The Victor

I’ve lived in the Victor for 8 months now and overall I’ve had such a wonderful experience. Before moving in last August, the reviews were slightly negative which made me a little hesitant to live here. Below, I’ve commented on a few of the concerns you might read in previous reviews, and I’ve added my own key points, as well.
Staff and concierge — first of all, the staff (Hillary, Jessica, Zuilda, Kevin, etc) are incredible! Honestly, they have gone above and beyond to create a neighborhood feel in a very large, urban apartment building. The holiday parties and other monthly social events are great opportunities for the tenants to get to know each other. The concierge has changed a lot since I’ve lived here, and I can honestly say that at times they are great and at times not so great, and may take lengthy breaks or not be able to figure out tasks that often management will help me with even though it’s not their job. Overall, I think management is working on having the best people for the job as concierge and it’s definitely a work in progress. However, the services concierge offers (dry cleaning, signing for packages, holding onto your bags and keys, etc) are great!
Building and apartment amenities — the gym, basketball court, printing station, gift wrapping station, living room, board room, and sports lounge are incredible! The outdoor grills aren’t the best and sometimes tenants will monopolize on reserving the board room for continuous periods of time, but management has been working on making reservations fair for all tenants. The apartments themselves are awesome! The kitchen, especially. Some downsides: carpet and doors are a little industrial, bathroom sinks and cabinets are very awkward with little storage space, kitchen lights are very dim, and the paint gets scuffed on the walls with even the slightest touch. Overall, I’m so comfortable here and the entire building is always kept in the cleanest conditions!
Location — north station, TD garden, Zakim bridge, the north end, haymarket, are just a few of the incredible places right by the Victor. If you want to experience Boston city living, this is a great place to live!
Overall, I’ve had such a great experience living at the Victor and I will update my review as more things come to mind!

Pros:
The concierge: even though staff retention seems to be pretty bad, the night staff, especially, is excellent, like Robert.
location: easy to get to running paths, and you won’t need a car
amenities: solid (the printer downstairs is a lifesaver)
And the bad:
A few people have touched on the dorm like atmosphere. The Victor is far and away the loudest place I have ever lived. It’s not the construction that’s the loudest. That has set hours. It’s not traffic. That’s pretty much constant white noise (around ~45 dB higher up) on the north facing side. It’ll be your neighbors combined with the architecture.
Your college age neighbors will come in loudly drunk in the hall late at night, and there is a large gap at the bottom of the external door to let the sound in. Avoid living in one of the units alongside the garbage chute. The lower you are the more people there are to hear their garbage banging on its way down the chute. There’s no acoustic dampening but sheet rock between you in the chute if you do live alongside it. Other buildings I’ve lived in separated the trash chute from residences, but not here.
The worst offender in all of this, is that I share the three walls about (40 ft long) of my studio with a neighbor with a fondness for bass heavy music at all hours. I originally picked living as high up as I do for the sole purpose of avoiding living over a restaurant or bar, it hasn’t worked out so far. I get to feel booming every second or so most of the time.
The subwoofer makes my whole room vibrate and resonate even when when it’s only just above ~50 dB, which is the Boston legal limit from 11:00 p.m. till 7 a.m. Decibels are logarithmic, which means the difference between 50 and 60 dB is 10 times as loud. And by vibrating, I mean making the floor shake, the acoustic paneling I put on the wall fall off (multiple times), and my light fixture 20 feet from the wall rattle with their bass. The rattling has since been remedied by maintenance.
I complained a total of four times in two months to management about my neighbors after trying unsuccessfully to talk to them at their door. They probably couldn’t hear me knock honestly. One night when I asked management to ask my neighbors to turn their bass down, the party took to banging on our shared wall and screaming to show their disapproval. Asking management to fix the issue hasn’t worked.

My partner and I were tenants at this property for a year.
1. The location is perfect – close to the north end, across the TD Garden, a few steps away from Quincy Marker, and a 15 minute walk to downtown Boston.
2. The concierge is wonderful– very attentive and engaged with the community.
3. Compared to other buildings, this property has relatively decent amenities.
4. Management is perhaps the worst. The manager and staff do not care about residents; they do not respond to requests; are unfriendly driven by new tenants rather than keeping existing tenants and are not able to create any feeling of community.

