Avalon First and M

Lived here for three years. The amenities are reasonably nice but the management company (Avalon Bay) is sleazy. I moved between apartments in the building a couple times with no issues, but when I moved out of the building they hit me with hundreds of dollars in cleaning charges, even though I had paid for professional cleaning prior to move-​out. To make matters worse, their billing department never sent me an invoice for the charges. Instead, they called me out of the blue asking for a credit card payment over the phone. Sketchy!
I’ve had good experiences with other management companies in DC (Buzzuto is a good one). Trust me, the management company matters. Don’t move here.

Avalon 1^st and M is a great community to live in. It has all the bells and whistles needed for luxury high-​rise living. The move in process is extremely simple. The management and concierge staff are friendly and helpful. It has a state of the art gym and pool area equipped with a sauna and hot tub offered year around. I did my research thoroughly before choosing this apartment building and none of the apartments nearby offer the same amenities. They have a Starbucks downstairs, a CVS (pharmacy) across the street, almost every mid atlantic bank is on the same block, and a Harris Teeter (grocery store) across the street as well. The building is walking distance to National Mall and Capitol Hill. All in all the place is gorgeous, optimum location, fun neighbors, friendly staff, and top of the line appliances. Hands down this is one of the best communities in Washington, DC.

Figured it was time to update my review, since things have been consistently great for a while now. I’ve lived in the building since October 2012, when my floor opened. There were some bumps when Archstone First & M became Avalon First & M, and as the obnoxious former residents eventually learned they couldn’t run wild here. Construction noise, yes, has been less than ideal for any individual resident, but welcome to the city. If you didn’t know about this when you moved in, you need to do your homework better. The development plan has been public for years. But let’s get to the good stuff. The soundproofing between units is awesome. The maintenance staff is quick and excellent. The vast majority of the front desk staff and leasing office staff are friendly, helpful, efficient. Neighbors are generally responsible and conscientious (with some exceptions for smoking-​ban-​flouting balcony neighbors). Amenities (gym, the lobby space, the rooftop) are awesome. And the best thing to me are the high-​quality details in apartments: great appliances, windows, solid wood doors, built-​in bookcases, crown molding and baseboard, architectural arch above the kitchen sink, etc. If you recognize and appreciate quality, you’ll find this place hard to beat.

So far, even with the construction. We love living here. The residents are an eclectic group of young business professionals, students at Gallaudet, and even some new parents. The concierge staff has always been very kind, and the leasing experience was seamless and easy (thanks Nicholas!). Amenities are well cared for, the rooftop pool is a major draw, and everyone seems to play nice in the sandbox with regard to sharing the resources. I wouldn’t wander around the neighborhood after dark, as it is pretty close to North Capitol, and while there are some homeless «regulars» that hang out around the front of the building, for the most part they are harmless. Great building if you have a dog, there’s a pet salon on the first floor stocked with towels, shampoo and two wash/​dry stations. My suggestion would be to try and get an apartment on a high floor to avoid some of the general noise complaints lower floors seem to have to deal with.

So I just moved into this building with my roommates! I absolutely love it so far. As far as the noise, it’s honestly not that bad. Our apt faces Pierce Street and I have yet to be woken up with annoying noises. If you’re on a normal schedule, 9 – 5 or even 10 – 6 you won’t even be inconvenienced as you will be up getting ready for work when the construction starts and by the time you get home in the evening the construction is over. Maybe it used to be worse but as of now, it’s non-​issue.
As far as the amenities: A+++ The pool is always clean, the rooftop lounge is amazing and I come up here almost everyday!(Writing this review facing the Capital building on the roof right now!!)
The building is very young which may be not-​so-​great for older couples looking for a super quiet environment but I lived in NYC for years and I like the lived-​in community feel.

The amenities in the building are great, but, as other reviews have said, the noise from the surrounding construction sites is unbearable. I wake up to it every single day but Sunday. It has gotten much worse over the last few weeks.
When I was thinking about moving into this building, I read the reviews and was aware of this issue. I thought, «I’m sure the Unilocal reviews are overblown. I wake up early enough and sleep well enough, it doesn’t matter!» Well, it does matter. Trust me — you can find a better option.

