IO Piazza by Windsor

I was still living in Chicago, looking for a place in the DMV, when I came across a stellar deal at IO Piazza. I called two days after I saw the listing and unfortunately, like most communities in the area, the prices change almost daily and it had already increased. I was lucky enough to connect with Brittany at IO as my leasing agent, and she is amazing! I told her my price point, and anytime anything remotely came close to my budget, she would email me details and photos. During my apartment search, my father passed away, and she even reached out just to check on me, apartment hunting aside. She is a genuine human being! Brittany and her husband recently relocated to the area on a military move. She was working for a Windsor community in an another state and transferred to IO. We’re lucky to have her in the area!

HAD my job offer come through, I would be living here! What a great city home with lovely ameneties, stellar staff, nearby conveniences. This place is burned in my memory bank for future reference!

My husband and I have been living in the DC area for almost nine years and this is our fifth place in that period of time. The rental market here is a nightmare – competitive and ridiculously overpriced. Which is precisely why I’m so pleased to have found an apartment that I can see us staying in for years. Much of our trouble in finding the right place had to do with my resistance to moving into a large building. I’m sensitive to neighbor noise (blaring televisions, loud gatherings, barking dogs. etc) and have read many horror stories online about apartment buildings with paper thin walls. After taking a tour of the IO Piazza, I finally decided to take a chance, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s been almost two months and we haven’t experienced a single noise issue. Although we’re very fortunate to have an end unit, I don’t think it would even be a problem elsewhere in the building.
Quiet alone would be more than enough to make me happy, but we actually love almost everything about the property. Our neighbors all seem nice, the community is very pet friendly (but has a number of reasonable rules in place to prevent dogs from taking over), the staff couldn’t be more helpful and accommodating, and Shirlington is surprisingly adorable – I wasn’t super enthused about moving out of the District. I think the only thing the community is slightly lacking in are amenities. There is a modest gym on the first floor and a nice terrace area with seating and grills, but no rooftop access or pool. That being said, I’d much rather have a great apartment in a quiet building than a pool. Overall, we love this place and would highly recommend at least checking it out. We had all but decided on a place three blocks away, but decided to tour the IO Piazza at the last minute. We changed our minds right on the spot and filled out applications immediately. :)
One last thing. I have noticed that many of the complaints have to do with cost/​rent increases. Anyone who has lived in the area of any substantial period of time knows that DC is an exceptionally expensive place to live – it’s unfortunate, but that’s just the reality. Rent changes annually based on demand in all buildings, not just this one. Our two bedroom/​two bath corner unit isn’t cheap, but at $ 2650 a month, it’s $ 100 cheaper than what we paid in Columbia Heights for a one bedroom/​one bath apartment that was almost half the size. Good luck finding a better building at a better value that doesn’t include an hour long commute.

Lived here for two years after moving to DC. it is expensive but that’s just what the market is. The management is very responsive and everything worked just as promised. Concierge service varies between really friendly and lumpish, but they’re always there when scheduled. My only complaints were jerks who smoked on their balconies and threw their butts onto our terrace on Fifth floor, and other jerks who let their dogs urinate in the pet-​designated elevators. Those really are my only complaints. Hell, proximity to Carlyle and Best Buns offsets those things.

I just moved into IO Piazza and have been truly impressed with the outstanding service from Casie and Jessica. I had zeroed in on the Shirlington Village area and had seen IO Piazza on the internet, but originally thought the units looked a little too industrial for my tastes. However, I ended up stopping by the building and was pleasantly surprised by the warm vs cold environment within the units. The most persuasive selling feature though was the professionalism and sincerity demonstrated by the office staff; which in my experience is a very telling sign about what type of experience you will have living within the building.
I wanted to move in as quickly as possible due to my work travel schedule. The IO staff went out of their way to ensure my application was processed quickly and all the preparation work was done within 24 hours — I literally received the keys 24 hours after submitting the application.
I am looking forward to a great living experience at IO Piazza.

