West End 25 Apartments

The building is lovely, however, when you move out they hit you with numerous extra fees. For example, one month after you move out they will claim that there was damage to the carpet and they will charge you with complete replacement of the carpet for the entire apartment. They will no longer have the carpet for you to inspect. If you do not pay the thousands of dollars, they will report you to a credit reporting company to ruin your carpet.
Note that after I moved out, I paid a professional cleaning company to clean the place top to bottom. They also did not notice any stains on the carpet. I paid this company several hundred dollars specifically because the apartment management tacks on numerous move-​out charges for things they claim are not clean (such as the inside of the refrigerator).
To be absolutely clear — the post-​move out charges can amount to several thousand dollars with no recourse to correct or verify the alleged problem on your own.
Also, if you go to a month to month lease, the rent will increase approximately 40 — 50%. For example, a $ 3000 apartment will go to $ 5000.
Finally, like many large buildings, the rent takes a significant increase after the first year. A $ 2400 apartment will increase to $ 3000.
Please do not move in here.

Clean, quiet, safe, and environmentally friendly (but at no expense of luxury). Feels as if you’re in resort in the middle of DC. West End 25 has great access to Georgetown (steps away), DuPont, and Foggy Bottom.
Concierge service is top notch, and Carlos in the leasing office is amazing. Travel for work and have lived in 5 states in the past five years. Proud to call this place home. Truly a gem.

The reviews regarding the leasing/​management office are accurate. However, the concierge staff is awesome. Unless the unit is vacant, most likely you will not be allowed to view the actual unit before signing the lease. Monthly rent fluctuates based on charges for the common areas (approx. $ 65/​mo). A word of warning — should you need to break your lease or want to change units be prepared to pay $$$$. This is a huge source of income for Vornado. I believe there is a little room in negotiating, but perhaps not for everyone. The units are nice, but upgrades are needed to compete in this area’s market. The gym is small, only 2 treadmills for the building. The rooftop seating is nice, the pool is 2ft deep. This used to be an office building before it was converted. Therefore, before selecting a unit, be sure to look out side; is your view of the alley — there will be trash trucks at 5am. The West End of DC is a nice area, and new construction lends hope for new options in the area; perhaps this will initiate some changes at WestEnd25.

They must be very nice apartments. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to rent here. The lack of competency from the leasing team made it impossible for me to either rent or even see a unit. I’ve lived in NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago and have never experienced something like this.
My first attempt was a walk-​in to see one of their available 1BR. I talked to Carlos who seem stressed and flustered because I didn’t have an appointment, even though there was no other potential client but me at that time in property. He told me it was very important to make an appointment and so I did. Late that same day I receive a call from another person in the team telling me they had made a mistake and needed to reschedule the appointment because the office would be closed. I reschedule for the next day in the AM. Once there I’m informed by Carlos that the 1BR was rented yesterday afternoon. 1) How did that happen if the leasing office was closed?, and 2) why didn’t anyone contact me if I had an appointment to see an already rented unit? are questions nobody knew how, or cared to answer. Too much pomp for the quality of service they deliver.
As mentioned, they must be very nice apartments. They lease for themselves, in spite of subpar leasing procedures. These guys wouldn’t last one day in NYC or LA, but in DC, they thrive.

The leasing office and management in this building are horrible. Please avoid. We tried to make appointments with the leasing agents. Very snobby. We left messages with the concierge who totally lost our messages. When we called back, it seemed like we have to leave information all over again. We also tried our chances by just walking in. The agent was so snobby and bad attitude. I will take my business elsewhere.

