McHenry Row Apartments

I was surprised by the number of negative reviews and wonder if only disgruntled residents have left reviews. My husband and I have lived here for about a year, and we’re definitely going to renew our lease. We’ve had a really positive experience!
Here’s our experience with some of the issues addressed in other reviews…
Rent Increases: I’ll definitely agree that our rent increased more than we expected, but the leasing office worked with us and actually lowered the proposed rent for our second year. If you’re willing to talk to them, they’ll definitely work with you. Typically, the rent increases if you had a promotional deal for your first lease. Even with the rental increase, McHenry Row was still comparable or cheaper than any other apartment complex in the area.
Amenities: I haven’t seen any other apartment complex in the area that offers as many amenities as McHenry Row. The rooftop deck is awesome. There are two TVs, a grill, tons of seating, and awesome views. The theater room has big, comfy theater-​style seating. They screen popular movies pretty regularly and make popcorn and put out free drinks and candy. Both buildings have game rooms with TVs, a pool table, ping-​pong table, shuffleboard table, and lots of seating. We haven’t had any issues with things being broken or dirty. Everything here is well taken care of from what we’ve experienced. It’s also so convenient to be right by the grocery store and close to the highway. A new Samos is supposed to open in the spring, so obviously that’s a major plus!
Noise: This hasn’t been an issue for us at all. Our apartment isn’t near the elevators, but we also haven’t ever heard noise from any of the apartments around us, including our upstairs neighbor. We don’t hear people walking around up there at all, which has been an issue for us in other places we’ve lived. Our apartment faces the businesses below, and we don’t notice much noise from outside either — nothing that has bothered us.
Service: Everyone in the leasing office is very friendly, and they seem to care about residents. They even hold «resident appreciation» events with free food and prizes. Management is really invested in our community and is always trying to think of new ways to engage residents and upgrade amenities. Having an attendant at the front desk means there’s always someone here to accept packages, which is a big plus when living in the city. In our apartment, we’ve put in some requests for minor repairs and had prompt service every time, so no issues with maintenance. All the common areas have been clean and well kept.
Overall, it’s a really fun place to live. There are always different events sponsored by McHenry Row or happening nearby. Given other options in the area, McHenry Row gives you the most bang for your buck!

Decent place to live but you can definitely hear your neighbors through the thin walls, ceilings and echoing hallways. The quick access to 95 from here is a plus!

Interesting the loud music is only supposed to happen once a month when I have been contending with it for the past 3 nights in a row. If the music is so loud that the person on the other end of my phone conversation can hear the music, that is problematic. And call me crazy, but some people like a little quiet before 10pm on a weeknight, especially considering the loud delivery truck and construction noise gets going around here early in the morning. There just so happens to be a loud DJ outside as I type…

Really regret living here. Lots of noise in the building, neighbors who smoke weed and stink up the halls, being woken up by construction and delivery trucks, and dirty/​gross hallways and elevators. The only pro for me has been living in a safe neighborhood that the rioters wouldn’t come into.
If you live here, try to live in the 1630 building where the leasing office is and things are much cleaner/​quieter.

I work for Peter Halstad Catering. We catered an event this evening in the ‘Demonstration Kitchen’ and ‘Cyber Café’ at McHenry Row for Johns Hopkins University.
The Demonstration Kitchen had spacious countertops, a garbage disposal, large refrigerator, and large stove-​top. This kitchen was well-​appointed for hosting a large catering event.
The bar had ample counter space, a clean sink, and a working refrigerator. This rare combination makes tending bar easy.
Jessica, who manages this venue, made sure the room was cool (so that we didn’t overheat). She also made sure that we had everything we needed to make the event a success.
Tyler, the security guard on staff, was always available and made sure we had continual elevator access. The evening custodian was also helpful.
I would highly recommend this venue for events. Our guests were very happy.

I know Maryland is expensive, but the pricing on these apartments, PLUS monthly parking, monthly pet fee, utilities, AND WATER, is far too much to consider when it comes to cost of living. The businesses in the area are great, but I feel bad for anyone coming to retail at this area, because there’s hardly any parking.
One of my coworkers had an issue where the apartment let a cleaning company in to her apartment… which happened to be the wrong one! She came home to find her door unlocked and items moved. It took months to resolve this. I’ve been to her place as well, and just wasn’t impressed.
First impressions mean everything, and I’m sorry to say that between knowing several people who already live there, and visiting a different size myself (still very small), I just wasn’t impressed. It’s built to look nice, but a closer look will reveal that there wasn’t much consideration to the grade of building materials. The entire time, all I could think about was being nickel-​and-​dimed. You’re much better off finding one of the row homes in the area, and having a living space that you can actually call home.

