Lofts At Kendall Square Apartments

Lofts at Kendall Square, where have you been all my life?
My wife and I were in town from LA searching for apartments, and came across Lofts after a very hectic day. Apartment hunting in Boston can feel overwhelming at times. The minute we stepped into Lofts, however, something felt different. We were greeted by John, who helped us as walk-​in customers. He found several apartments that fit all of our needs, and made us feel very comfortable. He took the time to show us the apartments and walk us through the leasing process. He is an all-​around awesome leasing agent! The Lofts are beautifully renovated, inviting of furry friends, and in a great location. Our only wish was that they had in-​unit laundry, which we will gladly give up for the right place. The laundry facilities seem 21^st century, though, sending out emails and text messages when your laundry is finished. Overall, a great fit for us.
We left Lofts and decided to place a deposit on one of the apartments. The online application process is very simple, however, I managed to mess up our application by adding myself twice as a co-​applicant (oops!) John and Timothy to the rescue! Both of them spent a lot of time and effort on the phone with us, fixing my mistake and walking us through the (very easy) process. We already feel at home, and are looking forward to moving in soon. Thank you, Lofts at Kendall Square!

I lived here when it was called Worthington Place from early 2001 to 2003. Obviously under different management than it now has (which was excellent FWIW). Originally the biotech company I worked for, Millennium, put me up here for 3 months free while I looked around Boston for a place to live. But I liked this place so much, I decided to stay here!
This is an amazing building with some stunning apartments. We had one of the 2 bedrooms at the base of the hidden garden patio on the first floor. High ceilings, and huge industrial windows looking out on the long garden, which was particularly beautiful at Christmas time with all the lights. Very quiet, despite being able to see the busy street at the far end of the garden. Probably most people walking by on Binney St do not realize there is a nice garden hidden inside the U-​shaped building. No washer/​dryer in the unit, but that was about the only undesirable feature (but easy access to a large laundry on the second floor IIRC).
Parking was OK, either outside or inside, but a little tight, and I did have my convertible’s roof damaged while parking outside (so I moved inside). Although this area has improved since then.
The current management I gather is Avalon, and I subsequently lived at another of their properties, Avalon Bear Hill in Waltham (townhouses in a beautiful park). They are very good managers, perhaps the best I’ve ever had, so I have no complaints. I’m going to assume they do an equally good job at the Lofts.
Not cheap, but if you can afford it you will be very happy with the building and the fantastic location a few minutes walk from all the great One Kendall Square restaurants and art cinema, and Kendall Square T stop on the Red Line. Also only 15 minutes walk to Central Square too.

We wish we found this apartment as soon as we moved to Cambridge.
Walking in our apartment makes me feel like I can breathe. The windows, along with sky-​high ceilings are an excellent reason to want to live here, but add on the proximity to the T and some close, amazing restaurants as a bonus!
Still, the number one reason to live here is the incredible staff — across the board. Every single person who works here does absolutely everything they can to make sure the residents are well and happy. With Tim, Kelly, Amber, Rich and Gio running this place, I guarantee everyone is in good hands. We wish we could buy our apartment!

I lived here for 7 years. Aside from the location and the ceilings, here are some of the downsides that you won’t hear as much about:
* Indoor parking is available, but the only remaining spots if you are a new resident will be in front of pillars making it hard to back out. We tried this for a month and changed to outdoor parking as a result.
* The outdoor parking is extremely tight. If you are not obese then, only the driver will be able to squeeze in, then will have to pull out the car for other passengers to get in. It was not always like this, but ever since the parking lot was moved to the new parking lot on other side of 3^rd street, the spots were increased in number, and the space per spot was reduced to maximize revenues. The most painful part is when there is a blizzard, it is near impossible to access the driver side door. At times, I have shoveled my way to the roof of the car then shoveled down. Note: The management has replied saying they are accommodating to large vehicles, but the fact is that even our standard mid size sedan was extremely cramped.
* We had quite a few mice, because of nearby development and demolitions of older buildings in Kendall square.
The management is very profit driven and does not care about the residents. A few examples of this (aside from the outdoor parking squeeze)
* Rents go up every year by several hundred dollars. Over the course of my stay, I was paying about $ 2400 per month, and I left when they were asking about $ 3300 per month.
* The management attempting to increase my parking rate mid-​lease. After I pushed back saying that the lease is binding and they cannot change rates mid-​lease, they backed off. Be prepared for other sneaky attempts like this.
* The demographics of the residents are young working professionals. As a result you will likely face some neighbor issues with regards to sound from time to time (including a party when cops had to break it up), and a pot smoking neighbor who’s fumes would enter my apartment through the shared bathroom ventilation. The management did not care about this, and refused to evict the neighbor over the course of a year (because they would lose a tenant).

