View 14

Great building in a great location. I love the coffee and popcorn they have in the lobby every day. The leasing manager, Gamze, was so professional and helpful during our apartment search. She made sure we got a great apartment within our budget. Since moving in, the leasing office staff has been really proactive, and just great to deal with. They reached out to make sure the move-​in went well, and when we said we had an issue with the lock on our door sticking, they had it replaced within a few hours!

Pros
Maintenance is great, walls and windows very sound proof. Great common space. High quality building. Concierge.
Cons
Very deceptive pricing. Utilities for an average apartment is $ 200/​month. They will raise your rates each year more than 10%.

If you can find another place to live… do it! This building boasts about its amenities but to tell you the truth, 90%of the time something in the building… or many… are not working properly. Either there is no coffee, broken treadmills, no hot water, no propane in grills, or no AC in the gym, there is always something. We made the mistake is staying here for nearly two years and it’s only gotten worse. So if you can, I’d find another place to live! The only people benefitting from this place are the people that work in leading and management. Take five minutes on your tour to chat with just about any resident, and I guarantee you’ll change your mind about living here.

I’ve lived at View 14 for a few years and it is a great building. The new management is very responsive and helpful. It has great amenities and is in the best location– close to the happenings on 14^th street but far away enough that there is no excessive noise at night. There is a great rooftop which is rarely crowded, a gym with great equipment, a yoga room, a comfortable lounge, and a movie screening room that you can reserve for free! It’s social but mature– great for a young professional or a family. The building is very dog friendly too! You’re a short walk from Meridian Hill Park– one of the best places for a relaxing walk, a picnic, or just to watch the weekly drum circle. I wish I could take this building with me when I move away from DC!

As an update – although construction continues on 14^th St, it no longer is going on across the street from View 14. What’s more, an amazing grocer, Streets Market, has moved into the ground floor of the building next door. Cheaper than some of the area organic markets (Yes! Organics and Whole Foods) but with a greater selection than the usual corner store, it has helped to sweeten the location tremendously.
I no longer rent at View 14, but walk by it nearly every day and have only positive memories of my time there.

I’ve lived in View 14 for 2 years and just recently signed my lease for a 3^rd year. Overall, I’ve been extremely pleased, specifically:
1) Location: I was skeptical moving into the building a few years ago, thinking it was a bit farther north than I was ideally seeking. But it’s a terrific location, and the neighborhood has only gotten better since I’ve lived here, with the arrival of a grocery store across the street, Trader Joe’s 3 blocks away and some fantastic bars and restaurants all within a few blocks.
2) Cleanliness: The common areas of the building are kept very clean, including all of the hallways and lounge rooms.
3) Maintenance: In my few years here, I’ve submitted about 10 maintenance requests, and every single time maintenance has come and fixed the issue within 24 hours. I’ve been very impressed.
4) Management: Barring one major miscommunication issue with UDR management, I’ve been treated fairly by management and feel they do a nice job.
5) Views: The main reason I’m paying a premium for rent, and it never gets old. The views from my apartment and most of the apartments in the building are spectacular.
6) Staff: Like any place, some staff are better than others. But, in general, I think the front desk and leasing staff are friendly, kind and have been great to me.
In sum, I’ve lived in Boston, Spain, NYC, Arlington and DC, and I’ve enjoyed my experience at View 14 more than any other apartment, and am therefore happy to stay here another year.

I do not want to write an update, but rather a response to Chris S because he so eloquently brought me up in his review. I have not been «living with mom and dad.» I have rented AND owned for the past 13 years and lived in 3 major cities during that time. So please save your sarcasm for someone else.
I believe I made an honest review as I pointed out the pros and cons of living in the building. Ultimately, my review came down to the poor staff, the overall responsiveness to maintenance requests and sub par management company. If things have changed since I’ve moved out last summer, then that’s great. But, I was giving my review for my time at the property. Furthermore, I also understand that «good condition» may have a different meaning to tenant than to a landlord, however, charging for something both parties did not agree on during a walk through is not ethical.
While I appreciate your attempt to be the «voice of reason,» you could have easily just messaged me and asked about my experience before making sarcastic statements that is not helpful to anyone.