Its very rare on a friday night at 8:28 pm that I rush home to write a Unilocal review. However, the service at this building is just that bad. I lost my keys while traveling. I got home and asked the front desk to let me up to my room. Not only did they not let me up for 45 minutes, but they also demonstrated the worst attitude and gave me a lecture. Definitely not going to renew my lease and looking forward to getting out of here ASAP

Great building in a fantastic location and only a block from the metro. Amenities are amazing, multiple lounge areas, indoor/​outdoor grilling areas, movie theater, pool, hot tub, sauna, and even a full gym. Management is great. Patrick O’Neill the GM is a great guy, very easy to work with and attentive to the needs of the residents. I highly recommend this building!

The leasing office is rude. Please update your policies and inform the community that printing is no longer offered instead of begrudgingly helping and giving such negative attitude. Apologies for printing three short documents out of my entire year of residence– yes I’ve definitely overused your resources. And you got rid of active building (the community portal) AND opened that unnecessary bank. Going downhill

1^st and M has awesome amenities and had a great staff.
However, the management team that took over the building (was formerly managed by Archstone) let it turn into a frat house environment. We gave the new team 6 month to get it together and no dice, then moved. So glad we did

I​f you live here, you likely feel that you are living on a perpetual construction site.​I do. We signed on our unit 6 months ago, as the construction of one building was finishing up. We asked the female agent who showed us our current apartment whether new construction projects would affect the noise level in this particular unit. Since it is so unlikely that she would be in the dark about this, I can only conclude that she lied to our faces when she said no.​In the last 6 months, construction has been ongoing and excavation is still in the early stages at 2 sites bordering our unit.​As winter approaches, construction begins earlier and earlier in the morning. Currently, at 7 to 7:15 AM. Though rarely, I’ve been awakened at 5 AM, and twice at 4 AM on a Saturday.​I am very anxious about being able to sleep in the daytime once I am put on a night rotation at work. Bottom line, if the agent had been more transparent, or at least said, «Let me look into that for you,» she would have done her due diligence, and I would NOT have signed on to live in this unit. Whether this goes for the units building-​wide, I can’t say, nor can I speak to the integrity of any other agents. But the beautiful outdoor amenities are not worth the constant noise at this point, which is so distracting that enjoying the building’s patio or roof deck anytime before 7 PM is pretty​much​impossible.
Also, since I’m writing this review, I’ll say the pool, though beautiful, needed to be more regularly cleaned over the summer. I went lap swimming twice, through very cloudy water, and had to pull someone else’s grody hairballs off of my arms. As someone who was a lifeguard for 6 summers, I’ve cleaned my fair share of pools, they’re easy enough to vacuum. Someone just wasn’t doing his or her job.

****Renter Beware****
1^st and M has awesome amenities and a great staff.
However, there are many problems:
1) Rent was raised 12%. I have rented at similar apartment buildings for almost 10 years now, in many different large cities, and have never seen a management company raise rent by this amount. This is what infuriated me and caused me to write this review. I have never felt the need to write a review like this on Unilocal,but after raising the rent by this much and after the below discrepancies, I feel betrayed by the Avalon company and will likely not rent from them ever again.
1) Avalon has a new building adjacent and has just started construction. Literally the buildings will be touching. Noise goes on during all hours of the day, even early morning, and the management does nothing to curb it even though it’s their management company that is responsible for the construction. This will likely continue for another year or so.
2) Camden is another apartment building across the street and just started their new construction project. Again, plenty of noise throughout the day. Will probably last another year or so.
3) Because of all of the construction there is absolutely no street parking during the day and there is a constant line of dump trucks in the morning that lines all of the adjacent streets surrounding the building and clogs up traffic.
4) Management sold a portion of the building to a bank. Meaning more construction, but this time inside of the building. I’m a student and can hear drilling or hammering echoing through my room throughout the day.
5) Crime is very apparent throughout the neighborhood. Recently, a resident at the Flats apartment building across the street was shot twice after returning from the bars late at night. He found two burglars in his apartment that is in a building with controlled access. While this may not be controlled by Avalon, the apartments are likely similar in security measures. Maybe the spike in rent should go to a legitimate security guard.
6) Other crime occurrences: the man that was stabbed to death on the metro a few months ago took place while the train was approaching the Noma Metro stop. Also, a week ago a man started punching pedestrians on the corner outside of the Harris Teeter. Additionally, many homeless people hang around the main entrance to the building and can often be aggressive when approaching residents.
I know other residents may feel differently, but raising the rent by such a large amount after the constant construction and high crime rate seemed appalling to me.
Avalon management writes emails every now and then thanking its residents for choosing to be part of the 1^st and M community, but let’s call a spade a spade here. In actuality, it appears the management views its residents as simply a number on a door, that is fronting the cost for their new construction project.

