The Lansburgh

Amber’s experience is not isolated to just per diem. I have lived in the Lansburgh for more than 5 years and have seen a drastic change in the management and staff. I found it ironic when I moved in that desk staff would be pompous and snooty and they treat tenants like the tenants are there for them, not the other way around. If you go to the management to complain you can sense the annoyance of your presence and patronize you until you leave. The place has turned into a dump where the common areas are not well kept anymore, you have to tell management over and over to ask the cleaning people to clean the courtyard, remind them that the fountain in the courtyard is running out of water, concern about lost packages or never telling you if you have packages, which they recently installed a new tracking system… good since the lazy service people don’t do their jobs something was needed. The parking garage smells like a cesspool with leaking pipes, and 2+ years of construction that seems perpetual. This is just the apartments. The neighborhood has brought in low cost restaurants to replace the once art galleries and bookstores, bringing in a much rowdier crowd that screams at night and early morning while drunk walking down the streets. Starting at 4 in the morning you will hear beer and supply trucks rolling down the streets and over the metal plates that are on the streets.
The only reason to stay in this dump is due to location and access to public transportation. Otherwise I would recommend staying anyplace but here. You will be treated poorly by the management and staff unless you work on the Hill, will hear constant noise day and night, and harassed by the numerous homeless people around the building that are being bussed into the area each day by the city. So if you are a professional expect a basic high-​school educated concierge to treat you like they are superior and have no time to wast on you or your needs and wonder why in hell you stayed! Fair warning…

After seeing their advertisement in the Foreign Service Journal, I contacted The Lansburgh and had a very thorough discussion with their Sales Rep and his Manager (a female) about four months before departing our overseas post. On the phone, we went into great detail on how we would be on government per diem for 9 months, and wanted to know if the rental would be fully covered with the sliding scale for this extended period of time. Both emphatically assured us it would be. Fast forward to five days before arrival to D.C. while on home leave in a rental car in the middle of USA nowhere, and we find out that in fact, the Sales Rep and his Manager are not only unsure of what the sliding scale amounts are, but also that our rent would only be covered for five months and we would have to pay the difference out of pocket for the remaining months. To add to this excitement, when I requested to speak to the Manager only, she was extremely defensive and hostile with me although I was very calm with her from the beginning — it truly was the (VERY much unappreciated) icing on the cake. She then referred me back to the Sales Rep.
Because of this, would highly recommend avoiding this rental if you are on government per diem — they left us in a bind just a few days before arrival at the worst possible time. I understand it was on us for not getting everything in writing, but am very confused on how a company advertises in the FSJ and appears to be unfamiliar with per diem in D.C. Fortunately DOS housing came through for us and located fantastic last minute housing at an Archstone.