Silk Factory Lofts

Pros: Tons of natural light, residents are generally courteous. New management seems pretty responsive. Within walking distance to coffee shops, restaurants, the farmer’s market. Washer and dryer in unit was really handy.
Utilities were inexpensive. I lived in a first-​floor, one-​bedroom apartment, rarely used the dryer and kept heat at 67 in the winter. The electricity bill in October was $ 30 and $ 80 in the coldest months.
Cons: Windows don’t open hardly at all so it’s difficult to get any air moving through the apartment. You really can hear EVERYTHING from the hallways. When people are talking in the apartments on either side of me, I can hear it (and their dog), could sometimes understand what they were saying. In the bathroom, I could clearly understand the conversations next door.
Overall, it’s a decent place to live, particularly if your work is quite close. (Getting in and out of Lansdale is a pain during rush hour, for anyone who isn’t local.) For me, it was just too expensive to continue living there on my own – and it looks like the new management has raised the prices $ 2 – 300.
Must give a shout out to Lacher & Associates for renter’s insurance. They were great to work with and provided much more comprehensive coverage at better rates than what Morgan Properties had recommended.

When you first move in to Silk Factory, you’re going to love it. The apartments themselves are lovely, the building is charming, the people who live there are (mostly) friendly. After a short while, this shine is going to wear off and you’re going to want to move out.
To get the positives out of the way, the actual apartments are lovely. They’re bright and have lots of lighting, with big windows upstairs and the exposed vents look pretty cool. We love the high ceilings, the french doors, and the big windows upstairs. The kitchen appliances are generally nice with the exception of the stove, which is a glass-​top range that gets too hot on top and not hot enough inside. The washer/​dryer combo in unit is nice and compact, but also takes several cycles to dry a load of laundry. The lobby is really cool looking and well-​decorated. The exercise room is well-​equipped and clean. It’s enough for me to say I still like living here, but at this point I’m also excited to move out.
Morgan Properties sucks. Everything they do in the building, they do in an effort to cut costs. Things break, repeatedly, in the same way, and are slowly patched up on a seemingly random and slow schedule. Holes appear in walls in common areas and take days or weeks to be fixed. Dome lights fall out of the ceiling in the hallway and hang there for a day or two. Lightbulbs burn out and are never replaced. The hallways are frigid in the winter and frequently smell of cigarettes. Maintenance people make excuses as to why things don’t need to be fixed instead of actually fixing them, though this has been better lately. We’ve had the same roof leak multiple times.
More than any other apartment I’ve ever been in, there’s constantly strangers in your home. They will enter without saying they’re going to come in — if you’re lucky, they’ll knock before barging straight into your living room. You will receive passive aggressive letters reminding you to keep your apartment in shape for the visitors you will regularly receive. If you want to discuss these constant intrusions, you won’t be able to. Since the building was fully leased, the office staff now randomly show up and leave with no warning. It’s completely unpredictable whether or not they will be there. Since you have no front door to leave packages at, you cannot predict whether or not you will be able to receive a package.
The dumpster frequently overfills, leading to a giant pile of garbage greeting you at one of the building’s entrances. The dumpster isn’t always full — sometimes your neighbors just decide they don’t want to lift the garbage and leave it all over the ground in the parking lot. This is in addition to all the dog crap littered around it as well from people who don’t clean up after their dogs, so walking in the back door is always an adventure of sights and smells. On the plus side, an entire family of dumpster cats lives over here, so you’ll see them from time to time. They’re pretty adorable.
Rent’s another big thing. I think it’s already a little high for lansdale, but the year over year increase seems unpredictable. Mine was poorly communicated, and when I went to complain because I didn’t understand a notice telling me I owed them money, I was told I was lucky my rent didn’t go up more. Apparently, their year-​over-​year increases can reach nearly $ 100, so be prepared for that. In comparison to other properties, their pet fees also seem excessive — they cut me a deal, and I had to put down a (non-​refundable, I believe but can’t say for sure) $ 400 fee in addition to $ 20/​month per cat. If the default pricing structure had been in place, I would have had to put down $ 800 up front for two small cats.
I wouldn’t characterize the building as noisy. In most areas of the apartment it seems like you can live fairly comfortably without bothering people (it took me a couple days to figure out what would bother neighbors and what wouldn’t) but there are definitely places where more noise comes through than we’d like. The upstairs bathroom is most unsettling — we can hear normal-​volume conversations from the apartment next to us while we’re on the toilet. That’s just strange. The doorway into the hallway is not properly insulated, either, so you’ll hear EVERYONE in the hallway as they walk by, or loud music bleeding out from under the doors of other residents.
Overall, if you’re going to live in Lansdale, you could do way worse. Judged on the merit of the quality of your living space itself, it’s actually a great place to live. There’s a lot of annoyance surrounding the apartment, though, that will make it frustrating in the long term. We’ve lived here a year; after the threat to raise our rent up to $ 100, I’d say it’s pretty safe we’re on our way out now. If you’re tired of the look and feel of the average apartment and ready to find something a little more spacious and fun before buying a house, Silk Factory is great. Long-​term, I’m just not sure it’s worth the money.

Update: ever since silk factory was bought by Morgan properties it has really gone down hill. It’s louder (kids running and screaming in the small courtyards) than usual and the hallway by me always smells like cigarette smoke. I haven’t said much since I’m moving out at the end of the month. But all in all, I’m sad to see this great place turn into another run-​of-​the-​mill apartment complexes.
Love the layout of my apartment, really dislike the rest anymore.
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After many issues with finding a decent rental in Montgomery & Bucks Counties, Silk Factory was a breath of fresh air. Staff is friendly and attentive, common areas are clean and the new renovations really add to the rustic feel of the factory.
I didn’t have any issues during my stay, so I don’t have anything to report in that regard (which is a good thing)!
The only things I didn’t like:
— they painted over exposed brick & lost the loft feeling.
— windows only open a small amount, not even enough to get air circulation through my place.

There are always pros and cons to everything.
Pros:
Secure doors, friendly neighbors, quiet and safe neighborhood, ample parking.
Modern interior + gym
Cons:
There are two leasing agents and one of them is rude. I have never had a conversation with her in which she was not rude.
The air does not circulate very well in the apartment.
There are glitches with their fire alarm system.
The floor is uneven and sometimes even nails sticking out of the carpet.
Took us about 2 months to have maintenance come fix our door. We had to continually remind the office to send in a maintenance staff member.
Let’s just say, I’m moving out at the end of this month… and very happy to be.