I’ve lived here for about 9 months. This place has been a pretty positive experience overall so I give is somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. There are many positive things about living here, but there are a couple of issues as well that have bothered us.
First off, the location is fantastic. It’s next door to North Station, CVS, the North End and super close to the Boston Public Market. It’s hard to find a place other than One Canal that offers nicer apartments in this area. We chose our unit (one of many layouts offered) because we liked the layout and it’s quite nice compared to many we have seen. And we have looked at a lot of apartments around Boston! The details such as granite countertops and the bedroom carpet are nice. It’s just a more polished unit compared to many I have seen. I love my study and the wooden floors too. The unit really is beautiful. The fitness center is nice too.
This place had some issues when we first moved here, but it’s clear management has tried to make improvements. The staff has always been friendly and the maintenance team has always helped address any problem with promptness and professionalism. This is definitely one the biggest highlights of living here.
With that said, one of my biggest complaints is that our apartment doesn’t utilize space efficiently. There is NO medicine cabinet at all or anywhere to store bathroom products except for under the sink which I find bizarre and not well thought out. I bought a tiered stand to place everything on. The bathroom sink is super porous and unusually wide which takes up almost half of the already tiny countertop. Also, there isn’t a pantry and despite how large our kitchen is, the storage space is still rather small. But, you can get creative and rent out storage units on site (for a fairly cheap price) which helps a lot.
One other issue we’ve noticed recently is there have been some problems with smokers in the building. With that said, the management here has a history of fixing problems so they are cracking down. The risk of moving into a location like this or any apartment building is that you’ll be sharing it with others who aren’t always perfectly respectful.
But again, this is a solid building and the location is fantastic. You do get some weirdos out over here and a lot of people here don’t pick up after their dog. The traffic from TD Garden honestly isn’t as bad as I thought it would be so this isn’t even an issue for us personally. Unfortunately there is also a construction project on the East side of the building and because of One Canal’s construction, we often hear some faint background noise which we have learned to tune out. We are on the West side of the building though so it’s not really an issue.
All in all, this place is not luxury for what you pay for, but it’s comfortable and it’s hard to find a better location or even a better unit around Boston.

I’m writing this review after having lived at the victor for 8 months…
Very nice building with great amenities. The location is extremely convenient as it is above the North Station T stop and a short walk to North End and Whole foods. There is also a CVS and liquor store right next door. It is a 10 – 15 minute walk to MGH. Getting to the airport takes 5 – 10 minutes at most by cab. The basketball court and gym are very nice, and I have been pleased with maintenance, building management, the front desk staff, etc.
Although the location is super convenient, there are two negatives (the only 2 negatives for this building, in my opinion) that are related to the location.
First, the building is right next to the TD Garden, and you can hear noise from outside, especially on game /​concert nights. There is also some construction going on near the building which may be problematic for people who like to sleep in on weekdays. We’ve never been particularly bothered by the noise, but just something to note.
Second, the location of this building definitely has an urban feel — the buildings around it are new high rises and it does not really feel like a neighborhood. Although this is a downside, I think the convenience to the T and other amenities make up for it. The building is very secure with key access required to enter and 24 hour doorman.
Overall this is a really good option for people looking for a convenient, full service building in downtown Boston.

My overall opinion after living at the Victor is that it was good, but not great.
The rooms were spacious and the facilities were always clean. Apartment amenities include basketball court, gym, business center and 24 hour concierge. I paid $ 3300 for a one bedroom though, so for the price you would expect those amenities. The only real problem I had with the apartment is that the windows are not soundproof and you get woken up at 6 am everyday by construction.
The biggest pro was the old concierge. They aren’t there anymore, but they were amazing. The first couple rounds of management (I think it turned hands 3 times) were awful. In the end though, Beth and Courtney were very nice and helped me have a great move out.
The real «con» in my opinion was that management for the most part didn’t care about resident satisfaction, and I felt that a lot of things went neglected. For example the front door remained unlock for about 3 months at one point because no one bothered to fix it, and same with The back elevator which has been out of commission for about half a year. Even the one grill on premiss has been broken for a couple of month. They also charge for some things I believe are part of the high rent: One time my fridge needed a water filter replacement and they told me to buy one off amazon for $ 40, or they charged me $ 50 to have concierge let me into my apartment when I got locked out.
There are just so many little things that really aren’t that big of a deal, but when you pay the price I did, the little things make all the difference.
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My girlfriend and I lived here during our first year here in Boston. The building is spectacular, and the amenities are top notch. The building staff was nothing short of exceptional. During the year we had a couple issues with our disposal and window and they had it fixed within a few hours. During this past winter (which was god awful) there were no issues with the building and it was ideal having north station right there when the trains were actually running. The rooftop is ideal for lounging and having a few cold ones; unfortunately «One Canal» built their building 2 stories higher taking away the beautiful view of the city skyline. You’re still able to see the north end which is great. Would definitely live in The Victor again.