I moved into the IO from the Windsor at Shirlington in August of 2014. Hilary was my primary leasing agent and she was patient, reiterated when I needed it on specifics for my move-​in and never switched personalities after I moved in and throughout my stay there. Casey the manager was just as attentive in listening and reacting to any complaint I had immediately. I was treated as I would expect in this upscale apartment home building. The rent may have been higher than other places, but you can’t beat living right off 395. I could go North or South without any inconvenience right out of the parking garage. My apartment overlooked the baseball park, trees and little river and jogging trail. Serene. I didn’t mind the minor traffic noise of buses or trucks because the building was entirely made of very thick concrete and double pain windows which kept my electric bill low for my one bed one bath with a full size porch. You get what you pay for here. Beautiful granite countertops, stainless steel appliances with filtered water for the fridge, real hardwood floors, carpet in my bedroom and a rock tiled bathroom. I was paying the same rent as I was at the Windsor at Shirlington. No brainer for me because the Windsor is an older property made of wood and stucco (yet it was completely renovated and painted on the exterior of the entire property as of August 2014). The maintence was quick and attentive and very polite, yet they were rarely requested by me. The grounds and inside was always clean and ready to showcase. Yet only issue I had were stinky people who didn’t clean their laundry or clean their litter bkx which sometimes permeated the hallway, but never crept inside my apartment. Noise from the outside in the hallway, upstairs or to my left or right was really negligible. I paid $ 50 to park inside the garage which I never do without in this area. Never. You can pay for reserved parking, but I never needed it. Plenty of space to park AND since I lived on the third floor I parked right outside my apartment. Platinum! Like my own house. The rent would be raised at the end of my lease because that’s the way things are around here. They base things off the housing market of apartments with wants/​need yet Hilary would work with me on getting a fair rate. Always, always, always talk with them. When you get your notice, don’t think that will be the set rent increase. It could change week to week just like the stock market so close on your lease when the rate is at a point you can accept. I never got to go past a year because of my retirement, but I wouldn’t have dared to move. I was 15 to DC on a bad traffic day and I live in Shirlington Village! Come on guys. I don’t have to drive for groceries because Shirlington Village has a Harris Teeters, a movie theater, restaurants, pubs, pizza, a library, a theater… what more do you want in this area! Sure you can find cheaper rent! But at the cost of driving in more traffic at the end of the day or beginning during a workweek! Please. In fact they have a free shuttle to the Pentagon day and night Mon-​Fri (comes with rent) AND the concierge in the lobby gives free coffees, teas, and on Saturdays free bagels! Your also within a couple blocks to the metro bus station. They also have quarterly socials with brunches, late night meet and greets with alcohol, I mean guys… the IO treated me right and for the money it gave me sanity from DC, a sanctuary, peace, and I felt good coming to this temporary home. Oh, also a very dog friendly property and area. Very. Don’t forget cleaned out daily stainless steel BBQs on the fifth floor that has a largefountain for tranquility. Go see it for yourself. You’ll love it!

Be prepared to move out when the lease is up. The IO Piazza will raise your rent excessively! What does not make sense is why. We were paying $ 2500. Received the renewal and it was absurd so we informed the rental office that we were vacating. So get this… we got to meet the new tenant. The new tenant wanted to see it before they moved in to look at room sizes and take measurements. We asked them what the IO Piazza was going to charge and they told us $ 2200! We were in shock. We had wanted to stay and even offered to sign a lease for more than 12 months. The IO Piazza lost $ 3600 in revenue for that upcoming year. We also paid for two reserved parking spaces on top of that. Wouldn’t it have been cheaper for them not to raise our rent and just retain us? We just don’t get the business model or philosophy here. We are an older professional couple, paid our rent in advance, and have a credit score over 800. Extremely high turnover at the IO Piazza. There are tenants moving in and out every weekend. We loved the place but they didn’t love us back.

We moved into the IO Piazza May 19^th. I must say it is absolutely fabulous! My husband and I just love it. Living in our apartment and at the IO is like living the HGTV New York lifestyle!!!

My daugher lives here. Waaaaay too expensive for what you get! The guy that sits at the front desk is not very friendly and though they call him a concierge, he does nothing for tenants because he’s actually the rental agency’s security guard. They won’t even buzz you through the front door when you knock!