UPDATE 3÷8÷13: We moved out of our apartment when our lease was up about seven or eight months ago, because they tried to raise our rent an OUTRAGEOUS $ 600/​month. The manager, Chris, is impossible to deal with. The other employees are incredibly nice and helpful however, at least while we were there.
We now live in a rowhouse apartment with tree-​lined streets, two dry cleaners around the corner, multiple gyms, and a ton more character (and top-​of-​the-​line finishes) in our apartment. While it was nice while it lasted, I can safely say we don’t miss View 14 at all.
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We moved into this building in July, and have had our share of issues, but overall, I love the building.
First and foremost, my favorite thing about it is the location — close to U St, Dupont Circle, Chinatown, Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights. I feel like we have easy access to the best of all DC. It’s also super nice to be so close to several grocery stores, including Yes! Organic and CVS just a block away, and a bunch of cheap — and really good — eats.
The common areas are great and well taken care of. I work remotely and often see and interact with the cleaning staff during the day and they do a fantastic job and are very nice. The front desk people are also very nice and welcoming as well. I really appreciate the gym which is always clean and has windows which I like. I also really love the yoga studio off the gym and occasionally attend the free yoga classes they have every Tue and Thu.
Of course, the two rooftop decks are amazing, and we always take all of our friends up there. The management staff is great and as I mentioned, while we have had issues (primarily when we moved in) they were extremely quick to fix anything and everything. Since you can’t avoid problems anywhere, I find the reaction of management to those problems more important than the issues themselves. And they were great.
Our unit itself is pretty nice. While I agree with the other reviewers that many of the finishes and appliances are cheap, this is an apartment building, not a condo. I wish they were a bit nicer given the rent we pay, but I know we are primarily paying for the location, space and view. With that, I really enjoy the layout of our unit and since the building was originally supposed to be condos, the floor plans are generally very smart.
I also love our view, of course — we are on the 14^th St side which is full of life and we have an expansive view outside of our balcony windows. We looked at apartments on the Capitol side and while the views were probably even better on that side, we opted to be on the side where you could see what was going on in the neighborhood.
It can be a bit loud at times, however, and while it’s exactly why we like it at this point in our lives, I know many people would not like it all. There are often sirens and construction sounds, but it can also be dead quiet on a Sunday morning. (The Capitol side is much quieter).
With all that said, I do think the rent is pretty exorbitant, and while we really want to stay here since we are tired of moving, if they try to raise it on us next year, we will probably look elsewhere. As far as the water bills, I do think it’s a bit strange how they compute it, but also think the bills seem fair and I don’t have an issue with it. We generally thought of all our bills would be very expensive living here, but they have come well under what we budgeted. Cross my fingers that continues.
Overall, our experience is positive and I am often trying to recruit my friends to move here as well.

This place is for you ONLY if you are one of the following: 1. a 20 something year-​old living with 3 other 20 somethings who really don’t care about quality or value, and who just wants a place to lay your head at night and wow your friends with rooftop parties; or 2. someone whose employer has sent you to Washington for a short term and is paying for your accommodations, and therefore you have nothing invested in the transaction. If you do not come from one of these two camps, DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY WITH VIEW 14.
Let’s start with the few things that are good. For those of you who like fresh and new, it is definitely that. And like the name implies, there are some great views (but only from select apartments). In fact, I would go so far as to say that I and my neighbors have one of the most unique views of Washington. Finally, the cleaning staff does a great job of keeping the building clean and will perhaps be able to preserve that new look and feel.
And now:
The steak sizzles when they bring it out, and it smells really good. But when you cut into it, you immediately get the sense of low quality. And when you bite into it… Oh my! Any of you ever had that experience at a high end steak house? That’s been my experience for a year with View 14. And I’m not alone (see the other reviews on this site).
This building was originally supposed to be a Condo. Then the market tanked. So if you were a developer who sank millions into a project and someone or something pulls the rug out from you, what would you do? You might try to salvage your investment, and then try to parlay it… right? I can’t blame you for that. BUT that means going on the cheap on things like – in this case – the floors (Faux wood, with glued on base boards that come up at the slightest touch) and the appliances (cheap dishwasher that doesn’t clean and dry dishes; and small, weak W/​D). So what does this mean for the end user? It leads to one problem after another. Can you say CHEAP? Yet, the building is billed as luxury and you will be (if you disregard these reviews) expected to pay top dollar to live here. That is in the form of high rents, an amenity fee ($ 500 PER YEAR) and hidden fees such as the suspect sub-​metering system for HVAC. So you are paying PEPCO, PLUS some phantom HVAC fee. Most disturbing: For three months, many of us were lucky to get hot water. How does that happen in a brand new building? On top of all of this, they raised my and many other’s rent by 10%. And this does not include the concessions I got when I moved in.
If you are seduced by the so-​called «private decks» on the top floor (as I was) and you rent a penthouse apartment, I am here to tell you that THEY ARE NOT PRIVATE. You will be subject to random strangers traipsing across your deck whenever they feel like it, and a management staff that does nothing substantive about it. In my case, this resulted in damaged patio furniture.
I won’t go into detail about my bad experiences with the management staff of this building (only because I don’t get enough characters to do that). I would say look at the other reviews on this site to get a sense of that. And I will say that the so-​called concierge staffs – who actually are nothing more than desk attendants who would rather attend to their computer screens than to your needs – are poorly trained and ever changing. It’s a literal revolving door. I blame the management company for this (Bozzuto). Lesson: never rent where there is a third party management company, as opposed to a building that is owned and managed by the same company. NOTE: this relationship is soon changing here as the building is being sold and the leading bidder is (I’m told) an experienced national owner and manager of many buildings across the country. So maybe things might get better.
The one bright spot is a single staff member. Grace: you are the best. I hope the new owners recognize what they have in you and treat you right. Even better, I wish I could take you with me to my new digs because you deserve better than View 14. And potential renters… so do you.
If I could give it a half star I would

