Chester Williams Building

I moved here 2 and a years ago from New York, before understanding what downtown really was, and I absolutely love it.
The Chester Williams building is located in historic downtown, one of the coolest neighborhoods in LA. The building itself has this classic hollywood historic charm to it… golden angels around the elevators, marble floors, etc.
The units are by far some of the best in downtown… newly completed just over two years ago. Large industrial windows with piping, wood floors, marble bathrooms. easily the best unit I’ve seen downtown.
Of course there is noise, but it’s the city life. My unit faces the back, so my unit is actually pin quiet. You have to know where your unit faces in order to avoid regular street noise. Because street noise of course is going to be found in any building in the city if you’re apartment is facing the street…
Management is friendly and responsive. Whenever we’ve had any repair requests, they’ve always followed up within the next day or two.
My only wish is that we had more of a rooftop, however it is a really great view at night.
Biggest thing to remember about downtown. it’s a city. If you want quiet, you should be in a highrise or the burbs. Downtown is great and going on almost three years in Chester Williams, I really love it.
I don’t normally leave feedback on Unilocal.but wanted to give my 2 cents.

After being there for over a year, I decided to move out because of two reasons: management and street noise.
In regards to street noise, my unit was on the 6^th floor and faced Broadway. During the night – every night – there was noise. It was mostly from police or fire sirens driving on that street and homeless people yelling. This would go on until 1 – 2 AM every night. For someone that had a typical work day, this was really difficult. I couldn’t sleep.
Management is very strange here. They kicked out the majority of the people living on my floor because they didn’t want «those type of people» living there. One of my friends that lives in the Spring Arcade (owned by the same management group) was also kicked out when they decided to not renew his lease. They cited no reason for it too. The elevators were constantly breaking down and it seemed like they were too cheap to ever fix them. A lot of tenants that moved out the same time I did were fed up with how this building was managed and left on their own accord as well.
I have since found a better building that’s quiet with responsive management in regards to building and apartment issues.

Nice apartments. Nice gym. Nice location. Nice history… BUT THE MANAGEMENT STAFF IS EXTREMELY incompetent and rude. If you can live here with minimal staff encounters then it’s 4 stars… having said this, Hector at the front desk is great… I’m talking more about the management. They kept a lot of my deposit and made up some bogus reasons as of why. 2 year resident and they treat you like that.

The CWB is a nice building. The renovation they’ve done is really good. The appliances in each unit are quality. The apartments are condo style, not loft style. Central air. The square footage is reasonable also. Water and trash are included in the rent. The other tenants are cool. It’s not a loud building as far as the other tenants are concerned. All in all I’d say that it’s a decent place to rent. Pets are allowed on the lower floors. Close to several parks, bars, restaurants. Grocery accessibility is ok. The farmers market every Sunday is nice and convenient.
Drawbacks: Management is hard to get ahold of. We were never really told who to contact if there was a problem. And once I did figure that out, they never answer the phone. Rent is pricey, given the neighborhood and the fact that the homelessness presence is going no where fast. The gym is a bit of a joke. Two treadmills, two elipitcals, two bikes and a cable machine. The weight room isn’t even completely redone. No pool. Every Sunday morning the city power washes the sidewalk at 6 am. So don’t think about sleeping in. There is a tenant in the Jewelry Trade building with a dog on their roof that barks constantly. No resolution on that yet. The street outside constantly smells like urine.
Otherwise it’s a good place to live. :)