Howdy.

 

I'm moving into Bridgeview this weekend, and I wanted to hear thoughts on the place from those of you (if any) that live there.  It's, obviously, too late to back out, but I'd like to hear good and bad, so that I can look forward to the good and be wary of the bad as the year goes by.  I'm pretty stoked about the whole thing, but I had a tiff with them today about hooking up TV and internet.  I don't want that to be the first of many.

 

Anyway, lay it on me.

 

:)

Where are you moving from?

I'm moving from Concord.

Hi Ipsilon!  I will be moving into the Bridgeview May 26th and I have to say that I'm blown away by the place (so far).  I obviously don't live there yet, but if you ever have any problems just call Sandra in the leasing office and she'll help you out with the move-in.  If you don't mind me asking, what floor are you going to be on?  I'm sure we'll have that awkward moment where someone needs to hold the elevator, but we're strangers living in the same building so we won't have anything else to say to eachother, yet we will have had this online conversation over a month earlier.  Or not.  But, it seems like a great apartment in a great neighborhood, and I'm jealous that you're getting there first.  Good luck.

I'm moving from Concord.

 

Welcome to the city from the sticks!! I moved 15 years ago from Geauga County into the city (Lakewood's Gold Coast via Berea), and I never looked back.

Today is my last day in the Bingham (moving two blocks east) but in general the two building have the same type of atmosphere. Its great, and if you have the need, there are plenty of opportunities to meet people and have fun right in the community (the building). If you like to party you are in the right place, plenty to do just a 30 second walk from the front door.

 

One warning as you move in: check out the parking spot they try to give you. I looked to rent in Bridgeview and some spots are extremely awkward to reach. For example, you have to do a 270 degree turn in a tight space. Or, you might have to use 2 elevators to get to your floor, or you might have to climb extra stairs, etc. Walk back and forth from your unit to you parking space and back. Remember you will not have the fancy keychain the person showing you around has, so there are a couple of doors you can't go through.

I lived in Bridgeview when if first opened (in fact the final phase was still under construction).  I lived there for two years and moved out about six years ago and was generally pleased with the experience and loved my apartment (a one bedroom two story loft).  The Flats were stilling going strong then so noise was a factor late on Friday and Saturday night but it might have been the location of my apartment right on the street of the St. Clair hill (maybe other apartments were not affected so much) and of course the Flats are not what they use to be.

 

Obviously, given the time lag, I cannot comment on current management but I did not have many problems with them back then.

 

As far as parking is concerned, I was pleased with the location of my spot.  It was only 20 feet from my front door.  The problem I had was with the posts throughtout the garage.  No matter how careful I was I always seemed to be scraping up against one of the them.  The wooden posts were not so bad but the stone posts obviously did a lot of damage.  By the time I moved out my car was a mess.  My only word of caution.

 

Have fun living downtown.

The property manager is a friend of mine. If he gives you any lip, you come to me ;-)

 

As an aside, he took me on a tour of the place a couple months ago. The lobby is nothing short of jaw-dropping. I had no idea the building was as big as it was, or that there were units as big as they have (one is over 2000sf).

 

It's a great building, in a fantastic location.

Thanks, everyone.  The move went smoothly, and so far so good.  I'm in a two-bedroom loft, and the upstairs got really hot on Friday (when it hit 82 degrees), so I foresee that being a problem come August.  But, we'll see. 

 

Htsguy, it sounds like you lived in my exact unit, or close to it, at some point.  I'm on the St. Clair hill side, directly across from Crittenden.

 

Mr. Griffin, I'm on the second floor.  I'm sure we'll run into each other at some point.

 

goteenb, I'm parking in the Crittenden lot, which, if I park in the right spaces, is not too far from the access door to my side of the building.  All said and done, it's not any farther from-car-to-door at this place than it was at my old place.

 

We walked to Panini's on Sunday for lunch and I walked next door to grab some milk yesterday morning.  It was pretty awesome.

 

Where's this place been all my life? :)

There is no A/C?

There is no A/C?

 

I was thinking the same thing or can you buy a window unit?

^Each apartment has separate central air unless things have changed a lot the past 6 years.

 

Ipsilon, my unit was directly across from the front door of Crittenden Court.  I believe my en trace was on the third floor (the floor where the loft bedroom was located-only one bedroom) with the main living downstairs and  partially below street level (about three feet).  Since the living room windows were basically right at street level on St. Clair, people (young drunken guys) loved pounding on them (really not so often).  Only time it was really a problem was when I was sitting on my couch, which was right below the windows, reading or watching TV (or even worse sound asleep), and the sudden pounding would scare the hell out of me.  Urban living.  But again, really enjoyed the building and my apartment, especially all the exposed brick.

Sounds like you were right above where we are now.  Small world... :)

 

There is air conditioning, but I foresaw a problem similar to my parents' house.  Inspite of the air conditioning, the upstairs gets blazing hot in the summer.  If the rooms' doors were closed and ceiling fans were on, it would be decent, but not great (in that it the fans would kick around the cool air from the vent).

 

I was worried the same thing would happen at my Bridgeview place.  There aren't any ceiling fans in the bedrooms, so the technique I mentioned wouldn't neccessarily work.

 

If it's nice out, we can open the windows downstairs, but there's no way for that nice air to get upstairs.  My roommate had the idea to block off the vents downstairs, thinking that would help... and it seems to do the trick.  The real test is yet to come, though.