City View Apartments

City View is, without a doubt, the most disgraceful, disorganized apartment complex in Pittsburgh. I, like many others, was duped into moving here by the idea of a convenient location. Within days, I recognized what a hellish space City View is, and suffered here through 2020-2021.

This building is unmaintained and almost derelict. Amenities were routinely marked out of order, machines at the gym were often in disrepair, the tennis courts and volleyball area were crumbling to pieces, and laundry units flooded and broke (and had hair and lint everywhere) on a daily basis. Trash was strewn all over the property. I've seen residents' discarded pants and underwear, rotten food, cigarette butts, needles and broken bottles all over the area, and the covered garage reeks of garbage. Cockroaches infiltrated this building, from the laundry room to the lobby, and seeped into my apartment from various unpatched holes and pipes discovered. There are 4 elevators spread between 23 floors; 1-2 of them were regularly out, resulting in ridiculously long wait times and feeling trapped on your floor. In addition, water would be cut off regularly, leaving you without showers or hydration 1-2 times monthly. Heat/AC operate at the owner's discretion: once they decide to switch over, we had no access to the other. This leaves all residents without heat during the first few weeks of winter and without AC during the first few weeks in summer, and an inability to switch back and forth if the weather is unpredictable.

When touring, sales and management pitched the idea of comfort and security: the view is nice, but our proximity to unsafe areas left security lacking, and resulted in hallway neighbors who behaved classlessly. I personally saw residents sneaking 10 of their friends to the pool (exceeding the guest limit), partying with glass bottles in the open, and throwing up in the pool. I personally had to live next to a neighbor/wannabe porn star, who would shriek- I kid you not- numerous times a day, which echoed down the entire floor hallway and through the walls. I also had to live next to a neighbor who dealt drugs, bringing strangers into the building, then getting into violent altercations in her apartment and into the hallway, screaming for everyone to hear and creating an unsafe environment for existing residents (which reception let in and did nothing about, though I reported her constantly). Neighbors smoke often (which is NOT advertised), and their marijuana and cigarette smoke seeped into my apartment through the vents and hallway, damaging property and endangering health. It is a very juvenile, inconsiderate environment, with no community, trust, or safety.

Both residents and non-residents leave their cars everywhere, even though we're supposed to have designated spaces. This resulted in people blocking in my car numerous times a month. Management states they will tow cars in that situation, but never did, leaving you stuck until the person who parked their car deigned it important enough to move.

The property manager, Megan, is incompetent, blundering, and spineless- a mouthpiece for Faros- whose sole purpose is to band-aid problems and leech money from residents. She has no contingency plans for emergencies, like when the building lost power, AC, and water for a week and a half in 90 degree weather this past summer. After DAYS, her only response was to offer tepid water in the lobby (think of the elderly or pregnant women trying to make it down and up 19+ flights of stairs). She had the audacity to still charge residents hundreds of dollars that month for usage, even though we had no access. Her inability to even handle simple building issues, in terms of maintenance and community, leaves her completely unfit for this role. I will be reporting her and this building to the PA Department of Health.

If you have any standards or self-respect, this is not the building for you. I regret ever living here, and am elated I'll never have to step foot near it again. I hope this review is beneficial as a warning to others.

I lived in City View from 2013 to 2020. During that time, the building was remodeled, and staff members changed, so my review will focus on my recent experiences.

Location - The neighborhood was very convenient for walking to restaurants, office buildings, and PPG Paints arena. The inner city has crime, but I was never victimized.

Apartments - My first apartment had painted metal cabinets, painted laminate countertops, and plastic floors. After several years, I moved into another apartment that had newer composite cabinets and carpeting. In both apartments, my windows were almost floor-to-ceiling and opened on the bottom. For showers, I had hot water, and the water pressure was strong. I usually could not hear my neighbors through the walls, but I did sometimes smell strong odors. According to the leases, residents are allowed to smoke tobacco but not marijuana in the building.