For the most part, living at West End 25 was a pleasant experience. I enjoyed living in an apartment that seemed brand new and having high end appliances. Coming from New York, it seemed like a dream to have a parking garage connected to the building and I loved how the building is pet friendly, quiet and extremely clean. The location is ideal and I felt safe walking my dog out front at night. The rent seemed extremely inexpensive compared to New York, but maybe not for DC.
That being said, there were a few annoyances that are probably just par for the course when living in an apartment building.
We signed the lease for our unit and were told that we would be able to view the unit in person after the unit became vacant in March. March came and when we reached out to the leasing office, we found out that this was against policy and we weren’t allowed to view the unit. Apparently, the staff member that had told us we would be allowed to see the unit in March no longer worked for the company. Understandably, I wasn’t interested in moving into an apartment which I had never seen in person. It took a lot of begging and pleading with the leasing office for them to allow us to view the unit. It was unnecessarily stressful. This seemed even sillier given we were already living in the building in corporate housing!
As a heads up, the receptionists are merely desk attendants. They are not doormen in the traditional sense. If you have visitors or order delivery, you will have to walk downstairs to meet the visitor. Some are very friendly and they do push a button to let you inside the building and receive packages, but that’s about it.
Before moving out, we were handed a list of items that needed to be cleaned and what the fine would be should we not clean certain areas/​appliances. We are landlords of two rental properties and absolutely planned on hiring someone for a move-​out clean. However, this list kind of unnerved me because if you added up everything up on the list it came to a very large sum of money. For example, not cleaning the inside of the oven was $ 40; X dollars per stain on the carpet (don’t they replace or steam clean carpet after each tenant anyway?). I am a rather paranoid person and I of course worried about not meeting their standards and ending up with some huge fine to fight.
After moving into our unit in March, we went up to the roof deck with our dog. We were the only people up there given it was March. During our tour of the building, I had asked if the roof deck is pet friendly and was told it is. Of course when we were sitting up there drinking wine alone with our quiet dog, one of the staff members was giving someone a tour of the building and when he showed them the roof deck, made sure to come up to us, interrupt and tell us our dog isn’t allowed. We told him he is allowed, we asked. So he went and I suppose spoke to someone about it and then came back upstairs to tell us we are correct. He also told us we shouldn’t allow our dog to urinate on the edge of the building. As in, over the barrier and being at risk of falling off of the side of a tall building. Again, think this is the kind of stuff that you deal with when you live in an apartment building.
We did have to pay a 2 month fee to terminate our lease but it was worth it since we bought a house nearby. I do wish they had only made us pay for the time the apartment was empty as I understand they were techincally earning double rent as a new tenant moved in soon after we left.
Unlike a previous poster, I did not have any issues with noise and we faced the noisy side of the building. I will say that I would not want to live on the front side of the building as there seems to be a complete lack of privacy since you can see into windows across the courtyard.
I also didn’t like the fees that are tacked onto your monthly rent. The landlord should simply raise the rent if it isn’t already taking electricity/​gas into account. This reminds me of when you pay a resort fee at a hotel on top of the hotel rate. It is much easier to simply owe the same amount every month, not rent plus some variable amount for utilities.

The WestEnd25 is a nice building. But beware of the fees you may be charged. I requested a final bill before moving out and paid the final bill. However, after leaving I was charged an additional $ 1,000 fee for something buried deep in the rental agreement that I was not told about when I notified the management office I would like to move out. After living in the building for over 3 years, I feel like the management company was nickel and diming me and in the future I will never do business with Vornado.

A resident for many years, always alert to what’s new and still convinced that WE25 is the best place in town!
Great location, space and people. Convenience, cleanliness and courtesy.
Recently moved within and must respond to the note from Carlo C.:
Carlos was beyond helpful from beginning to end – at first keeping an eye open for new availabilities, then touring many units before finally guiding us through that most strenuous process of getting in once we found the perfect fit. He went out of his way to be available for our every request and question. A true professional and gentleman.

I went to tour this West End 25 today, in addition to several other communities in the area; while I will say that I think the building is gorgeous, the leasing consultant who I spoke with, Carlos, was very poor… like piss poor!
He seemed completely disinterested when speaking with me, had a terrible attitude, and didn’t offer to give me a tour after showing a few floor plans on the monitor, I had to ask him if I could see any similar available units as well as the rest of the community, something no other leasing consultant has done since I began my apartment search.
On the elevator ride up I asked him if he was having a bad day, just to break the awkward silence, he said busy, then nothing. I understand that we all have bad days, but learn to hide them when working or stay home! We rushed through the rest of the tour with him not speaking with me or asking about my interests. I was waiting for some moment of personality or at least a smile but hell would have frozen over first.
I’m a generally happy person and usually like to write good reviews, but I hope management sees this and let’s him know that first impressions are so important! I could never see myself renting an apartment with someone who seems to not want my business.

The best place to live ever!!! I think whoever comments about this place negatively is bitter over something out of the West End’s control, for example, construction across the street. You can’t blame an apartment building and staff for that! That’s nutty! Javier, Angeline, Carlos and the other staff at the West End have become more than staff when my mom lived there. Not only are they accommodating, considerate, and helpful they are awesome people! Let me give you an example– when my mom had surgery, one of apartment managers woke up at 6 am to take my DOG outside for a walk because my mom couldn’t. Anyone else know of a place that would do that willingly for one of their renters? Will miss it so much– working on my degree so I can live here as a rentee!