Great property. Fantastic fittings and location. Lovely concierge. but nasty management tone. Don’t expect to receive ample assistance with move-​in or follow-​up on promised commitments but do expect to receive heavy-​handed correspondence reiterating management stance on things such as ‘lounge access’. Such a shame for a building with so much potential and charging NYC prices…

The building itself is gorgeous and brand new, and the resident community is eclectic and pretty tight knit as we have our own Facebook page for Victor residents with a lot of activity.
The location is next to none being so close to North End, TD Garden, easy access to highways, 5 min walk to Charlestown or Beacon Hill. Approximately 30 steps from the North Station T stop!
The management staff was quite strong when I Moved in late March/​early April, however there has been a full turnover in the 5 months that I’ve lived here creating a lot of instability. Buildings like these thrive off of personal relationships between residents and building staff, there are a few exceptions like John, Carol, Emily & Anthony who are AMAZING concierge!
There are a few things that need immediate attention, such as the non working industrial washer & dryer (blankets and quilts don’t fit in apt machines and it’s $ 40 to get a blanket dry cleaned by Sarni’s through the building). There are also only 2 moving carts for the 200 apartments in here, reason being «there’s not enough space to put anymore carts», mind you it’s a brand new, $ 134 Million building opened this past October, but they only allowed for 2 carts… one of those frustrating things that unfortunately have been happening too often lately. Otherwise, the building, residents, location… it’s great, a lot of fun!
Overall, I love the building, love the community, just wish Simpson Property Group would keep a keener eye on their Victor staff, making sure resident concerns are properly making their way up the ladder, and not getting lost in the shuffle.

I have recently relocated from the Midwest to Boston and finding an apartment can be such a frustrating and hopeless process. However, I had stumbled upon the Victor apartments online and couldn’t be happier that I did.
First, the actual building: it is absolutely gorgeous and has more amenities than you can shake a stick at. The gym is amazing and they have their own classes which makes me question whether or not I’ll need a separate gym membership myself. There are a couple of lounges for hosting large groups including a sports lounge for watching sports. There are also a couple of patios, one of which is exclusive to guests living on the top two floors. The units are gorgeous and everything is spacious and brand new – including a washer and dryer. For what you’re getting, I couldn’t not find a better prices. Also, you don’t pay an extra fee for amenities, which I found out some of the apartment complexes in this area force you to do.
Second, the staff is incredible. They’re so friendly and they always have your best interest at heart – even after you’ve signed your lease. They do everything within your power to ensure you’re happy with where you’re living and that you’ve got everything you need. As I looked at a couple of other apartment complexes, I’ve definitely found my share of nasty staff or staff that only views you as a number moving into the building and that simply is not the case here.
I would highly recommend this apartment complex to anyone moving to Boston! I absolutely love this place!

The Victor: victorious in being the best place to live in Boston, hands down. The rent is NYC prices but so is everything else around here, and the amenities can’t be beat. Free coffee and tea on multiple floors, awesome terrace, exclusive rooftop with gorgeous views, best gym I’ve seen in any apartment complex in addition to several other lounges and «sports rooms.» The concierge is fantastic and the location can’t be beat (right in front of the T). Love this place.

Wow! This place is amazing! I came to Boston and needed to find a place on short notice. The Victor was the first place I looked and I was blown away! Even after looking at several other apartments, nothing came close to what the Victor offered.
All the units are brand new and top notch with a high quality microwave, fridge (with ice and water dispenser), dishwasher, washer and dryer. The espresso colored cupboards look great contrasting with the white walls and hardwood floors. I especially love the big windows stretching from the floor to ceiling with a great view of the city.
Not only are the units beautiful, the amenities are unmatched! There is a common area with water, soda, and coffee, a sports lounge with a pool table, a conference room, and a fitness center with a half sized basketball court.
To go even further, Beth, Emily, Gabby, and the rest of the Victor staff have been the most helpful and hospitable people I could have ever asked for.
Thanks for everything!

When faced with a short notice, cross country move right before the holidays, we really just hoped to find something that «would do». Instead, we found The Victor and it was «Lease at First Sight»! The building is new, central and gorgeous. The apartments are well designed, full of light and more affordable than some of the similarly appointed apartments in the area. On top of everything, though, is the wonderful staff. They are helpful, cheerful and I couldn’t ask for more.