Common areas - The lobby, gym, community laundry room, and garage were remodeled and were in good condition. The property also had a swimming pool and tennis court. The three elevators were small, but experienced movers could fit a couch or other large furniture into the elevators. You just want to be sure to measure any furniture before buying it. The elevators, which the elevator repairperson told me are from the 1960s, sometimes had long wait times.

Front desk - At the front desk, a few employees did not say hello and refused to do their work. Many other employees were courteous and helpful, and I greatly appreciate that they accepted, stored, and retrieved my packages. In particular, Gene always provided top-notch customer service.

Maintenance - When I put in maintenance requests, the maintenance staff usually completed the work within a couple of hours. Bruce and Henry were very polite and skilled.

Housekeeping/cleaning - Gwen and her cleaners kept the common areas of the building clean.

Front office - Rent and the parking fees were fairly reasonable for being in the city. My rent for my first one-bedroom apartment was actually similar to my rent for my latter two-bedroom apartment, because they were on different floors. Utilities were charged separately and were paid to a company called Minol. Various lease lengths--from a few months to over a year--were available. Tenants were allowed to have up to two pets if they submitted pet security deposits and a monthly pet rent. The office staff accidentally misplaced some of my husband's rent checks as well as our keys when we moved to the other apartment, but the staff did not charge us any extra money. During our last year there, we were house-hunting, and we did not know how long of a lease to sign. When we finally found a house to buy, the assistant property manager kindly allowed us to pay a few thousand dollars for a lease buyout. We feel very thankful for that flexibility.

Move-out - The end of our apartment lease was Thanksgiving Eve, so I arranged in advance to drop off my keys, fobs, and parking pass early. The only employee in the office was a leasing consultant, and she angrily yelled when I asked her to take my keys. A few weeks after my lease ended, the leasing office mailed me a check for my security deposit. I had left my apartment in clean and good condition. They deducted money only for cleaning the carpet, which I had previously told them to do, and for $200 in utilities.

First, all the reviews are before 2017, I came here in Dec 2017 and I was told that the management has been changed because of the bad reviews, so I can't confirm or deny the previous testimonies. But I can say about my experience till now (still living), I have many reasons to like them and few comments.
Pros:
They showed us the exact apartment that we wanted for our lease
Multiple lease options from monthly to 15 months lease,
Great and clean lobby,
Safe and secure delivery system for your packages,
Pet friendly,
Swimig pool,
Tennis courts
Beach Volleyball area,
Billiard pool,
Great kitchen in the lobby, you can have many guests and still be happy and satisfied with your party with no extra charge,
Good gym as in the pictures
I like the staff, they respond fast
Close to downtown and market square (20 min walk)
PPG arena is next to you
Nice view,
Multiple bus options around the building.

Cons:
0- the flats on the north sides are not good, warmer than others in the summer and colder in the winter. The colder times are tolerable and even unnoticeable since they have HVAC near the windows which makes the room temperature very pleasant even without turning on the heater but in summer, the Sun is directly shining over the windows and even if it is not hot outside and even if you have full blades cover the windows, you feel hot inside and need to turn on the AC.
1-Very vert expensive parking with limited options and very narrow slots! Really narrow!
2-The grills are not good, they have gas and they are really just warming up the food not cooking It! Unless you close the lid, I mean for steaks or beef and chicken kabobs, they are not good but for burgers they are nice.
3- two month in advance notice to move out.

