Parkway House Apartments

Overall, I've been pretty happy with Parkway. Lots of pros and cons like any building. The rent is high, but I'm getting some nice value out of it. I will likely be moving this summer, though.

Pros:
-Nice gym - they recently remodeled it (it was atrocious before last year), and it includes the basics plus several machines, table tennis, pool table.
-Location is great - not convenient if you need to take the subway, but the bus comes in front of the building, bike station across the street, and 20 min walk to 30th St./25 min walk to the heart of CC.
-Floors and ceilings - high ceilings and no carpeting. ++ in my book.
-Safe, fairly secure, nice door people.

Cons:
-Management. They're nice enough, but my god, it can take forever to get anything done. I was without a fridge for nearly two weeks and had to use an empty apt fridge down the hall. I also froze because my heat wasn't turned on (in JANUARY), and it took two days and three calls. It's stuff like that, which gets annoying. And it's a revolving door of management assigned to our building.
-Pipes. So old. I've had my bathroom sink fixed a dozen times in two years, and it still gets plugged up (I'm a guy with very little hair - so it's not me). And they shut the water off all the time.
-Mice. Yes, there are mice in the building; it's an old building, so it's understandable. I've only seen one in two years, and their response was really old traps with peanut butter.
-Laundry room is an oven. Oh, but they thought they should put in a 60 LCD TV that doesn't work instead of a fan.
-Tiny kitchen. At least, mine is tiny. You have to get very creative with counter space, and I had to buy an island at Ikea because I didn't have one drawer.

Mixed:
-Parking. Yes, there's a garage, but it's like nearly $200 a month. There's free parking in front of the building as well as for several blocks on Pennsylvania; it's just a hunt and park situation. Usually, it doesn't take longer than 10 mins to find something, but I've had a few times when it's taken 30-40 mins to find a parking spot.

I chose to live at the parkway house because I loved the location (still do!) and the size of the apartment for the rent I am paying. I have had a few maintenance issues, which for the most part have been handled. When I first moved in the floor in my bedroom had a bunch of wood ripped up which took them 3 months to repair, but the new property manager at the time had it fixed promptly upon her starting. The new property manager who started in December seems like a great guy!

Problems I have with the building:
- The gym and laundry room in the summer are unbearably HOT, to the point I have almost fainted doing laundry.
- I have mice. I understand its an old building in a city, however I feel like they could do a better job plugging up the holes and closing up the open spaces under the kitchen counter. I never leave food out however that did not seem to make a difference.
- Philadelphia Housing Authority legally requires buildings to make sure tenants are "capable of maintaining a room temperature of 68 degrees F in all habitable rooms and bathroom" after October 1st. Well, after October 1st there were a few days when it was 56 degrees in my apartment, I complained to the property manager at the time who basically told me to f*** off and that the heat would not be turned on until October 15th.
- My key doesn't really fit in my door so it takes me a while to open my lock everyday, something I have asked maintenance to fix but have been ignored.
- The water is always being turned off and the elevators are always being fixed...

Overall, I did enjoy my time living here, however the mice thing was fairly annoying. The space and layouts of the apartment are great, and the location is amazing if you enjoy being a quick walk into center city yet having good restaurants nearby and a quiet neighborhood! If you happen to live here while there is a good property manager, your requests will be addressed in a timely manner. Also the maintenance guy and the front desk staff are very nice!

So I rented a 2 bedroom apt at the Parkway House. Which look great from outside but are really nasty from inside. Especially the bathrooms!
Terrible central cooling and heating. Froze in the winters and fried in summers. I will not recommend them. The amenities are negligible, management not helpful. It's a pretty social area though with a great location.