Agree with other posters. Horrifically overpriced for what you get. Loud, obnoxious neighbors. Elevator shut down due to vomit one recent night I came home. Lied to about many things when moving in. When brought up to management, was told the gentleman who had rented me the apartment «no longer works here» as if that fixed the issue. Some of the things they used to justify the high price point are slowly disappearing. Concierge no longer 24-​hours for example. Shame for me as I used them mostly on my way to work and now they don’t arrive until 8 AM. Shopping carts in the hallways, animal feces in the common areas (yes, more than once), nice enough management staff but unwilling to really do anything to address problems. Still live here, primarily for the convenience of being so close to Rt 95, but will not be renewing my lease and would absolutely not recommend this place to anyone.

After living here for over a year, it has become very clear that the other reviewers are right: they really are trying to nickel and dime you.
The rent goes up far beyond what my annual income does. My friends in the building are having the same problem — and two of them are moving out as it’s difficult to keep up with the steep rent increases.
If you’re not the type to favor moving apartments every year, beware of the ever increasing prices! The offers we had when we moved in are no longer available for our lease renewal which hits pretty hard.
Beyond that, the gym has had all the treadmills broken for over a year and there’s been broken glass in the parking lot for 3 weeks (which management was notified of multiple times).
The pros remain as the rooftop grill is still great, the business area and game room remain well kept, and the security remains in place.
I hope this helps all of you apartment hunters and as always, msg me if you have any questions!

I can vouch for what several other reviewers have stated. I am also moving out soon and experienced mixed feelings about the apartment. The biggest issue for ME is the price. It’s around $ 1750 a month for a 1 bdrm, 650 sq ft apartment. I paid extra (~$ 50/​month?) for the ‘city view’ since I thought it would be nice to wake up to a view of Baltimore. The only thing I can say is that by ‘city view’ what they really mean is ‘it is possible to see some of downtown at some position from your apartment’. The $ 125/​month for parking is ridiculous. I recommend rolling a portion of that fee into the monthly rent up front. Otherwise, it feels shady and deceiptful.
I moved into the apartment during a heat wave last year, with temperatures and humidity through the roof. My first night in my apartment, it was about 85 degrees inside because the AC wasn’t working. I thought maybe it would just take a bit for the system to start cooling… it turns out that the apartment complex let me move in KNOWING that the AC was bad. Why not tell me up front? It was fixed in about a week. If I would have known that the AC was not working, I would have stayed with family and moved in when it was fixed (1 week comes out to about $ 440).
The noise can also be a big problem for some. I was told before moving in that the Green Turtle would not be noisy. That is somewhat true. The noise from the restaurant/​bar itself is minimal. But on weekends/​baseball game nights, the people leaving the bar or taking a smoke break can be really loud – especially if your apartment is faces inwards. The problem is that the two apartment buildings are so close together, noise cannot dissipate very well and you can hear an echo. After one orioles game, I woke up to an egg splattered on my window; I live on the 4^th floor.
Just about every Friday/​Saturday night, the people next door would party until 1130. It was so bad one time that people from other floors were outside my apartment trying to find the source of the noise.
Harris Teeter is convenient, the freeway is close – Food truck night is fun and there are lots of other neat events that the apartment complex sponsors… there are a lot of positives about the place. For the most part, the management is very friendly and helpful. I think it’s the residents and culture of Federal Hill that can be the real issue. No apartment facility can shield you from the surrounding culture and you need to realize that when considering McHenry Row. If Federal Hill is your scene and you don’t mind paying the rent, I think you’ll really enjoy it here.