I LOVE IT here and I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE. I adore walking the pathways every day with my dog. It's magical. The city sounds are amazing while you get your own little park in the middle of it. The floor-to-ceiling windows are really sheik. There is a feeling of kinda "livin' the good life" here and I am really going to miss it. The mail/package service, the ease of ordering food, little sitting areas, cuteness left and right. We have to move for work, but we may come back one day. Couple things that were a little annoying were the elevators taking forever- plan for up to ten extra minutes for elevator time. Minor things in the kitchen that needed fixed. Nothing major at all and the maintenance staff is great. Besides all of that, it's just FUN. I feel happy coming home here. Good bye City View, I really do feel like I'll be back one day. -Shay

I've lived at City View from April 2018-July 2019. I was excited to live in a place that had everything I wanted (close to work, being in the city, parking, pool, gym). Here are some things to keep in mind:
- They do not disclose that there are "smoking friendly" apartments-- meaning you can smell the cigarette smoke in your apartment from others.
- If there was a fire-- good luck surviving. There was a small fire on the 19th floor and the fire alarms went off in the hallway but they aren't connected to the individual room. My roommate slept through the whole building getting evacuated. They test the alarms monthly but I can never hear them from my dead silent apartment.
-if you were dying and needed EMS/medical attention a stretcher can't fit on the elevator.
-maintenance needs to check the HVAC system every 3 months. If you don't answer the door they will let themselves in. You typically can't hear people knock on the door from the bedrooms so multiple times I have woken up (night shift worker) to a maintenance man walking into my room.
- moving in is an absolute pain and if I would've known how bad it was going to be I would've pick somewhere else to live. You can reserve an elevator however- it is so small that my queen bed frame had to be taken apart and my couch wouldn't fit. You must have a sectional couch to get it in the apartments. You also have to carry all of your belongings through the parking garage to get into the elevators. I would suggest if looking to move here ask the staff to show how you will move in-- if you have a lot of stuff get as much help as possible.

The worst management I've ever encountered. the property managers don't know how to run their business properly and they screw over their residents daily. It's micromanaged so no one has real freedom, I would never recommend living here. Overpriced, overlooked, it's absolutely not worth it.

Reading the below reviews now REALLY makes me wish that I had read them myself before moving in.
I started living here in mid-August. The entire process to get approved and generate a lease should have been warning enough that this place was unreliable and disappointing. We spent several months going back and forth with the office - one agent in particular was even caught deceiving us and telling us false information at least twice prior to moving in.
Finally, our move in day arrived, and they are 0% accommodating to anyone struggling to move in or out. The "moving" elevator can fit hardly any furniture in and you are only allowed parking in certain places to unload, even with a literal moving truck.
After moving in, everything seemed decent, with the exception of the forever present smell of Asian cooking in every hallway combined with cigarette smoke + the slow elevators.
That all changed when we noticed the absolutely overwhelming smell of cigarette smoke entering our apartment EVERY SINGLE DAY. We called down and complained to the office multiple times. The complaints were handled so poorly by the agents. They actually had the audacity to send a maintenance worker up with a can of air freshener.....
Oh, and by the way, "smoker friendly" was not disclosed on any tour or in any of the 20 conversations we had with leasing agents. It became so overpowering that the smell of cigarette smoke became embedded in our clothing, bedding, etc. My roommate and I each had our parents even call, and the previous property manager didn't even bother to call back. The maintenance workers were extremely rude as well with the exception of one. Not surprising though, seeing as the maintenance workers here have been on strike twice in the last 6 months.
The water quality is absolutely terrible and it's frequently shut off for a full day at a time. The utilities are not based on personal usage, but are divided among the entire building - again, something pretty important that was never disclosed to us.
All of this is irritating, however, probably the worst part of this was about two weeks ago when ants started crawling out of the wall. We are extremely clean so we knew this was no fault of our own. Per usual, the office acted bothered by the complaint; sent pest control at a totally different time than we were told, and didn't send any type of notice that the pest control employee had entered our apartment.
I have since sent in my letter to terminate my lease. Since the letter has been sent we have been contacted several times by the new property manager and she is actually helpful and kind, but too little too late. She has sent a maintenance employee here every single day to clean out and repair our HVAC. It's helped but it's definitely annoying that for months we were told nothing further could be done about this.
All this is especially irritating when you're paying a large amount of money in rent and parking here.

BOTTOM LINE: Don't live here.

