Currents on the Charles

"Oh my lord. This place is AWFUL. UDR is a disaster to work with, and a terrible place to live. The employees are liars, they do not respect their tenants (or former tenants). The building is a disaster. The grills never worked, the fire alarms went off constantly (I cant wait for the team to quickly respond here saying they are fixed… yet I’m still waiting for my third email response from two weeks ago), packages are frequently stolen, the lever to get into the garage is often broken leaving you stranded to park and yet you still get charged your parking fee! Not to mention the pool to concrete ratio is a joke and the only rules they ever care to implement are when you leave… enjoy the smell of smoke in every entrance! Stay away from this place. They will lie and steal your money and even after MANY attempts to rectify the relationship due to the concrete evidence that UDR is wrong, they will still try and send you to collections. Go to Riverbend down the street in Watertown. It’s a much better community. :) I’m looking forward to chatting with you, UDR."

"I've been living here for about 7 years now, and I've noticed a decline in the quality of how things are being handled. First off, there are some annoying little issues all around the building that management seems to be ignoring unless someone makes a big fuss about it. It's frustrating because this place is supposed to be a luxury residence, but there are things that have been broken for months or even years. Even the entrance system took forever to get fixed, and the residents had to take a detour just to get inside for months. Then there are more serious issues, like the fire alarm system that keeps acting up. They say they fixed it, but it still happens occasionally, and we're not even informed unless there's an actual alarm. The management should inform the residents whether it's an actual fire alarm or a malfunction. This is just not right and puts the residents' safety at risk. And the management started nickel-and-diming the residents and kept bringing in third-party companies. The business center printer used to be free to use. Now, to use the printer, residents need to use a separate system that charges money. They've replaced the package system a few times, and now they want to charge $3 per day if the package isn't picked up within three days. Sure, there should be a rule to prevent the package room from overflowing, but this just seems far too extreme, especially when they've already started charging the residents with a package service fee that never existed before. I don't see myself renewing the lease next year."

"Before moving in, beware that the advertised EV charging stations do not work every winter (whenever temps drop below 50F). Issue has been reported to management several time, and multiple service tickets have been filed over the years, but no action was taken to solve the issue, and no action plan is communicated to the residents. If you have an EV, do not count of this residence charging stations during the winter, which is when you need to charge the most. Also the parking garage is nasty, with dead rats and birds everywhere. Again management was informed but no action was taken that was communicated with the residents. So try to avoid the dead animals and dreadful smell on the way to your car. That's of course after you pay the parking garage fee with no other outdoor parking solution available other than limited street parking."

"DON'T RENT HERE. Subpar all around. Lived here before UDR took over the building and let me say that each year they've managed the building it's gotten worse and worse and worse. Expect your rent to go up by $1000+ or more at the drop of a hat. Management is inept, unresponsive, and will simply ignore messages if they're not what they want to hear; UDR couldn't manage themselves out of a wet paper bag much less a multi-tenant building and has no place doing so. Common areas are not regularly cleaned leaving building disgusting. Overall a terrible experience I wouldn't wish on any other. Very bad building and disrespectful management company. AVOID."

"I have lived in this property for 2 years. Many good things to say about it: location is great - close to grocery stores and quick access to Charles River greenway. The building is new and clean. The apartment is modern with smart features and spacious living area. I like the community amenities including the outdoor poor, 24/7 gym, the lounge, and convenient garage parking. The staff and maintenance team are friendly and my neighbors are nice. The only reason l can’t give this place 5 stars is the fire alarm situation. I read about it in the reviews prior to moving here and asked the management about it and they said it’s been fixed. Unfortunately it hasn’t been fixed yet (most recent episode was about 2 weeks ago). I witnessed at least 8 false fire alarms over the past 2 years, happening at unpredictable times. One time this ruined an online job interview that l was conducting from home. Imagine the inconvenience when your kids are asleep or it’s very cold outside and you have to choose between waking up a child to stand outside in the rain or taking the risk by staying home despite the noisy alarm sound because you suspect a fake alarm “as usual”, everytime l end up choosing the first and regret. I don’t know the technical issue with the fire alarm but l have asked the management several times to send us an email following fire alarms to explain the situation but they never did (however they do send frequent emails about tenants behavior or property policy with regards to trash disposal or package rooms etc). I am overall grateful to the time l spent here and still recommend that people consider this place but really hope the management team would spend time and resources to fix the fire alarm situation in an otherwise a perfect place to live."