Tawdry Luxury at a «Market Rate»
First of all, I must admit that this is mostly a nice building. However, it is not good value considering the location: somewhat dodgy at night, lacking retail and food in the immediate vicinity, 7 blocks from the nearest metro, construction going on all around that commences at 7am.
Building management tries to charge what they call the «market rate for your unit,» which is amusing, because by definition the market rate would be the price at which the renter is willing to pay. And considering that a significant portion of the units in the building are not rented, building management has a screwy notion of what establishes a «market rate.» Also, I am quite confident that most (if not all) tenants in the building below the penthouse levels pay below the so-​called «market rate» through promotions, such as 2-​months free rent or some free iPads that are constantly offered as incentives to sign a lease. If I were you, I would never pay the so-​called «market rate.» You don’t have to, and it’s a rip off.
That being said, here are some pros and cons.
Pros:
– Swanky, modern look and feel
– Great gym compared to what other apartment buildings offer (though not great in comparison to WSC, Results, and other membership gyms)
– Multiple roof top decks with spectacular views of the District and stocked with nice propane grills
– Friendly and helpful building staff
Cons:
– Water and so-​called «HVAC» are billed by a company called Studebaker Submetering. In my 2-​bedroom unit, they bill us between $ 150 and $ 175 per month for these services. This is on top of other utilities, such as Pepco. Given that our Pepco bill is highly correlated with our heating and AC usage, I would classify the Studebaker Submetering bill as a hidden fee. I honestly cannot tell you what we get for it.
– Appliances and materials used in the units are cheap! My theory is that during the late construction phase, when they decided to rent the building out as apartments rather than sell them as condos, they started using the cheapest materials possible. Our washing machine has already broke at some point. Everything else feels cheap.
– At nearly $ 200 per month, parking costs approximately the same as in an office building downtown.
– The units have literally no extra storage space. Hopefully your parents live nearby, or be prepared to pony up for a storage unit!
– The «market rate» that the leasing agents try to use as a bargaining chip to convince you that you are getting a good deal.
The bottom line varies depending on 3 categories of prospective tenants (I hope you’ve read Too Big To Fail)
(1) If you can afford to piss money away at this stage in your life, couldn’t care less about value, and are looking only for the «Pros» listed above while overlooking each and every «Con» (Think Lehman Brothers or AIG), this might be the place for you. (Though there are other places in this price range down in Logan Circle, a vastly superior location.)
(2) If you are a rational consumer and understand what you get for the price you pay (Think Warren Buffett), run and don’t look back.
(3) If you fall somewhere in between and can bundle your lease with some of the potentially juicy incentives (Think JPMorgan), come take the tour and sleep on it.

View 14 is a beautiful building in a great location with stunning apartments and amenities. I lived there for 8 months after it first opened. The gym, theater, lounge, computer lab and roofdecks are amazing (beyond amazing), and all of the apartments are sleek and modern. The staff is friendly, professional and responsive, and they often organize activities in the building that are fun.
For the most part, you get what you pay for (and you will pay quite a bit to live here). The only downside is that some of the materials used in the apartments are cheap — the wood flooring is thin and bows in some areas when stepped on; the doors are thin and aren’t good sound barriers; and the air filters are cheap, so you’ll want to upgrade them yourself. But the countertops, appliances, bathrooms, etc. are solid and luxurious.
Overall, I was very happy with my experience living in View 14. I’d emphasize the staff – they were great people to work with and helped make living in the building a pleasure.

