AVA Van Ness

Over the past ten years, I have leased at four different buildings in DC. AVA is my favorite.
Here’s why I love it here:
— The floor plans. I believe my unit is about 875 square feet. It has a bedroom, living room, kitchen, separate dining area, and reasonably sized bathroom. Unlike other apartments I have lived in or seen, there is no «wasted space» in my floor plan. All of the space I am paying for is functional.
— The level of cleanliness. In almost three years, I have never seen a roach or a mouse anywhere. All common areas are well maintained.
— The staff. Everyone is so friendly and helpful. The entire front desk staff is lovely. I believe that most if not all of them have been at AVA for longer than I’ve lived here. I have also had nothing but positive interactions with Liz Carney, the building’s community manager.
— The amenities. Outside there is a fun patio/​lounge, grills, a tennis court, and an awesome pool. Inside there is a gym (which is clean and has a variety of equipment), a business center, and free coffee every morning in the lobby.
— Metro! It’s a five minute walk to the red line.
— Balconies! This should probably go under floor plans, but I love my balcony so much that it gets its own bullet point. My unit has a balcony that I can access from my bedroom or living room.
— Pet Friendly! The amount of trouble I had trying to find a nice apartment that would let me have a cat and not charge me a fortune or where I would sacrifice on some other major issue (like cleanliness) is crazy. To be fair, AVA does charge what I consider to be a slightly unreasonable amount of money ($ 50 per month, per animal with a max of 2 pets) to have a pet, but it is significantly less unreasonable than what I have found elsewhere.
All told, I really like living here. It feels like the space and services I’m getting are worth the money I’m paying.

Great location right next to the Van Ness metro and a Giant., The gym, pool and patio area are quite nice. However without all these amenities I would have given one star for the poor service I received in the two years I lived here. Any time I had to interact with the office led to a flood of incompetence, with everyone telling me different (and wrong) answers. Work orders would at times take far too long, as whoever was responding to this would forget to write it down. When I sought to move out I was given all sorts of different forms to move out, when only one of them turned out to be actually necessary. I was also prematurely taken off of my lease months before my move (and the office made clear that they had no interest in fixing this), making any convenience their online system provides impossible. And while I understand the importance of different rules and needs for reservations in such a large apartment building, I would say that overall there are far too many here.
Overall I would also add that if you are not looking to use the amenities regularly, this place is far too overpriced and the administration is not worth the hassle.