The Flats at Dupont Circle Apartments

As a tenant for two years, I have always paid my rent on time if not in advance. Last month I paid online as always. My bank account number has two threes in it — I know, I’ve had it since 1983 —. A few days later I received a notice stating that I had to pay over $ 300 as a penalty because that account didn’t exist. I realized that one of the two threes hadn’t gone through. I pleaded my case with the manager who was unable or unwilling to help me. the typo that cost over $ 300!!! I would understand if I’d always been late making my payment, but one typo! $ 2000 for a studio apartment with an air conditioner/​heater from the 70s, noisiness from the street and some very rude staff, particularly in the front office are not worth it.

i lived there for a year and half. The company was bought by Equity during my move in. As soon as that was official, they stopped providing breakfast and ended giving out paper for the computer. Profit maximization seemed to be the priority.
I liked the apartment I had, as it was small, had a wood interior, and walls were thick. It kind of reminded me of my apartment in Helsinki, Finland… Only way more expensive than expensive Finland!
The Pros: The location is great, the gym was very good, the laundry worked well, and things got fixed quick. Also, no bed bugs or insects. If you are paying 2200, you expect this type of service.
The Cons: The costs are really high even for Du Pont. I felt like the management wanted to maximize profit with fees. The street is close and the noise it evident on the lower floors.
I know there has been construction in the building next door and hear it may have impacted residence from talking to a current resident.
Overall, if you want a DC experience in the center of DC (Du Pont) and are willing to pay for it, this is the place. However, I know there are other less expensive places that offer more value though. I moved there.

I’ve been living here for almost a year, it was good in the beginning but things are just getting worse.
I was at 8^th floor until there was some noise issues coming from upstairs, but the management have failed on finding out the cause of it. So I had to transfer to another unit, they showed me a vacancy at 7^th floor, which is one floor lower, less than 100 feet bigger and with a balcony, but I have to pay $ 300 more than my current rent. They did not give me any reduction even though they know that the issue is coming from the building, which is forcing me to move out of my first apartment. It does not make sense that I have to pay more for move one floor down.
I had no choice but to move in and pay almost $ 2200 for a tiny studio with a small balcony. And then I realised this new studio that I’ve just moved to is older than the previous one, shower head is old, have to wait longer to have hot water, and the refrigerator is making the loudest squeaking sound I have ever heard. I talked to the management, and gave them a week before getting back to them, turned out I found out that the consultant LIED to me, saying she forwarded my email the the service manager, and he’s taking care of it, and the next second I saw the service manager at another floor and he said that he did NOT receive any emails regarding my request. EQUITY management has a serious integrity issue. There is no need to lie but I would expect a good explanation for this matter.
The next issue, is that they have an unexplained outstanding balance of $ 255 on my account from an email notifying that they would charge a late fee if the amount is not paid by the 5^th. I talked to another consultant and she said that she would get back to me after figuring out what was wrong on my account, she made me waited for more than an hour, and she has not given me a call yet, as she promised. I am still waiting for her call.
The concierge is absolutely fabulous, great maintenance service, great location and a great gym, explaining the 2 stars that I have given. But if you expect to walk out from the management office with a happy face, I strongly advise you to find other apartments.

Lived in the building for a year. Overall I had a good experience during my time here.
Pros: Very friendly staff and maintenance was very quick to answer my requests. The location and amenities are both excellent.
Cons: Noise. Street facing apartments are loud and if your neighbors are playing music you will hear it too. Lots of young people live here and there is a high turnover rate. Apartments have wall unit Heater/​Air Conditioners similar to a hotel. Mine broke 3 times within a year (but was always fixed quickly).
I would recommend this place to friends.

The community manager, Mellisa, after learned about the issue, went ahead filling out an application for refund of my late fee. I greatly appreciated that. I am glad that things finally work out.

So you walk into the building and it looks beautiful, and the apartments look pretty good too. It’s in a great location. That’s the good part. And it ends there. The bad part is everything else. Maintenance is terrible. My AC broke in the summer and Equity did not fix it for a month! I know for a fact that most residents I talk to think it’s a terribly managed building (and that’s without factoring the $$ cost of living there) and have had similar experiences to this. Next, the people who work there are lazy/​rude. There was even a report that one of the individuals who worked at the desk stole from residents and was fired. Obviously, Equity Residential refused to tell residents about this matter, even when the police were contacted. Also, Equity has computers in the lobby. And they are beautiful Macs. But, bewared, they don’t work about 90% of the time! Also, it’s nice that the Flats accept packages — that’s what you’re paying for, right? But, beware, they are now not taking packages of a certain size, and there is a new policy that, even if you are on vacation, packages must be picked up withing 2 days — or they send your package back! Bottom line — if you’re a 22 yr old kid whose parents are paying for your apt, you should live here. If you’re a real person and you work, and you want to be treated like a person, not a dollar sign, DO NOT LIVE HERE. I can guarantee you will regret it. I do, and i’m not the only one for sure.

