Gryphon House

Although I didn't end up signing a lease, Andy in their leasing office was outstanding. Having seen countless apartments in DC over the last decade I've worked with a lot of different kind of landlords, leasing agents, and realtors; there is a cavernous gap in competency. Great apartments too.

I’ve enjoyed the idea of Woodley Park living for a while. Recently stayed in Georgetown and missed the red line. So…SCM seemed like a great option. I remember the deal seemed too good to be true. The easiest way to sum up this review — this apartment complex is a buyer beware type situation. Google a bit and you’ll find that Oculus Realty used to manage this property. Aria Residential has since taken over to ramp up occupancy and hired leasing agents, two of which are Andy and Sabrina. I’ve interacted with both of them and can’t say enough about their great responsiveness. The unfortunate part is they’re not granted the authority to make decisions that you would expect to be delegated to a leasing agent or at the very least to the leasing manager. After 45 days of waiting for a lease, I called on the Friday before my scheduled move in, 5/14. I reached the building concierge after trying to reach my leasing agent. Come to find out, Friday happened to be a day off for him. Sabrina took my call—the first time we had met—late on a Friday afternoon. She wasn’t able to assist with my request to review a lease 3 days before move-in. Mind you, she’s the leasi Sabrina contacted Dashenka, who was able to render a decision about move in and texted me a decision and assured we’d receive a lease promptly. Fast forward to Saturday—Andy calls and states he’ll send a lease Monday, 5/17, will send a revised welcome letter the same day, Saturday 5/15, and requests we move our move in date to a later time, presumably to allow SCM to get our paperwork together. On 5/14, Dashenka, the regional property manager, stated we’d receive a lease ASAP. We received a lease 5/19, which was dated 5/17. Our DHCD forms were dated on various dates 4/25 and 6/5. I was told it was reasonable for SCM to report to DHCD that my apartment is currently rented for $3993 monthly. This is a gross over-exaggeration as my effective rent for the term of my lease is less than half that amount. After a couple calls to attorneys with tenant advocate orgs, I approached the property manager, Ellease, with my final sticking point. Lease buyout agreements seem to be standard when concessions are offered. In this case, I was offered three months free rent, a free admin fee/move in, no application fee, and no pet deposit. The lease buyout read by me and friends as well as the two attorneys with OTA and Daily Bread stated that it seemed I’d be required to pay $12,000 if I had to break my lease and move out early. Ellease insisted the form wouldn’t be changed because corporate attorneys said it had to be written a certain way. I was assured $9600 would be the maximum lease break fee. This is the 3 months of free rent plus the 1 month lease break fee. We receive a lease to review on 5/19. We sign the lease on 5/28, more than a week before move in. We don’t receive countersigned documents from the local or regional property manager prior to move-in despite being told by Ellease it would be done prior to 6/5 move-in. Condition of the apartment was acceptable. Nice finishes, but significant damage to a couple areas that we’re told will not be repaired because of cost. Despite a new appliance, it has a minor issue that is not able to be repaired without contacting the manufacturer warranty department, which you can imagine is a process and will take time. Finally, the incident that prompted this review tonight. I was coming home in a rideshare vehicle. There is an arc shaped driveway at this community’s front entrance. I’m told it’s a fire lane, but there’s no signage to indicate this. When a vehicle was parked in the driveway blocking the rideshare vehicle, and didn’t move despite honks from the rideshare driver, the driver was forced to back out onto Connecticut Ave. If you’re familiar with the area, that isn’t the safest option to get back out onto Conn Ave. Two calls later, to the local resident and property manager, the car was still out front, nobody in the car, and blocking a fire lane. I was told maybe “it’s a food delivery” and then “it’s not urgent”.

We love living here. The building, apartments, amenities and location are all exceptional. This is a new construction situation. Which may not be ideal for every personality type. I myself can be quite picky about small details but I love living here so much I find I am more tolerant than usual. If you are someone who cant let small things go or cannot wait for things to get ironed out, then this may not be the best place to live, right this second. Maybe sometime in the future when you will not be the first person living in the apartment. Let someone else work out all the details and then move in next year. The management has changed in the last couple months and they are kind and have addressed any issue we have had. They are pleasant to deal with and seem to genuinely want to create a happy living situation for everyone. The staff who take care of the building are all exceptional, work very hard and do a great job keeping everything working and clean and smelling great. This is the best apartment in DC as far as we are concerned. Amenities, Location, Cleanliness, Friendliness and Good Energy. All 100%

This apartment building looks lovely on the outside, but the quality isn't there. Things regularly break because of this. For example, the "marble" bathrooms are cheap tile, and the stainless steel appliances mask cheap quality. Our apartment itself also broke several times in a brief period which is astounding.They didn't check if the apartments were ready before moving in, apparently some units were lacking necessary wiring. We had regular issues with smoking neighbors, heating and the AC problems, our dishwasher, stove and even windows broke. They were also sued for false leasing practices, https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/housingcomplex/article/20973441/controversial-rent-concessions-go-to-court-in-dc For the same prices as the 5-star building down the road, The Woodley, I expected better. Management has improved with this new leasing company but was very inconsistent for most of our year there. Monaco, the maintenance manager, is the saving grace of the building, without him, I genuinely believe the structure would crumble. With his help the building has so much potential, I hope they address these basic issues.

Ellease White, Linda Mayo, the concierges and maintenance crew have provided the highest quality of assistance since moving in. Thank you all!

beautifully renovated, outstanding staff, great location