We lived in a 1300+ sq ft 2 bedroom apartment for four years, starting just before our first child was born and until the second was almost a year old. It was a wonderful experience, in large part because of the terrific management and staff.
The first day there I met Sean in the hallway and, because he had a maintenance cart, I asked him how to get burnt out lightbulbs replaced. He said "You need a lightbulb? I'll put one in now." in a very friendly tone with a smile. That's how the staff are! Sean and his partner Dawit show up immediately to solve any problem....the best you will ever find: fortunately, because the only weak point of 2001 Clarendon (a high end luxury building), is that corners were cut in constructing it about 6 years ago. We had problems with our washer/dryer and I mentioned it to the assistant manger/leasing agent, Petra (the most professional leasing agent you will ever find) and Dawit came around to tell me we would be getting a new top of the line Samsung washer and dryer. When I experienced problem with the dishwasher, Sean told me they had ordered a new one and soon it showed up!
Let's talk about the concierges at 2001 for a moment. When we got there it was Melissa weekdays days and Yemi weekdays evenings. These two women knew everything! always with a smile.Melissa was the heart and soul of 2001. The kids loved, her, the moms loved her and she loved the residents. Our apartment was vacant for a time before we moved in and our lease started.I showed up one day and asked Melissa if I could measure rooms for our furniture. She said "Sure...here's the key-you know where it is." Yemi, a young woman from Ethiopia worked evenings because she was doing a degree in civil engineering. She was absolutely fantastic in all respects and the friendliest person you could imagine. Daniel worked weekends and now works weekdays. Let me tell you what we think of this man: when the time came to deliver our second baby Daniel drove to the hospital (Johns Hopkins Baltimore) and stayed with our boy while I was was in the delivery room because our son felt comfortable with Daniel. Daniel is a lifelong family friend. Well, Melissa left to take a job as a leasing agent and Yemi became a civil engineer, and then covid hit. Now it is Daniel who runs the front with help from the managers, leasing agents and maintenance staff....doing a great job under difficult circumstances.
When we arrived at 2001 Elizabeth was the manager-what a great manager! Because she had hired the world's best leasing agent, Petra, fantastic concierges and the maintenance team, you did not see much of Elizabeth.When she left to return to her home country, Glenn became manager and continues to this day-he has maintained the tradition of excellence across the board. We had to leave before the 4th year of our lease term ended because of covid-the apartment was perfect for two small children and us, but when my wife started working from home and all of the children's activities in Arlington were cancelled it was too cramped for the four of us 24/7. Glenn worked with us to find a solution: we found a new place with an overlapping lease term, vacated the apartment and restored it to original condition, and a new tenant moved in almost immediately so that all parties emerged with minimum financial hardship.
I am not inexperienced as a tenant and have lived in buildings in Arlington, DC and New York. I also have experience as a professional investor in multifamily residential property. I have not seen better management in the business. We had lived in a B F Saul property (Lyon Place in Clarendon) and had seriously moving to Kennedy-Warren on Massachusetts Avenue or Waycroft in Ballston because Saul is also a fine residential property manger, but no others can compete. We do our diligence, and visit many high end properties. Before moving to 2001 Clarendon we visited three times to check it out.