommend them.

Very good corporate apartment living. Roof-​top pool on one side, an open air lounging area on the opposite side of the roof. In the middle of the top floor there is a party room, a meeting room, and a gym with a clear view of the Washington Monument. The area is extremely convenient being right next to a metro station and stores.
The drawbacks are:
— High rent;
— Overly dog friendly (not a problem unless the dogs do not like each other);
— not great sound proofing (sirens and occasional loud music can be heard a bit too often).
All in all, a very good deal if HQ is footing the bill (I did say pricey, right?)

I’m just migrating my apartmentratings review here since no one trusts that site anymore. Long live Unilocal.
I lived here the first time I lived in Arlington. It was Gallery at Virginia Square when I lived here, but it is called Archstone Virginia Square right now. I split a 2 br 2 ba with a craigslist roommate. At the time it was 2400 a month which was a bargain given the current prices. This building wasn’t perfect but I’d actually live here again if I had to. I’ve also lived in the Virginia Square Plaza across the street so I have a pretty direct comparison.
Pros:
–Building is stylish compared to the one I live in now
–Archstone lets you pay rent online /​have automatic withdrawal
–Big parking garage so everyone can get their own space
–Rooftop Pool with a view
–Gym with a view
–Maintenance was 24 hours or less every time we had a problem
–Building was in excellent shape, no bug problems or anything
–No neighbor noise at all except through front door
Cons: You can find a lot of cons in every building, but honestly none of these are really that severe
–No utilities included, trash fee, water, gas, electric, amenity, parking are all addons
–Only 3 Elevators and it always seemed like one was broken
–One time when they did parking garage maintenance it was impossible to get a space and I had to street park because they sectioned off too much at once
–The biggest issue was the Windows. I’m not sure if it has changed since its been over 2 years since I lived there, but when I lived there all the Windows were drafty. It was really hard to keep the apartment warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Not only did it make the bills really high but the bedrooms and living room were always like 10 degrees different.
–This is a pet friendly building, great if you have a pet but all the pet buildings in Arlington have a built in premium to their price since they are in demand
–Archstone’s pricing system is mildly psychotic and if you renew you will probably pay several hundred dollars a month more on the existing lease.
–When I lived there we had 3 property managers and the concierges changed so frequently I didn’t know any of their names by the time I moved out. The 2^nd one, who didn’t last long used to be a leasing agent. He was this fat piece of garbage named Jeremy and he would make fun of residents with the concierges, even right in front of me. I pretended to laugh but it made me think that as soon as I left they’d be making fun of me too. I realize most residents like me only say hi when we need a request filled, but at least have the decency to not do it in front of other residents.
I’d rent here again if I had to, but given the direct comparison to Virginia Square Plaza I’d choose Virginia Square Plaza again purely based on the rent because it includes utilities.

I had interviewed this apartment building when looking for rental properties last time around. I loved the building and concierge and office staff.
They have dog okay pet policy which was very important to me. They also have a dog park across the street which is great.
Location is good too!
The only reason I did not get this place was that they had no 2 bedroom apartments available.

Very upset that Unilocal has «filtered» out 6 legitimate reviews made about Archstone Virginia Square.
The people who wrote them all had legitimate living exeriences at the building. why were they deleted?