The Arts Condos

I had an apartment on the 11^th floor, corner unit. We loved it. Steam heat worked. Great location. All utilities included which I loved. Air conditioning was pretty weak. It didn’t work well at all. All in all we really enjoyed our time here.

I realllyyyyyy wish I had not renewed my lease. I recently had a pipe leak and I could rant about it for hours and hours. Essentially, it was not dealt with properly for over 10 days, when the maintenance people did come they cut a whole in my ceiling which turned out to be in the wrong area and then had to cut one again, they didn’t cover my stuff in plastic so there was dirt and debris everywhere and they didnt clean up after the mess they made so I spent day’s doing it myself. I have been livid and i CANNOT wait to live somewhere else.
DO NOT live here. The building is way too old and even when the people working there do their best, there are just too many problems all the time and not enough people or manpower to handle the various issues.

I’ve lived here the past year and loved every minute of it! The front desk staff (especially day shift) is super helpful and very friendly! Each unit is individually owned so not each tenant will have different experiences when it comes to tenant issues. However, I’ve never had a problem with noisy neighbors or the like. The building is VERY convenient! All utilities are included, there’s a study room with free wifi, and free gym, a printer in the lobby you can use for free if you provide your own paper, and on site laundry.
There’s also a parking garage right across the street and another one half a block away so parking close by is super easy!
I never felt unsafe in this area or this building. It’s is close to many upscale and delicious restaurants and a few upscale bars. The subway is half a block away and the regional rail just a few blocks. It’s also within a 5 minute walk of Thomas Jefferson University. The building as ²⁴⁄₇ front desk staff and a security guard nights and weekends.
I was on the 14^th floor which had a beautiful view of the city, especially at night! And being up higher meant less outside noise for me. I also was fortunate enough to have a newly renovated unit. The only reason I didn’t give this building 5 stars is because you can’t control the heating and central air in each individual unit. However, since utilities are included you can run a window AC or small heater and it won’t cost you extra. Ironically my unit was always cold in the summer and hot in the winter LOL!
Lastly, pests… during the first 9 months of living here I never saw any bugs. I had heard horror stories of how bad they were throughout the city and in the dorms. I did begin to see a couple toward spring but the office staff was prompt in addressing the issue (an exterminator comes every tues) and I never saw any again. If I didn’t have other plans I would have stayed here longer. If I come back this way in the future, I will definitely consider this building again :)

I have lived in the arts condos in apartment 203 for 2 years from August 2010 to July 2012. It was the best experience I ever had as a tenant. My landlord was Julie Mealo and she was just great. Very professional, understanding and prompt in attending to my requests. Some people advised me not to rent from an owner and instead rent from a company but I disagree because:
1) My owner really cared about my experience in her unit and she made it a point to make it seamless.
2) she had the apartment renovated with stanlessteel appliances (General Electric) and wooden floor.
3) there is a great deal of flexibility once you’ve earned your landlord’s trust.
The apartment and landlord were not the only great things about my experience at the Arts condos. Here are some more points:
— location location location: To have the luxury of literally walking to everywhere is priceless. I did not own a car and never needed to. I used the subway which by the way was half a block from the apartment to go to school (at temple). I walked to almost everything, restaurants, bars, FedEx, telephone providers, shopping on walnut, parks, the DMV, and even to my medical appointments.
Security: to have a ²⁴⁄₇ doorman is just a blessing. I feel so safe in the building, I sometimes do my laundry at 3:00am. In fact sometimes there is more than one doorman. I also see a security guard roaming around different floors to check the hallways. I’m a security freak and this place is considered extremely safe.
Amenities of the building: sometimes I get bored of studying in my apartment so I loved the option of studying in the lobby with the free wifi and computers and printer available in the lobby. Another option is the study room with those comfortable couches and quiet atmosphere. There is also a gym equipted with tv screens and vending machines. A bike storage and a salon and a barber inside the building. ATM machine in lobby. Free direct tv channels. Utilities included (electric, water and heater… etc) all free! You are also notified about your packages via phone or email, this is a new technology they implemented which is great! Something’s may be considered minor, but it’s really the small things as much as the big things that make a difference. Also the building was just recently renovated so the halls and lights are very rice. It also has a ballroom/​s to rent for special ocassions and the friends of the arts send upcoming events to the building residents. Most friends that visit me get the feel of entering a hotel. I liked that ! :)
If there was something negative about the Arts, I would say the 5 steps at the entrance of the building is a bit inconvenient when carrying something heavy, other than that it was awesome. Finally, If I didn’t have to leave Philly, I would still be living at the Arts Condominium with no doubt!