Tread carefully with their leasing office. I spoke to someone on the phone about needing a short term lease was told that they offered short term leases at a small premium. When I asked about the price for this lease, the representative quoted $ 2300, so I set up a meeting so I could come in and sign.
Flash forward two days and after driving over to NOMA and getting the standard sales pitch, the actual price for the short term lease ends up being over $ 3500. The representative was obviously just trying to trick me into coming in so I could be «wowed» by their amenities and get backed into a long term lease at the lower price. If they want to push 50% markups on short term leases, that’s fine, but don’t lie about it upfront to trick people into coming in for a sales pitch.
One star for a dishonest, Saturday-​wasting bait and switch.

I recently moved in to the Avalon First & M and so far have had a wonderful experience. Nicholas in the leasing office has been extremely helpful and attentive to my needs in selecting the apartment that best suits my needs.
Pros
Environment — Its defiantly a busy building but not too noisy. It’s been a month I’ve been hear and I haven’t experienced any loud noises or conversations coming from the hallway for it to be a busy community.
Amenities — Love the all the amenities and their gym is the biggest I have seen while I was looking around to determine what place to rent from
Location — Perfect for commuters if you work in D.C. as the metro in very close so you can enjoy both work and pleasure by hopping on the metro to your destination.
Pets — I don’t have any pets so for this to be pet friendly I don’t have any complaints. The place is always clean.
Guest — They have guest parking if staying overnight and there is a Hilton Garden Inn on the same street if you have loved ones visiting and your apartment can’t accommodate them. It’s so close you can just walk to there room or them your apt.
Cons
Garbage — The garbage area isn’t always clean. So far each time I go to drop trash off the floor is dirty.
Noise — The only noise I have is that I can hear my neighbor flush the toilet at night ONLY when its quiet in my apartment and I’m sleeping. That is a problem because it has woken my infant twice. To resolve it I leave lullaby’s playing at night and that helps.
Bottomline — So far I would still recommend Avalon First and M and I would resign when my lease comes up.

I have been living at First and M for over six months. Personally, I find the Avalon building to be a real community. The facilities are first rate, although they do get a lot of wear and tear, and really improve your quality of life. From the gym, to the open concept business center, to the incredible views from the rooftop pool, you are truly spoiled.
The apartment units themselves are very intimate and feels like home. With many smart touches around your home and amenities in every room.
It must also be noted that the staff is extremely supportive and helpful to all residents. If you live here, you can all the conveniences of NoMa, and all the charms of home.

My wife and I have been residents for a little over six months and in our experience the building has been really good. The design and amenities are mostly great and management has been responsive to issues as they have popped up (most of which seem to be resident-​caused). I will agree that the building (we are in our 30’s) is a little too young (common in DC) which can get frustrating (we don’t have any noise issues, but I’m not surprised others do). But within the context of our experiences after years living in Miami and NYC, First + M consistently exceeds expectations. The neighborhood at large (NoMa is such a dumb, fake name) still has a long way to go, but that’s another issue.