We had to LOL at the first overly positive posting on Unilocal regarding View14. We have lived here a almost a year and look forward to moving out ASAP. The most recent horrible event is … the building doesn’t have enough hot water for all the apartments in the morning anymore. Management sent a note that they need «weeks to fix it» :(We have lived in LA, NY and SF and NEVER heard this one before. Given the stupid pricing for a rental (shame on us), I urge you to think twice and then twice again before you live in this house of horrors. Looks can be very deceiving …

What can I say? The building is beautiful. It’s in a great location, there’s a very adequate gym, covered parking, it feels secure, okay roof decks and it’s generally pretty clean, the concierge staff are super friendly and helpful … but it is expensive.
Rents might seem like market rate, but then you have to add parking at $ 250 a month, storage (if you need it) around another $ 100 to $ 150, unless you trust someone in the building enough to share it. Then, add in the fact that amenities cost another $ 500 a year — every year. But wait, we’re not done — utilities are billed on a ratio system. So you don’t pay for what you actually use, but you pay for what their billing provider thinks you used, based on the size of your apartment, the number of people in it, and the total amount of utilities used, either per floor or per building (they won’t tell us). They charge almost twice as much per water than the local water company and the most expensive utility fee is something they call HVAC, which is very strange because no one can explain what it is and because the heating and air conditioning units are in the apartment hooked to the electric (which comes from Pepco) and using them effects your electric bill.
Now that the building is at capacity, a lot — a lot of residents have complained about hot water being in limited supply in the mornings.
It seems the property managers don’t really care about your problems once they’ve got you locked into a lease. And, if you’re considering this place, ask a lot of questions and get everything — I mean EVERYTHING — they say in writing. For instance, they told use before we moved in that the utilities were submetered (we didn’t want to deal with the ratio system because we’d seen it before it’s a complete scam) which, after we moved in and got our first bill, realized it wasn’t. We moved in about two weeks after our lease actually started. Our first utility bill covered those two weeks and we were charged for using 3000 gallons of water over that period, and the apartment was still vacant.
My advice, if you’re the kind who won’t let a landlord walk all over you, then check this place out. Otherwise, wait until the building’s owners hire a new management company.
UPDATE: We were offered a renewal on our lease recently. It was quite a significant increase over what we’d been paying. Then, we noticed our exact floor plan, four foor higher in the building (better view) advertised on Craigslist for the exact same amount we’re paying now. Hot water issue was sort of, but it took several months of waiting until 3 in the afternoon to shower. Weekends, still no hot water in the morning.

We got the grand tour of View 14 Apartments during a Meridian Hill Neighborhood Association. This building is magnificent. It was originally built as a 185-​unit condominium building selling units from the high $ 400s to penthouses priced at well over a million. In early 2007, the realities of the real estate market hit the developer and they had to convert the building to luxury rentals, managed now by Bozzuto, the developer of The Fedora Condominiums scantly a block away. Still, we were informed that their deal with the city allows them to reconvert the building back to condos without the abhorrent red tape inherent in condo conversions in the District of Columbia. Good on them.
The building is a welcome addition to a rapidly gentrifying area just to the North of U Streets and populated by a diverse group of people generally on the upper income brackets. It is three blocks from the Metro, one block from the new Lofts and Row at 14^th that hosts a new CVS, the organic Yes! Market, and one more block to the Busboys and Poets restaurant.
The place is complete. First of all, it is totally pet friendly, which gives it an automatic plus in my book. Then it has amenities out the ying yang. A huge party and community room. Incredible views from the rooftop common areas. Electricity included. A complete fitness center with equipment not seen in the best gyms. Broadband internet. A business center with top-​of-​the-​line computers for residents. A complete game room. Its own theater. Concierge. Alarm system.
The rents are market rate, ranging from $ 1,700.00 for a studio to almost $ 4,000.00 for a two-​bedroom, two-​bath unit. Most of the units have balconies. The only thing I don’t like is the P.N. Hoffman-​type unfinished ceilings that I despise. Other than that, it is an extremely welcoming place with a business staff well trained in customer service.
View 14 was built in a former totally decrepit area that hosted an infamous car repair shop and huge microwave antennas. Those are happily now gone. And its presence has markedly improved the character of the entire neighborhood. It is a welcome change.