The only thing luxurious about The Opal is the price! (Granted it is new.) Management is forgetful, incompetent, and has the attitude you should be grateful to live there. Maintenance is slow and lazy. The building materials and appliances are the typical, sub-standard stuff used during the later part of the recent building boom. The drywall/sheetrock can not hold wall hangings - I even used the heavy duty stuff from Home Depot. And good luck trying to find a stud to nail into! As soon as the newness fades, it is just another regular apt bldg, but with an attitude, exorbinant price, and crappy old appliances! Elevators are frequently out of service. Most tenants are nice. But people do not clean up after their dogs. Kids run around screaming in the lobby during the day. Sometimes with parents/nannies sitting there ignoring them. Teens hang out loudly in the lobby at night. And the neighborhood and other apt complexes on the next block are something to beware of. Don't walk late at night or early in the morning! Date posted: 7/16/2009 \r
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UPDATE:\r
I moved out shortly after that post. Recently, I was in the neighborhood and stopped by, saw a tenant I knew back in the day and struck up a conversation. The building continues to deteriorate. Management spackles, paints, cleans, etc. the lobby extensively, but that's it. They laid off good staff and hired cheaper temps. Elevators are left broken for weeks. The stairwells are crumby - moldy/peeling sheetrock from last autumn's heavy storms. Playground with broken swings and splintering wood. Exterior property lights broken leaving many dark spots that could be unsafe. Parking garage floods. And Yelena in the leasing office wants to jack up everyone's rent. It does not make sense to have the same person do new leases and lease renewals. She makes her commission on new leases, so it is no surprise that she wants higher turnover. The property manager spends most of his time at the Jamica building. There have been 4 assistant property managers since 2007 and all were incompetent. Tenant doesn't even know if there is a new assistant property manager or not. They flip apartments by resurfacing old appliances with aluminum and call it ""new stainless steel."" And the lease rent that they quote is the ""preferred rent"" which means that it is discounted, but the lease document actually has an official rent double that. This allows them to raise the rent you pay (""preferred rent"") as high as they want upon renewal, up to the official contract rent. Once in, they got you and screw you with high prices and poor quality.\r
At least, the lobby is nice and the front yard is landscaped! But that's it!\r
Beauty is only skin deep...\r
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