Barbara Worth

Reviews

• CC

  cee cee

  Mar 31, 2025
  1.0
  from the outside, the barbara worth looks charming. the ivy, the architectural arches, the inlaid bookcases; they all look charming. looking at it is one thing. living at the BW is not so charming. it is riddled with serious flaws that bear further examination. BW is part of the lotus complex of five buildings (lotus, BW, republics I & II, and cityline) on a single block. i cannot emphasize this strenuously enough: the owners need to stop building incredibly cheap (yet very expensive) apartment buildings and fix their current properties because they are falling apart. the boiler at BW has been on the fritz and mostly offline for years. it gets worse every year; culminating in complete failure this year. management & ownership are both full of platitudes (if not outright lies) about how they are “doing their best” and how awesome it is that tenants are saving so much money on gas*. well, of course we don’t pay as much in gas. we don’t have heat. what we do have are space heaters (albeit provided by management) and our electric bills are soaring. management has made it clear that they will not reimburse us our for any portion of our electric bills. furthermore , the building’s power supply is completely inadequate to begin with. that it is now being overloaded with increased electricity consumption has been the reason for more than one blown fuse. three words: Fit Premise Act. they have breached (and breached and breached) the implied warranty of habitability at every turn. stoves don’t work, water doesn’t drain, and apparently, the refrigerators are for show only. they are unabashedly violating the law and apparently they do so with impunity because complaints are never addressed. the owners’ response to tenants’ concerns (about the boiler specifically) is to pout, whine & complain that fixing things (like the boiler) is *really* expensive and inconvenient. *utilities (water, sewage, trash, gas) are paid by the tenant…and they are NOT part of rent. none of the utilities are metered. amounts charged are therefore un~auditable, and they have no record of how they determine the amounts charged for utilities. their process is arbitrary at best. tenants are charged a “common area maintenance fee.” the CAM fee goes up every month and yet no discernible additional services are provided. be prepared for an at least $200 utility bill (on top of rent) every month. all that is just in the winter months. unless you get lucky on an apartment that already has an A/C unit, you will not have air conditioning in the summer. there are only two maintenance professionals who are tasked with care of all five properties. they are as diligent as possible, but they are limited by the pressing needs of dilapidated buildings and not enough staff to cope. living at a lotus property, specifically BW, is not worth the exorbitant rent + utilities for lousy conditions. one more thing: when you move out, they will make capital improvements and charge you to finance them. i’m retaining a very good lawyer). maybe they’ll pick up the phone and be reasonable.
• MM

  Mark Milligan

  May 7, 2021
  1.0
  Read your lease carefully. You will find lots of hidden charges. When you move out, you will be charged for painting and cleaning, regardless of condition or how long you lived there. Whatever the claimed rent, you will pay significantly more. Want to move out? You will be required to give a two month notice, plus give notice within the first five days of the month, so plan to give a three month notice. If you wait till your lease is nearly up to give notice, you will be charged hundreds of dollars extra per month for a month to month lease. A light fixture fell from the ceiling and broke. This was reported but never fixed. It's a shame because the apartments are very charming.
• WS

  Wesley Sanders

  Jan 7, 2021
  5.0
  Excellent managerial and maintenance staff! The apartments are nice, quiet, and located in a great downtown location.
• CP

  Cate Price

  May 13, 2020
  5.0
  So far, so good! We moved in a short time ago and the process was made super simple and easy by TJ who addressed our concerns in a timely and professional manner. The building itself is old, so it has its quirks, but it's incredibly charming and just what we were looking for.