It’s been sweltering for the past few weeks, and they STILL haven’t turned on the air conditioning. I woke up this morning drenched in sweat because it was so damn hot in our unit! And if you read my prior review, we can’t open the window, lest we get creepy people peeking in while we sleep.
The AC is on in the lobby, but I don’t know about you, I don’t really hang out down there.

The Arts Condo building is located in the old Sylvania hotel building at 1324 Locust Street. Billed as «luxury condominium», one is easily fooled upon walking in the front door. The lobby is gorgeous — marble and hard wood, amazing modern chandeliers and leather furniture, velvet chairs, a security staffed front desk, gleaming new elevators.
This is where the luxury ends.
A little over a year ago my spouse and I had to move out of our apartment unexpectedly because our landlady decided to sell without telling us. (Yes, we sued. Yes, we won.) Not wanting to relocate out of our own neighborhood we rented a studio apartment at The Arts Condos.
The studios run for between $ 800‑1100 depending on how well refurbed they have been inside, but make no mistakes — these are studios at the truest sense of the word. They are extremely small, the size of a large master bedroom. They have tiny kitchenettes with one cabinet and a mini fridge. There is no oven, no counter space. The bathroom is equally small, room for one and one only.
The building tries to explain away the high cost of these tiny apartments by including all utilities including digital cable access, but it just isn’t worth it. Granted I haven’t seen the one or two bedroom units that are available, but the majority of the condos are studios.
One of the worst parts of the building is the central air and central heat which you cannot control in your unit. Sure, you’re SUPPOSED to be able to do so, but you can’t. I managed to live in not one, not two, but THREE different units over a year and two months in the building. I left the first unit after two months, demanding that the landlord let me out of my lease. I did this because the knob that was supposed to allow me to control my central air did not work, and it was the dead of summer.
I stayed in the second unit for 10 months, but it was an ongoing struggle to get anything done. Right after moving in the central air stopped working for my entire floor, and it stayed non-​working for 3 ½ weeks. We got a notice from the management company saying that they were not responsible for helping us with the problem. Fortunately our landlord allowed us to buy a window unit and deduct it from the rent.
However the problems continued — plumbing being a major issue in the entire building. Another big issue is that the property management office — which by the way is ONE employee ONLY — is only open from 8 – 5 on Monday-​Friday, so if you have an after-​hours or weekend problem, there is no one to go to for immediate assistance. This means that if you put your laundry and detergent into a washing machine in the laundry room and then it won’t work, you’re screwed. And yes… that happened.
In the winter the heat wasn’t working properly, and when I reported it to the property manager I was told that she thought the problem had been fixed… LAST YEAR. It was always something, and it was clear that the property management company didn’t give a crap about residents. Only about property OWNERS.
Another thing they try to use to «sell you» on living or buying in the building is an «office center» in the lobby which ostensibly provides you access to the things one might need for office purposes. What this amounts to is two PC computers in little cubby areas and one printer. The computers are internet enabled but useless for anything practical as practically every feature has been disabled. And the printer is good for copying ONLY, because it is not attached to the computers for actual printing!
Eventually our landlord stopped responding to our complaints, which admittedly isn’t the management company’s fault, but I think he was just fed up of the constant complaints and mad that the management company wouldn’t help. We ended up suing him to get out of our lease.
Unfortunately we wound up stuck in a THIRD apartment on a month-​to-​month lease for 2 months because the arrangements we’d made to live elsewhere fell through. Those two months were our best in the building thanks in part to a hugely attentive landlord but also because we stopped taking the crap of the staff and began standing up for ourselves.
One of the other things the building doesn’t do anything about is disturbance by neighbors. The building is FILLED with college students; every day it seemed there was some 19 year old taking a tour with his/​her parents. Consequently there is a ton of drinking and pot smoking, and partying. In the first and third apartments we had problems with neighbors being too noisy, and in the third it was a big problem. I filed complaint after complaint about the late night noise and the smell of weed coming through the walls, and nothing was done.
We finally left after 14 months, one lawsuit and a lot of nonsense. Just as we were finally leaving they managed to put together a condo association. I’m glad we won’t be there to see that.
The Arts Condos is a MUST AVOID property in Philadelphia.