I lived in the Flats for a year, and only moved out because I had to relocate for work. I had an excellent experience. Move-​in was easy and pleasant thanks to Maureen; stopping by the front desk, leaving for work, or coming home at night was always enjoyable, morning and night, thanks to the excellent concierge staff (Ed and Tray). The gym was super convenient and met my needs.
I lived in one of the smaller studios and it was perfectly sufficient for me. Nice wood floors, great view & light from the large windows.
I think I had one or two maintenance issues the whole year, and I needed lightbulbs replaced once — I let them know in the morning and everything was resolved the same day by the time I got home from work. The maintenance guys are friendly and effective.
I’m puzzled by the people who had «horrible» experiences. Everyone needs to decide for themselves what they value and prioritize in a residence and go from there. The Flats were a great choice for me.

I’ve lived here for a year now and plan on staying here for several more years. The gym is great — it’s perfect for me. The maintenance staff is so helpful and friendly, along with everyone else that works here!
When I renewed my lease, my rent barely went up at all and the leasing staff was so flexible and helpful with the strange timeline I had to work with for school, etc.
Definitely give this place a try!

When I first moved in, the apartment had not been cleaned (i had to bleach the black floors myself), drawers, cabinets, blinds, and closets were broken, shower head was coming off, AC was broken and made a tremendous amount of noise (but they told me that was normal– until i met other people in the building I found out that wasnt true), toilet began to leak water and maintenance did not arrive for 3 days to fix an emergency situation, black walls that were originally white (from candle burning and who knows what else), it was so gross I asked then to repaint the whole thing. Of course they didn’t have the decency to check all of this out before I moved in or do it the week I asked them to, instead I had to contact other people because none of the work that had been promised was done after a whole work week of asking politely. This is just a snipet of my first week at the flats.
I have lived here for a year now and I have learned that residents and community means nothing to the flats. They will raise your prices every year and lower the quality standard every year as well. Great location! Good gym. Great concierge, everything else is average or terrible.
If you are looking to move in, look else-​where because you can hear construction on every side of the building starting at 7 am. Pool only gets sunlight for 4 hours. The entire building is poorly constructed, everything continues to break, is crooked, has stains, and scratches. Very cheaply made building with a high asking price.
Take it from me, do not get stuck here. you think you can afford it now, but next year price will rise, the apartment will be in worse condition, and there will be even more construction because there is more to come.
So unless you have lots of money, poor taste, wake up before 7 am, and enjoy constantly being screwed over, then this is the place for you!!!

The Flats is such a wonderful apartment building. The apartments are very spacious for DC. The locations is convenient to the red line metro and many shops and restaurants. Maintenance requests are quickly resolved. The staff at the front desk are especially fantastic.

I love living here! The concierge staff are friendly and helpful at all times. Super convenient located 5 mins away from the Dupont metro and 15 mins away from Foggy Bottom. Great amenities like pool, gym and laundry in building. I moved from NYC so this is really haven for me just having someone to fix your lights the next day you put in a service request. It is pet friendly and even though I am not a pet owner I enjoy looking at those cute creatures coming in and out of the building.

My dog was attacked by a Pit Bull in front of the building. I chose this building because of the breed restrictions. The breed restrictions are not enforced, and at least one Pit Bull lives in the building with the full knowledge of the management office. When I went to the management office after the attack, they assured me that there were no Pit Bulls in the building. When I saw the Pit Bull come into our building later that week and discussed it with them, I discovered that there’s no system in place to monitor what animals are allowed in the building. Unlike other buildings, they do not require residents to provide a picture of their dog so that incidents like these can be handled.
Dog owners should look elsewhere.

DC property management companies are completely out of control. Tenants need to realize that there is a reason DC buildings are offering free months of rent and waiving fees: there are vacancies, there is no need to be robbed.
I visited today and while the leasing agent was very professional — kind, too — and she is obviously not setting the rents, it is hard not to walk away disgusted by what Equity thinks it can get away with at their properties.
This property is charging close to $ 2,000/month (I think $ 1,950) for unrenovated tiny studios (no granite counters, old toilet, old bathroom sink, no washer/​dryer in unit) in a building with major construction literally next door (i.e. sharing a wall) and slated to start soon across the street. And, unlike other buildings, they refuse to budge on the $ 500 move-​in fee. (Note to prospective tenants: most landlords will negotiate away this fee if you push hard enough.) I was, however, graciously offered a 50% discount on the deposit as a World Bank-​associated person, but that just leads me to believe that the «The Flats at Dupont Circle» intend on keeping a chunk of the deposit regardless of the condition of the apartment upon moving out.
The best things about this building: the «luxury» lobby design and the location close to the World Bank/​IMF and the Dupont Circle metro. There is a «pool,» but it’s really just a little bigger than a hot tub.
Value for money? Stay far, far away. Plenty of buildings in Dupont Circle — in the nicer Northern part — offer more spacious studios for less money.

I have lived here for over a year and I have absolutely loved it. I have to move for work and I am so upset to leave this apartment.
The gym is amazing. Our apartment is way more spacious than apartments we have toured in similar buildings. I have had no issues with noise which was a big problem in my last apartment.
The front desk people are the best and management has been really responsive.
No complaints. Sad to be leaving.