Gorgeous entrance. Units have great updates but no in unit laundry… Very pricey for limited space. Very cool converted places though with some nice character… The ones we saw were very lacking on closet space though.
We met with Nate Lopez when looking at these places and he was really pleasant and accommodating.

Love this place. Gorgeous lofts, tons of amenities, and it’s only a few blocks from my workplace. Yeah, it’s expensive and we’re currently paying a little more than we’d planned to, but it’s priced similarly to other apartment complexes in the area, even though it’s the nicest of the options, and the ceilings are so high that we’re considering building a split level area (you can make any modifications that are easily reversible upon move-​out). Although our apartment is nicer than what we’d planned to get, it’s well *worth* what we’re paying.
Not sure if this is on the site, but the farther off cycle you move in (far from August), the cheaper it is. So perhaps we got an unusually good deal…
To address Liz M.‘s review: I’m not sure if this feature was available when her review was posted, but you can check price and move-​in date for all available apartments online. When we visited, the leasing agent who worked with us, Nate, was extremely informative and helpful about suggesting available apartments to fit our requirements (walk in closet and space for a recording booth and studio). He ended up finding us one we hadn’t considered which had the perfect layout for us.
They handle issues really quickly here. We found a few crooked doors on move-​in, and emailed management. A technician came in, removed the doors, took them to the in-​house shop, sanded and painted them, and rehung them. Less than six hours after sending the email, everything was perfectly fixed.
Other amenities: indoor fitness center (I hardly have the motivation to go outside for groceries in the winter, let alone exercise), laundry, bike rooms, storage units and indoor parking available for a fee, mail and package handling.
You may not *need* all these nice things, but if you’re a busy professional and don’t have to make too many sacrifices to afford the rent, the convenience of the amenities adds up. It’s a relief to know that our apartment is as safe as it could be, and that if the heating or an appliance breaks in the middle of winter, I won’t have to wait months for the landlord to fix it.
p. s. If you visit, try to check out a top floor apartment. The wall-​to-​wall windows are amazing, and there’s even a ledge wide enough for sitting.

I haven’t lived here but I will say — its a bait and switch game.
My pricepoint was at the low end and I really would’ve appreciated it if the leasing agent just told me straight up I wouldn’t get ANYTHING LIKE the pics on the website. AND, I would’ve appreciated if I was explicitly told beforehand that the actual apt I wanted to see was available for viewing.
Also, I drove by during the day and night… uh, sketch? Next to smoke stacks? Really?
Maybe living there is an awesome thing if you have $ 4000 to spend. But in terms of value, I ran the numbers, not so much.

A lot of the reviews on other sites (and Unilocal) about bad management come from the old management company (when it was called Worthington Place). When Archstone took over, the resulting changes were dramatic. I can’t judge a place based on if things go wrong or not — bad things happen everywhere. The thing to judge on is how the landlord responds.
Every issue, large or small, is handled properly, quickly and competently. The management from the office and up the chain at Archstone has been nothing but top notch.
The only reason I can’t give 5 stars is because of the location — you really have to be aware of which side of the complex you are on — the Binney St. side can be loud. The only other downside is that there is a shared laundry facility which is very very far away from some of the apartments in the building.
The unique architecture and huugggge apartments make this place a great deal. You should check it out! (and call the office directly — you don’t need a broker to get anything special here!)

I lived at lovely Archstone for two years, when it was called Worthington Apartments.
The apartments were awesome — 14 foot ceilings, huge windows, lots of space. The in-​building laundry was also nice. The trash rooms, however, were horrible — always packed with trash, not cleaned often, and constantly sprayed with a weird noxious agent that would give you a headache if you were in there for more than 5 minutes dropping off your junk.
The real issue was the management/​ownership of the building. Before I left, they tried to hoodwink me and my roommate into a $ 500 a month rent increase, which was completely outrageous. Given the neighborhood (remote, not close to anything cool, boring, industrial), these apartments shouldn’t be going for as much as they were ($ 2400ish for a two bed/​two bath). It seemed like they conned recent transplants and MIT students into taking the apartments when one could find cheaper/​better digs elsewhere, like Central Square.
Also, it seemed at the time I left that the management sanctioned brokers putting up Craigslist ads saying the rent was much cheaper than it really is so that they could hook you into looking at the place. The old bait and switch isn’t very cool.
All in all, think carefully before you take an apartment here and make sure you look around for better deals.