Cronin's Landing

Two years in and our rent has nearly doubled. In the last round, we negotiated the rent down from a 33% increase to 25% increase. Then I noticed they charge $200 for parking each car where it was $150. They conveniently slipped that one into the lease without mentioning it. The place went from having a concierge 8am-9pm 7 days per week to having one from noon-5 pm 6 days per week. Packages arrive with no notice. The elevators break all of the time, and the exercise room has 5 machines and some weights. Lights are off often in the exercise room. The facility was built in 1998 and feels it. The train coming by twice per hour isn't fun either. The garage often accumulates water when it rains.

I have been living here for about one year. I did the virtual tour and it seemed too good to be true. The location is fantastic, the apartments are nice and right next to the river and around the corner from Moody street, which has great restaurants and shopping. However, the virtual tour was able to hide major flaws that have made my experience here miserable. The first is that the commuter rail train is right across the river, and goes by all hours of the day and night ringing a loud bell and blaring a horn. Not only does this make it impossible to sleep but also difficult to work from home if that is your situation. The other major issue is that secondhand smoke is pervasive. When I signed my lease there is a non-smoking addendum, which made me think this was a smoke-free place. Unfortunately my apartment has reeked of cigarette smoke (I do not smoke) since the first day I moved in. The source is mostly the vents in my bathroom, which are connected to other apartments. Some mornings it is so strong I can’t brush my teeth in there without coughing and my eyes watering. Management is aware of the issue but has been unable to do anything about it. I was offered to move to another unit, but for a significantly higher price and they could not guarantee that a different unit wouldn’t have the same issue. From talking with neighbors smoke is a problem in many units in the building. One more issue, which is not as big for me but may be for others, is that maintenance enters my apartment without my permission and without notifying me beforehand. This has happened several times in the past, once I actually caught them entering when I did not answer the door right away because I was getting dressed. They often leave on lights on when they do this. None of the above stopped Cronin’s Landing from significantly raising my rent in my lease renewal. I wish I had known about these issues when I was first considering living here. I would have made a different choice.

Amazing amenities like a gym, private back porch area, 24-hour concierge, dry cleaning pick-up/drop off, and maintenance that comes the day after you call and you can't even tell they were there. Great location as well -- right near a lot of awesome food places on moody st. and pretty close to both Bentley and Brandeis Universities.