I lived here for about a year and although I initially liked the building, if you have any issues the service is absolutely terrible. This is certainly not a «luxury» place to live, and you’re not getting the value you deserve for the high rent you’re paying.
1. Towards the end of my lease, my 1800 $ laptop was stolen from my apartment while I was at work. I always lock my door and keep all my spare keys with me, so it’s hard to say who would have had access to my apartment. It was an awful experience which was made worse by the building’s management, which seemed to insinuate that I was lying about the situation and refused any accountability for what happened. Why do I think the building is partly responsible? Because when you pay this much for a studio apartment and are promised that the building is secure (²⁴⁄₇ concierge, a key to take the elevator, security cameras) then you should feel safe in your apartment. Instead, the reality is that anyone can walk into the building without signing in and easily find their way around the building, no questions asked. I don’t need anyone to guarantee security, I know that’s not reasonable. I just expected them to fulfill their promises regarding the security they had in place, which they didn’t. When I told management about how easy it is to enter the building without a key or identification, they said they would talk to their team about improving security. Two weeks later, still no change.
2. About 8 months in I saw a mouse in my apartment. I understand that these things happen in DC but I’ve always kept my apartment really clean and I specifically asked before I moved in if there was a «mouse» problem with the building, and they promised me that mice were always dealt with quickly and efficiently. Instead it took them three days to come to my apartment, find the hole (shouldn’t this be done before tenants move in?) and call an exterminator.
3. Endless loud construction outside. They said it would take three weeks to work on the façade of the building, but over a month in it was still going on.
4. The A/​C unit is old and loud.
In conclusion I think this building is really overpriced for what you’re getting in return. If you’re lucky enough not to experience any issues, it’s a decent place to live because of the facilities and the location. If you have even the slightest problem, prepare to feel cheated and alone in dealing with your issues. I’ve seen other buildings with much lower rents with better security.

Pros:
(1) The people at the front desk have been nice, but there has been some shift because there’s new front desk people each week.
(2) Love the high-​tech updates (ie., email updates for packages, dry cleaning, etc), and you can check online to see if your laundry is done.
(3) Apartment is larger than some of the others in the area and the building takes care of electricity, water, etc bills which is definitely a plus.
Cons:
(1) Equity SUCKS and because of them, the building gets cheaper by the day. They provide coffee, but no creamer. And it’s gone by 9 – 9:30. They provide computers and printers in the front lobby BUT they don’t provide paper.
(2) If your apartment faces the street, its VERY LOUD! I don’t know how the other apartments are, but the street is loud at all hours of the day. Now they are doing construction and it’s even louder. But don’t be fooled! It was loud before the construction started! I read reviews about this and ignored them and I regret that, as I’ve been sleeping with earplugs since I moved in.
To summarize — look elsewhere!

Used to love this building when I first moved in… but as the building has gotten older, and the management office has constant turnover and the recent acquisition by Equity has led to a decline in the building. The only thing keeping me here is maintenance — they are a great crew, but Equity isn’t given them incentive to stay. I’m worried about what’s going to happen over the next year.
Management is rude, and inconsiderate, they don’t care about their residents just getting more from each person. Rents are jacked up with no reasoning, larger units on higher floors are less expensive, perks are being taken away (free wknd breakfasts, coffee/​tea, red box in the building, etc.).
The utilities are included which is great, the kitchens are huge for a studio, and it’s clearly it’s in an awesome location. The building needs updates as it’s getting older and it’s a noisy building with all the yappy dogs that bark all day/​night. Construction has been going on for almost a year now on New Hampshire and it’s loud all day long and probably has another year to go.
Equity needs to get it together if they don’t want to keep losing residents and ruining their brand. If you talk to people around the building, no one has anything positive to say about Equity. No one on the management team wants to hear it either… it’s sad. This once was a wonderful place to live.

It’s really expensive.
I am looking forward to the end of my lease.
It’s really not very nice. It just looks that way. This is the worst place I have ever lived. I’ve see bugs in the storage, ants infestations and mice…
I admit I have a lot of stuff but my apartment is not nasty.
Do yourself a favor and don’t live here. You can get a lot more for you money.
The customer service has seriously declined since Equity took over.
The 24 hour service is bullshit

I lived in this building for a year after living in another Archstone Property in Court House, VA. I was very impressed with the Archstone community in Court House, so I thought — Why not give this place a chance?
Unfortunately, not every Archstone is the same. The leasing office at the Flats was extremely rude and had a huge turnover rate. On my final day there, the corporate Archstone team was visiting to see what was going on. I overheard part of the conversation during my move-​out. Not good. A lot of people think the leasing office doesn’t make or break an apartment, but you would be surprised.
There are so many beautiful apartment buildings in this area that offer everything the Flats does and actually offer incredible service. I recommend you check those out.

You get what you pay for and I have lived at The Flats for six months and am loving every minute of it. In addition to The Flats having wonderful amenities, the staff is extremely welcoming and friendly, Two Thumbs up!