Do absolutely everything you can to live anywhere else but here. It's a racket where they lock you in requiring a 60-day notice to cancel BUT NOT FROM THE DATE YOU CANCEL. It's to the next month so they're basically sucking you in for 3 months rent then charge you a month termination fee (because they never show you the models on the floors you'll deal with and the terrible conditions you deal with). It's 30 days anywhere else. Just a short list of the problems:

-There are people that literally just squat in other peoples' apartments (I'm talking at least 12 to an apartment) who come and go and slam the doors all day and night.

-You can't take the stairs instead of the elevators and there aren't enough elevators to accommodate the demand, so you'll be stuck standing and waiting to get anywhere for a very long time.

-Whatever people are cooking (and smoking) in their apartments permeates the air in the hall and gets into your apartment.

-If it's not the road construction that wakes you up and serves as your background noise, it's the work going on in the building at any given moment

-A lot of the doormen are just incredibly rude

-Prepare to get really uncomfortable as the multitude of ethnicities gawk and stare at you while they carry potent-smelling foods to various floors on the elevators...barefoot.

-If you have a dog, also prepare to have other people make you wait for another elevator because they're scared (including maintenance staff).

-The trash chute also permeates the hall with its distinctive smell of rotting strawberries, all the time

-Really bad insulation on the windows

-The 2 leasing agents gave me a hard time for ACTUALLY reading my lease when I said and told me they would send a copy. It's been 6 months and they still haven't and I'm still waiting on a copy after my 3rd request.

-Don't expect anyone to get back to you with an expediency

-It's an overpriced geriatric facility and/or dormitory. It can be quite confusing.

-The only option for guest parking is an expensive valet option or metered parking on the side streets (where my boyfriend's car got vandalized and broken into b/c you are in the Hill District).

-HILL DISTRICT + NEXT TO CONSOL =really awkward encounters outside and either not coming home during an event at Consol or being a hermit and not leaving.

-Alarms, sirens, and yelling drunk people all night

-AC cuts off on Oct. 1 so you'll get hot boxed in your, as aforementioned, poorly insulated apartment

This is a short list. I will certainly add to it as more irritations arise.

You'd be better off living anywhere but here for any length of time.

I am thinking of possibly moving in here, it's such a great location and it's probably the only thing I can afford right now but the reviews are scaring me lol but I just may have to since I have kids and no choice

My daughter lived at City View (formerly Washington Plaza) for two years while attending college nearby. Overall she enjoyed living there and many of the staff were very nice and accommodating. It was purchased two years ago and renovations have been ongoing. The building has potential but my one-star rating is because of how management (Gould & Co., LLC) mishandled three major costly incidents:

1. My daughter was assigned and paid for a parking spot immediately inside the gate. After returning from a camping trip with her, my husband parked his SUV there and had the doors open to clean out the car. Another tenant opened the electronic gate and it caught the driver's side door, bending it to the tune of $2,800 in damage. The City View insurance company refused to take responsibility so we had to file a personal auto claim and pay the $1,000 deductible (and our renewal premium increased significantly). That gate is a serious safety issue which, to my knowledge, they have not corrected. At a minimum, a guardrail should be installed.

2. Her roommate was legally parked in her assigned (paid) spot and a moving truck hit her car, ripping off the bumper. A police report was filed but again, City View was less that cooperative so a personal auto claim was filed and the family paid the deductible.

3. When you move out, you're given the choice to professionally clean the carpet yourself or pay $150 to use City View's preferred company (our choice). The inspector said they might not even bother to clean it because the apartment may be remodeled. Imagine our surprise when the girls were charged $816 from their security deposit for replacing the dated carpet! No notice. No opportunity for us to try to clean it. This was the ONLY deduction because we left the apartment spotless and have pictures to prove it. This smacks as taking advantage of two college students from out-of-state.

As you can see, the cost of living at City View went way beyond the rent! It's disappointing to say the least. It's a nice building in an up and coming neighborhood but our experience indicates that corporate profit takes precedence over customer service and doing the right thing.