I moved out in April and I can’t speak highly enough about the staff in this building. They make living here so pleasant and fun (Javier, Carlos, and Angelene, only to name a few, are great and can help with anything you would ever need). The building is also pristinely clean, dog friendly, and the rooftop offers incredible Georgetown views that you won’t find anywhere else. Erika and others were instrumental in making the move-​out process as painless as possible.
One thing: If you are contemplating a unit on the north side of the building, make sure you are away from the dumpsters. Every morning between 7 and 8 a.m. (sometimes earlier) several garbage trucks come and bang around dumpsters outside in the alley. It is much louder than you would ever imagine and will absolutely wake you up in the morning.
Overall, the building is pristine and full of great people, however, like other reviewers note, there are a few environmental factors occurring outside of the building that may bother you.

Westend 25 is an amazing place to live in large part because of the concierge services! Angeline is extraordinary because of her joyous approach to serving resident needs. She is always friendly and willing to help. She understands the needs of residents and is quick to address them. Her creative problem solving skills, her fluid relationship with the management and maintenance, and her knowledge of of the DC and surrounding areas is excellent.

I’m a current resident and I have lived here for over a year. The best part about the building is the cleanliness/​newness and the location. In Georgetown it is hard to find a building as new with such close proximity to M street shops.
The building is quiet for the most part and if you have a dog this is definitely the place to be. It’s right across from the only dog park in the area which is very convenient. If you don’t like dogs, this isn’t the place for you.
The biggest negative of the building is the constant maintenance that is being done. There have been several occasions where staff have entered my apartment unannounced. There also seems to be an email every week telling us they will be fixing certain parts of the building and we either need to move our cars or something along those lines… Another negative is the rent increase each year. It is already EXTREMELY expensive to live here.
That being said there are many positives which outshine the negatives. The front desk staff and leasing office staff are very friendly and helpful with most things. I always get an email notification when receiving a package and the 24 hour concierge service is very helpful. The building also offers valet dry cleaning. The gym is small, but has all the basics, same with the roof top pool.
Age wise I would recommend this to anyone from young professionals to families. If you are in undergrad I would say definitely do not stay here. Even though this place is very expensive, you pay for what you get. Location, cleanliness and service.

We’ve been living here for a couple months and I really don’t have much to complain about.
The building is very well built, I rarely hear any neighbors’ noise from above and definitely never hear anything from beside, I really love that. I love that it’s an über-​dog friendly building… I think there might be more dogs living here than humans, and the staff are oustanding, from the concierge helping with any deliveries to management who have been very responsive and diligent with any issues or emails.
This building is definitely one of the most expensive in the city I would think, but you get what you pay for. I looked at various other buildings in this neighborhood of West End, and was disappointed with a lot of the cheap finishes in the other buildings’s bathrooms, flooring and kitchens.
Almost everyone who lives here is a professional; polite and courteous to eachother in passing. I think the only thing I would change are the kitchens. They are far too high up for the average person (you need a step ladder to reach the 2^nd shelf) and the kitchens don’t have flexible storage such as baskets, pull-​outs etc which I would have come to expect in this luxury building. This has made us eat out more nights than we would like because the kitchens are disfunctional.
I would recommend to anyone except young students.

I am a current resident and I hope these reviews can be a wake up call to the property owner /​management.
The building is modern, sleek, well located, many amenities and the staff are friendly. However, as nice as it appears from the outside, most of the units are small with little privacy as the windows either looking into the office buildings across the alleys or into neighbors. For a new building, there had been many technical issues — water leak, elevator & garage doors malfunctioning, etc.
I agree with the previous comments — be aware of whom you are dealing with. The property’s leasing system is soviet and asymmetrical to your disadvantage. Once you signed up for an one-​year lease, you have surrendered yourself to the hostage of unknown fees, charges and SPECTACULAR rent hike for the next year lease. Granted that most of the managed residential properties do this, but the degree to and the manner in which WestEnd25 handles this are repelling to many of the current residents.
So if you are looking for stability and peace of mind, do look somewhere else. There are many less offensive options out there in the neighborhood. For managed residential buildings, Westbrook is a much friendlier building, and for private rentals, you have the Atlas next door which is even closer to Trader Joe or the Metropolitan two blocks away. However, if the appearance, arrogance and unfairness are what you are up for, then welcome to WestEnd25.