The Chesapeake

HORRIBLE property management team. Moved out 5 years ago and still dealing with the fallout of their office not communicating properly. Lease required 60 day notice and I was verbally told 30 was acceptable. Of course, the woman that told me that was wrong and didn’t own up to it. So AFTER turning in my keys, and moving out, I got hit with a bill for additional rent. The property manager claimed his employees would never give out wrong information and refused to discuss the issue. Then the collections bill shows up in the mail.
PUT EVERYTHING IN WRITING WITH THESE PEOPLE OR YOU WILL GET SCREWED.

just moved in a couple of months ago. the ad said «welcome home» but i truly don’t feel at home here.
Pros:
— spacious apartment
— lots of space in the kitchen, nice layout
— 4 blocks from the red line
— nice and quiet neighbourhood if you are tired of the dupont/​adams scene — probably good for families but not for single people
Cons:
–as a single girl, the neighbourhood sucks, there is nothing around, it is far from the metro, and the people who live in this building must be dead or dying. My neighbours complain about my music at 9 pm and send the security guards to warn me, and once the police came at 10pm
–walls are paper thin, and huge gap under the door causing noise leakages
-
— but neigbours and management intolerant about noise — unless you are a very quiet person — I mean really really quiet — do not move here
— old building, not well kept, bad quality appliances, old broken fixtures
— maintenance slow/​unresponsive
— windows dont open in bathroom and kitchen
— real heating problem — building overheated — gas leaks — unbearable heat so i have to open all windows — terrible waste of energy
— always a bad smell somewhere

I am glad to be the first to review the Chesapeake/​Saratoga Apartments.
Pros:
–Semi-​convenient and very quiet neighborhood.
–Respectable square-​footage to price ratio (for DC)
–No nazi-​door person harassing your guests when they arrive
Cons:
–Truly terrible maintenance. (slow/​unresponsive, cannot problem solve, generally lazy)
–Aging building has lots of character but is not getting the upkeep it needs.
–Building always seems to have a different, but bad smell to it everyday. Which is somewhat amazing, but not what I want to greet me when I come home.
Overall unless you just have to live in the Van Ness neighborhood, I would not recommend giving The Chesapeake your money.

I’ve been living in the Chesapeake for a year now, and I’m pretty satisfied.
What’s good? Extremely responsive maintenance crews. A friendly office that recognizes your face, greets you and chats with you in hallways. Super-​thick walls that block apartment noise. And plenty of cute girls roaming the hallways. The neighborhood is superb and there’s a beautiful courtyard and a well-​supplied gym. There’s even a party room which I never really use. Guards are there all night and are friendly as well.
What’s not so good? Well, the rent is higher than I’d like, but definitely not outrageous for the location and amenities. The Chesapeake is clearly set up to be inferior to its neighbor and sister, the Saratoga (and make you want to move), so hallways are gloomy and painted in horrible colors, AC consists of weak window units, etc, etc. The heat is all or nothing, which when combined with the poor ventilation and overeagerness of whoever maintains the temperature resulted in my simply having maintenance turn off the radiator in my room (and I never looked back). And they play Muzak of the Beatles in the lobby.