The Harlowe Apartments

The management is friendly and helpful. The building is clean and pretty. The maintenance staff is quick and dependable. Love the upgrades and the pool.

So far I think the mouse issue is gone. One day manager and the maintenance team came in and fixed all visible cracks for me. I caught the last one ever since. They are willing to deal with the problem before it goes too far. Just need to keep pushing if you have the same problem. :)

Good value for the money currently, with a few caveats.
PROs:
You’d be hard-​pressed to find a more central location for the money. You will likely have multiple options to drive to work.
Good garage parking for another $ 65/​month. Some spots are very tight, but they will let you switch spots if you need to. Bike racks may be coming.
Fees and utilities are reasonable even after they switched to a new system — I pay about $ 55/​month on a small studio. Includes «bill processing fee.»
Looks nice, new coat of paint and renovated lobby/​offices. It’s really a nice place to come back to.
Many units are newly renovated with new appliances.
Newly renovated gym.
People are generally polite and friendly, the staff is excellent. The concierges are no longer there.
Starting Jan 2016 you will now be able to retrieve packages from a locker ²⁴⁄₇ — but if your package is still there 72 hrs later you’ll be charged $ 3/​day, and you have to sign up for the service and provide a credit card. If you get a package and have to travel or deploy and you live alone, this can easily add up.
Shirlington’s main commercial/​upscale area is a 15-​min walk right down the street with a cinema, a nice park for dogs, running and easy access to the W & OD bike trail so you don’t get killed riding your bike.
Lots of food and restaurant options in the local area, you can even walk to a pizza and chinese food place, but you can’t walk through the nice neighborhood up the hill, you have to walk past the run-​down convenience store area.
Pool and landscaping and parking lot look nice. You may have a nice view of a golf course, and there are trees around.
Affordable hotel right next door.
I-​395 is less than 3min away.
CONs:
COMCAST or no high-​speed internet. You have no other options and you are a captive customer. If you want multiple broadband internet options, go live somewhere else. They have a monopoly on this location.
The convenient-​looking cable outlet near the windows in the unit will not work due to pre-​wiring in 1965. Your only cable option is the one right over the entrance door, so you’ll have to run a cable for some ways.
No metro access within walking distance (I have not tried the shuttle).
No Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, or Whole Foods or similar within close distance — but Harris Teeter is a short drive or a long walk.
Convenience store, park and 7 – 11 up the street are in a not-​so-​nice looking neighborhood.
Über drivers frequently go to the wrong location (big apartment complex across the street has «2400» in big numbers, but it’s «2400 24^th Rd S».
You may smell smoke sometimes, either in hallways or, like me, in your bathroom where the air comes into the unit. People smoke right outside the building exits and/​or near outside air intakes.
The air coming into the unit appears very dusty. Expect lots of dust on counters near the air inlet.
Walls are thin and you will hear arguments or loud people up late at night occasionally.
It’s right next to a major road so if you need to sleep in the mornings or during the day get some good earplugs. I recommend
Busy street in central location with very awkward garage entrance — it’s a bit confusing and you’ll have to wait to safely enter or exit sometimes. Don’t be in a hurry to leave or come back.
Expect the rent to go up, new management, new renovations, lots of people willing to pay to live in a central location.
If you work at night you will need earplugs and blacked-​out windows.
Traffic is near constant.
Communal laundry facilities on each floor may be busy on weekends, and you will have to pay each time you use them. They generally work well and maintenance requests are responded to timely.
Studio units have doors on closets that you might never use, they just get in the way.
Trash containers are an unsightly overflowing mess by the parking garage but this may be addressed in the future.
The lobby computers consist of two iMacs with some malware/​internet pop-​up problems, with spotty internet connections and a printer that has never worked or had enough ink the 4 times I’ve tried to use it.
All in all, a nice place to live for the money they’re charging. Which means the rent may go up. I will update if it seems unreasonable.

I’ve lived here for over two years and things have gotten much better, especially with the new management and renovations being completed. My biggest complaint were the thin drafty windows, but these have all been replaced with modern windows and balcony doors. They updated the outside of the building, the lobby, gym, pool, grills, and leasing office. The new manager is great and friendly and so is the rest of the staff.
The concierge service needs improvement, especially when it comes to services they provide. Packages are often not logged on time so they’re not available to give out. Then we get letters about how there are too many packages and we should come get them. The concierge will be doing things on their personal phone and not attending to the packages, while telling us to come back later. They are sometimes out of parking passes. There are signs about discounted movie tickets and other services, but if you ask a concierge, they have no idea what they are and what to do.
Maintenance is never a problem and the crew is quick and friendly. As for rent increases, this is normal with any building and it’s usually minimal. They have daily dynamic pricing, so rent fluctuates depending on the time of year and demand. Garage spots have been reduced to $ 55/​month, which is the cheapest you will find in any building. I’ve never seen a mouse.
The reinforcement of smoking rules continues to be enforced and I haven’t smelled any cigarette smoke in a long time. There are over 230 units in the building, so it’s impossible to enforce everyone at the same time, but they do take complaints seriously when you tell them about it. Letters are also sent out about dog poop. The social room is very nice and they often plan different social events to get people together.
The location is very convenient and there are many buses to take you to various metro locations. I just renewed my lease for another year.

When I moved into the Harlowe Apartments in September I was greeted with warmth and kindness. I felt the price was fair and the staff went above and beyond to accommodate any and all of my needs. I really liked working with Anthony. His dedication and ability to go above and beyond, on a daily basis, really made me feel great about my new move. As I moved in, I loved the size of my apartment, the price, the people in the Harlow. The staff in the leasing office (Brooke and Casey) make it an effort to have «socials» so people in the apartment can get to know one another. All had been quite a success! Again, staff goes above and beyond. I feel more than comfortable living here and enjoy the many amenities the Harlowe has to offer. I intend to stay. I love my apartment. I love the extremely perfect location, the staff, the parking, the cleanliness, the upgraded exterior and most of all the fact that I’m happy and content at the Harlowe with absolutely no complaints. If your curious about an apartment that has fair price, with an excellent locale. With many perks. You should check it out.

If you want marijuana, this is the place to live! Lease policies are not enforced here, so hallways and apartments are consistently filled with smoke, even though there is a no smoking policy. The walls are hollow, so expect it to be in your apartment as well. Per THEIR attorneys, smoking policy cannot be enforced.
New management does not care about current residents. They’re spending tons of money refurbishing things that are only Aesthetic looks to people looking in from the outside. Not doing anything for current residents or to improve conditions within the building. Yet they have raised the rents in excess of $ 100, to try to push old residents out.
Maintenance will respond to your request; however, will refuse to fix anything that isn’t legally bound for them to fix.
Concierge service is HORRIBLE; with a smiling face, they will tell you to come back another day for your package, while they chat/​text on their phone. Your visitors cars will be towed because there is no concierge around to get a parking pass from. And better yet the leasing office will tell you that they can’t give you one!
Enough said? Or shall I go on.

Poorly managed, Fairfield Management that owns The Harlowe a Apartments allows neighbors to sell refurbished food trucks in the parking lot. Little to no front desk coverage, concierge said yesterday «you’ll need to come back later, I don’t have the packages checked in yet» it was while she was on Facebook.