This 2 star review is for Avalon First and M, formerly known as Archstone First and M. My living experience there over 2 years was great for year 1, then just OK for year 2 due to a change in management. You can read all the other reviews for details about the issues the building has had over the last year. If I had to rate the living experience only, I would give it 3 stars. This review is specifically for the issues I faced with Avalon Bay during the move out process in October 2014.
During our pre-​move out inspection, which was done by one of the maintenance staff, he listed all the things that we could possibly be charged for. One of the things he listed was carpet replacement. I was shocked by this because there were no stains on the carpet. I asked him what exactly was present on the carpet would warrant replacement and his answer to me was «You don’t see what I see». When I asked him for further explanation, he just said that they would make a final decision after the apartment and carpets were cleaned. I inquired with the management immediately after the pre-​move out inspection to find out an estimate of carpet replacement cost and what criteria was in place to determine if AvalonBay or the tenant would have to pay this cost. I got a call back a few days later to inform me that they make these choices on a case by case basis and so they could not give me an estimate of cost or criteria related to carpet replacement. I even paid for their «Clean Sweep» cleaning to ensure that the apartment would be cleaned to their standards.
At the beginning of November, we received a bill for $ 1056. $ 700 of this was for carpet replacement. Again, there were zero stains on the carpet as you can see in the pictures I added. This apartment only has carpet in the bedrooms! The kitchen, dining/​living areas are all laminate floors! I understand that normal wear and tear and damages are two different things. But the carpet in my apartment had normal wear and tear, like the carpet was more worn in areas where furniture was not sitting since we did walk around in the bedrooms everyday for 2 years. But stains, i.e. damages were not present at all. Per their notes, «There were some small stains on the carpet that could not be removed.» When I explained to them that I had pictures showing no stains present on the carpet and asked them for pictures showing these small unremovable stains, they immediately placed my account «under review». A week or so later, I was sent an email saying the charges were valid. To this email was attached a single picture and the invoice for carpet replacement. The picture, which I have uploaded shows nothing. No stains. No nothing. Just some carpet that appears to have been vacuumed.
Throughout this process, they are threatening to send the account to collections yet they will not give me a date in which this will happen. The original due date for payment was November 12^th, yet this date passed while they were «reviewing» my account. Once they «reviewed» it and decided charges were valid, the old due date was still in effect. When I told them I would take them to DC small claims court, they explained that they would still send it to collections and it would end up on my credit report regardless of the outcome of the case. At the beginning of December, they sent the account to collections which I then paid it because I didn’t want this on my credit report for the next 7 years.
I believe that AvalonBay automatically replaces the carpets anytime a tenant moves out, regardless of the condition of it. This is then charged to the tenant. I found complaints online from Avalon properties in other cities that sound very similar to mine. So all of you that still live at Avalon Bay, be prepared to fork over the money/​part of your security deposit to replace the carpet, damaged or not.

I’d just like to provide a quick update from a few months ago. Now that new management is in place, things are slowly getting better. There is a 24 hour security guard now, and the building requires you to swipe your fob in the elevator to get to your floor — not just the rooftop. That makes me feel a lot safer. Also they’ve made some changes to which doors we can access late at night. All of the doors are now outbound doors, but only the main entrance is an inbound door after a certain hour. While I’m sure others find these small changes annoying, I think it’s necessary to keep the building secure.
My only complaint is still the noise issues, however they are being handled very swiftly now with new management in place. It’s a pain to have to call the front desk each time, but it usually only takes one time. I wish that Avalon would do a better job at screening prospective tenants, but I suppose there’s only so much that you can do while still needing to make a profit.
I hope that things continue to improve.

It’s getting better.
I’ moved from living in Georgetown for about 4 years until leaving here… the neighborhood is drastically different, but «up and coming» for a reason… So it was a surprise that security was non-​existence.
Recently, crime and internal staffing drama have brought this value*yelp) down fast. .HOWEVER, the current management has listened and improving drastically. They have security patrol, and quicker responses/​actions from Management. The place is beautiful, and has the best amenities for any apartment in the city.

I have lived in this apartment building for 2 years. When I first moved in, it was owned by another management company (Archstone). Avalon took over after I renewed my lease last summer and has completely driven this building into the ground. My lease is up in three weeks and I can’t wait to move out.
I completely agree with all the points made in Michael C’s review below. There are constant maintenance issues with this building and any problems take MONTHS to be resolved. This summer, Avalon hired a crew to wash the outside of the window (which had not been done to this building ever. Keep in mind that the we are located in an area with a ton of construction and therefore there is ton of dirt and dust in the air). Having the windows washed is a relatively minor undertaking that every other building I have lived in has gone through at least once a year. For this building, it took almost a year of comments from residents before management would do anything. After they started, it took 4 or 5 weeks to wash all of the windows, which for some reason involved every apartment being entered twice.
The window washing incident was pretty annoying, but this is just par for the course with Avalon. Broken garage door (which allows access to everyone’s cars and bikes)? Weeks to fix. No additional security. There is constantly broken equipment in the gym. The hot tub/​sauna on the roof break every other month. A broken elevator this year took weeks to fix as well and is already broken again.
There are a few good things about living at Avalon: specifically a few of the employees that work the front desk here are amazing. Unfortunately, Avalon felt the need to fire one of them (who was universally loved by residents and had been here since the building opened) for almost nothing.
Management is terrible. Paperwork is constantly lost. Correspondence from the leasing office borders on rude from the moment you sign your lease. They have no interest in helping you with any problem.
I don’t know if I have really conveyed how bad this building has become over the last year. A lot of the issues seem relatively minor, but please keep in mind that they are constant and recurring. Not only am I moving out at the end of my lease, but I will never live in an Avalon building again. Please look elsewhere if you need a place to live in the DMV.