Blair East Apartments

It’s been three more years since my last review and we are back where we started. We are now in the process of moving out because we have grown tired of the lies from the Property Manager.
Staff: The front desk staff in the building is great for the most part. Some of the weekend staff really are clueless. The Business Office staff though are largely unresponsive and will lie to you. First, in 2012, I complained that the pet policy required that those with cats must have them declawed, which is incredibly inhumane (it is like cutting your own finger off at the first knuckle). I was promised the policy would be changed and that no one should be forced to do that. I got a copy of the policy in 2014 and it was still in there. No change made at all. My apartment has an incomplete and non-​working sprinkler system in it. I called the office several times about it, including most recently in March 2015 about it. I was promised it would be fixed. It is now the end of June and no one has come by to even see it. When I received my rent increase I decided to fight it because of the sprinkler system, the fact that the similar apartments (which are updated/​upgraded) are listed cheaper on the website and some other things I will get to. We were able to agree on a reasonable amount and I was promised that the new notice would be sent out the next day. That was 4 weeks ago, so we are submitting our notice to vacate.
Location: You really can’t beat the location. The building is in walking distance of Silver Spring Metro Station (Red Line) Behind the building is a shopping plaza with a grocery store (Giant w/​Starbucks), a 24 hour CVS, 3 restaurants, a nail salon, barber shop, dry cleaner and a Peet’s Coffee. This is all great to have in quick walking distance, however, part of the Master Plan for this area is to eliminate all the shops within the next 5 years or so.
Amenities: Blair East is one of the better buildings. They have recently done a TON of work on the building. They have redone the lobby (for the 4^th time since we moved in) but it looks modern and sleek. They built a club room, which has a wall of TVs, iMacs, pool tables, and such. They also added an outside patio which has grills for residents to use and a great fire pit. There is even a small patch of grass with some lounge chairs. You can’t imagine how much you will miss running your feet through grass when you live in an apartment for years in an urban area. The fitness center was also redone recently and the equipment isn’t great, but it spares me from paying more money to big name gyms in downtown. There is a laundry room on every floor, however, most of the time the machines aren’t working so I ended up shipping my laundry out. The pool and play ground were removed without input from residents.
Costs: The costs of the Blairs are well… about the same as the much newer places around it. The apartment is bigger compared to equally priced apartments in the other building nearby (we know, we looked). Second, the utilities aren’t horribly expensive. We pay less than $ 60 a month for utilities, and we don’t really try and conserve energy. Third, paid parking means you get a reserved spot. Though note you can only have one car parked at the Blairs, you need to find an alternative spot for a second car. I will warn you that once you move into the Blairs your rent will go up every year and usually more than fair market value. My old unit is now costing me more than the listing price of a newer unit in the same building… as well as more expensive then the newly built 1200 E West Hwy building.
Apartment: The apartment is a good size. We have a one-​bedroom apartment and probably too much stuff, but it doesn’t feel cramped at all. Most of the apartments they have been upgraded to «ecopads» which are more energy efficient and have more sustainable materials. However, since we have been here since 2007, our apartment hasn’t really been upgraded. You can tell the building was built a while ago, but the common areas don’t look that way (see above).
Be sure to look at reviews listed for just «The Blairs» as well since this review is just for one of the buildings on property.

I have lived in the Blair East Building for the past year and I literally have 0 complaints. Let me tell you all the great things about this place:
1) Extremely clean — the facilities are very well kept including the gym, laundry rooms, club rooms, computer lab and outdoor areas
2)Tons of parking for friends — If you have people come visit you, don’t fret, they won’t have to worry about finding parking at all. There is a parking lot on East West Highway that is free after 7pm and all day on the weekends. If you need to park during the day, just pay the meter. There is pretty limited visitor parking for guests at the Blairs, but with this garage it is really not a big deal.
3)Dog Friendly — Tons of people have dogs and they even have a little dog park in the community
4) Maintenance — Living in East I haven’t had to deal with any maintenance. If they do anything it is done during the day when I am gone. In addition, if anything is broken they fix it within a day. It is pretty amazing.
4) Extra perks — free breakfast once a month, random events like a food truck festival, they have compost in the building, and people super friendly
Let me tell you a little about my apartment. I think we got a deal moving in but I live in a 1275 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment and it cost $ 2081 on the 17^th floor. After rent increases this year they were going to bump it up to $ 2250 which really isn’t that terrible.
I have loved living here. I am literally right across the street from the metro which is perfect for my commute to work. If I wasn’t moving in with my boyfriend, I wouldn’t be moving out. I love living here. I’m sorry to see it go!

So I live here. And this place is seriously awful.
My hallway looks like the hallway in The Shining. I should have taken that as a sign and stayed away.
Something is always broken. Currently it’s my ice dispenser, shower, and internet cable. Which got broken while they were installing the FIRE HORN in my apartment. And apparently I’m going to have to pay RCN to come fix.
So the fire story: about a year ago, the apartment 2 floors above mine caught fire at about 4am. I notice this only because I hear the fire trucks outside. I call down to the front desk to find out what is going on. They tell me that «there is a small fire in the building, and I can leave if I don’t feel safe, but it’s under control».
Cut to a firefighter banging on my door, telling me that I have to get the hell out of there because there is a fire right above me and I would be likely to die. No joke. So much for «leaving if I don’t feel safe, small fire, and under control».
2 people died.
At no point did a single fire alarm go off. Turns out, they hadn’t worked in years. And it was cheaper for the Blairs to simply ignore the problem and pray than to fix it.
After that, we had hall monitors for 3 weeks. I wish I was kidding. I was freaking paying rent so that someone could sit at the end of my hallway, and I could alert him/​her if my apartment caught on fire.
Then they fixed the fire alarms. Now, we have weekly fire alarm tests. At 8am. Perhaps more than once a week.
Then they installed (in addition to the smoke detector) a fire freaking horn in my apartment.
So I’m cooking my nice steak dinner out on the balcony in my little hibachi grill. Next thing I know, 4 firefighters, decked out in gear carrying hoses, bust into my apartment to save me from, I dont know. Overgrilling my steak? Oh, no, wait, they want to unload their firehoses onto my dinner. It was lovely, it really way. Apparently I’m not allowed to grill, ever since everyone got up in arms because the Blairs put money in front of the safety of their tenants, and are now overcompensating.
They are very often out of hot water.
On one occassion, there was no water in the building for over 24 hours. When I called to ask if they had ordered backup water tanks (a Montgomery County requirement), they told me no. When I asked how I was supposed to cook, drink, bathe, or flush my toilet, they told me I could take a bucket over to Blair Plaza (the apartment building across the street owned by the same company) and knock on someone’s door and ask. Now, not only is this in direct violation of the city’s health code (not flushing a toilet for 24 hours? are they kidding?), but also just downright rude.
Just…don’t live here. It’s not worth it.
I’m just too damn lazy to move.