My husband and I lived here for a year. We liked that we were the first people to live in our apartment, and the location was pretty good. Unfortunately, The other tenants were horrible. Here are just a couple examples of what you have to look forward to when you live there:
One morning my husband and I left the apartment to head to work at 7:00 AM. A girl walks out of the next door apartment in her underwear. Literally her underwear. Not tiny shorts, but actual underpants. She was walking in front of us toward the elevator and kept trying to pull them down, but they were underwear and were not getting any longer. She went down in the elevator with us and walked out to the parking garage. Got in her car, drove down used the fob to get out of the garage, and pulled up to the front doors to give the key fob back to whichever guys apartment she had just stayed at. Can you say trashy much? Put on some pants at least please when you make the walk of shame.
There was always noise coming from drunk people in our hall. One evening the noise was especially loud with people screaming and yelling in the halls. It was awful. The next morning we smelled disgusting throw up and found it in the stairwell next door to our apartment. The rude drunk neighbors had puked in the stairwell and left it there. Someone from the leasing office was cleaning it up. The stain and smell never went away. Absolutely not somewhere we wanted to live. We moved out shortly after this incident. Sorry but I’m not paying 2100 a month to deal with this kind of stuff.
Parking is ridiculously expensive at $ 125 a space. It’s not even completely private either. Anyone can walk in. People let their friends use their fobs to park in the garage all the time. The employees from the office building next door park in the garage and fill it up. Watch out for them at 5:00 PM — they fly in the garage and almost hit you coming around corners.
After we had just bought our new BMW we looked out our balcony one evening and saw two guys posing in front of it and leaning against it, TAKING PICTURES OF THEMSELVES.
The rooftop deck was a nice idea… but so small and disappointing and not worth going up to.
Tenants always broke things in the common areas. There was always a computer broken in the business center. The ipod interface and dvd player in the yoga/​exercise room were broken thanks to tenants beating things up.
Mchenry Row could have been a great place to live, but sadly is not.

My 1 year lease is about to be up, and I will DEFINITELY not be renewing my lease. My boyfriend and I have had so many issues here, and for the price we pay, it is absurd. The complex looked great when we moved in, the amenities are great. However, the management is not the smartest to say the least, and most of the time, very unhelpful. When checking the apartments out we were told one price for the apartment we looked at, and as we were signing the lease suddenly the price jumped up by $ 200, and we were told that the price we were told before was the «pro-​rated» price. We have had multiple issues with our apartment… hot water heater broke after just a few months of being there… they said it couldnt be fixed for a couple days so we had to request to get the keys to the guest suite so that we could at least go to a shower that had hot water. Multiple times there have been dog poop, pee, and human vomit in the elevators… the elevators have carpet and it smells awful. We have seen people who are too lazy to walk their dogs to the grass walk their dogs on the roof the parking garage… disgusting. We have told management multiple times and we still see it happen. Parking is $ 125 per month per car, which is just ridiculous… as the garages are 90% empty. There are two elevators in our building, and for almost a month one elevator was broken… however, management still allowed the other elevator to be reserved for hours at a time for people who were moving in or out… well this is extremely inconvenient for EVERYONE else in the building as the stairwells are at each end of the building and do NOT lead to the lobby! The stairwells lead to the backs of the building, so you cannot get into the stairs to go up. Therefore, we had to walk up the stairs to the roof of the parking garage, then get into the second floor of the building, then walk back to either of the building to access the stairwells, and walk up to your floor. Talk about not handicap accessible… and we have an elderly lady in a wheelchair living on our floor. Noise in the building from drunk people… and constantly hearing barking dogs is always an issue. Management is awful here and the prices of these apartments are totally not worth how awfully set up this apt is and the hassles you have to deal with… Our rent was increasing almost $ 150 more if we were to resign… Absolutely not worth the money…

2.5 Stars
The value of McHenry Row is in the location and their lease-​term flexibility.
Understand that this is a college dorm style (and pet friendly) facility so you will have to contend with the quirks that go along with that.
What we like:
1. New facility, we were the first to live in our unit
2. Location; right off of 95, safe, convenient. Quality of life in Locust Point best of Baltimore City.
3. Concierge for package pick-​up, gym, and roof deck with a gas grill
What we don’t like:
1. Premium price point. Add in $ 125/​mo parking which is only semi-​private.
2. Noise. I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve been awoken at 3am by garbage trucks, delivery trucks, and other disturbances. We gave up, sleep with a fan on every night.
3. A disrespectful few are unavoidable in this format (smoke, dog pee, and shopping carts routinely pollute the common areas).
4. Low rent concierge and security personnel.
Overall our experience has been positive. I recommend McHenry Row if you’re in need of lease term flexibility. If you’re looking for a full or possibly 2 year solution, I would explore Locust Point row house options too.