The Essential Johns Hopkins Affiliate Living

New management has done amazing things for 929/Essential. Everywhere I go things are being updated, renovated or simply enhanced. 929 had a name change and with it a bunch of new faces that seem determined to make this the best community in Baltimore - so far - they seem to be hitting the mark. Nice Job!

Loud, dirty, cheap construction and appliances, frequently issues with water, AC, and obtaining packages. Shady management practices.

I've been living in 4 bed 2 bath apartment for past 1.5 years, and do plan to continue for next year. I am a PhD student at nearby JHU medical campus and I believe it is the safest, most convenient and best value for money option in the area for students/post docs/residents who work at JHU/JHH. The proximity to JHU/JHH is convenient, and the whole way to the apartments is patrolled and well-litten. There is 24h desk reception and mail service (with easy package drop off to be sent out too), so your amazon delivers will not be dropped in front of row house doors and possibly lost. I have never had either incoming or outcoming mail lost (I receive avg. of 2 packages and sent out avg. of 1 package per week). 929 building has good common areas, including large common room with an adjacent rooftop area; I hosted a welcome lunch for new students and co-hosted Thanksgiving for the folks who stayed for holidays in the building - and both times the apartment served great for us. I use these places to study late hours at times (along with some other). The gym is another thing which makes me plan to stay there - it is small, but has good treadmills and a wide selection of weights.

Decent building in close proximity to Johns Hopkins Hospital. I have been a long term resident (4+ years) and have been appalled by poor, inconsiderate management in the past several years. Absolutely would NOT recommend to incoming students at the School of Medicine, Public Health, or Nursing. I would recommend Jefferson Square instead, where management may have the slightest bit of reason. They have changed terms without notifying existing residents, making keeping a pet (which I have paid a monthly fee for) extremely unsafe.

Apartment came dirty (food still here) and most appliances broken.

This place has bed bugs. When I brought this up with management (including photographic evidence of bed bug bites), they denied this was a problem and refused to give me my money back. There were also small areas of mould around poor-ventilated parts of the apartment. Again, denied to be a problem by management. The apartments are small for the amount you pay. (I rented a studio, but I hear even the 1-bed apartments are small). There are lots of much newer apartment complexes around Johns Hopkins, which are far better value for money and more importantly don't have bed bugs! If this review prevents one person from making the same mistake I made, it would have been worth it.

Stay anywhere else but here! - Apartments much smaller compared to other buildings; building overcharges for what it has to offer. Insulation/soundproofing so poor that you will also hear sirens/cars going by constantly. In fact, when there has been lots of rain, people have had water leak into their apartments. - Maintenance requests often take more than 3 weeks to complete, and even then are done incorrectly. The staff is just not trained to handle most of the maintenance issues, and the specialists they need to call often take weeks to come, even for basic things like the HVAC unit and the cross trainers. Their main goal is to close the maintenance request, regardless of whether the issue is resolved or not, so they can say they "handle" maintenance requests in a timely manner. The fact that you have to actually submit 4 or so requests to take care of an issue is not of importance to them. I can recall so many instances of maintenance issues off the top of my head. Recently, my "wooden floor" was actually peeling off, and their fix was to come "glue it." Once when the HVAC was loud, the maintenance man "stuck towels in it" to try to keep it from moving and making the noise it was making rather than fixing the issue. - Trash disposal areas are frequently backed up, workout equipment is constantly broken and inadequately maintained and repaired, and even the limited chairs/tables that were present on the 9th floor balcony are no longer there. There are also constant notices about water outages, internet lack of functionality, etc. Speaking of the wireless, it was so bad that they have had to switch providers, but even then the speed is very slow, especially during peak hours like evenings and weekends. - By and large, especially in the recent past, they tended to have staff members that were not only incompetent but also unprofessional and downright rude. Your apartment could be flooded or the HVAC unit could be broken, but if it was 330 pm, it was time for them to head out, and they could not be bothered to fix the issues. Overall, very disappointing living here. The only reason to stay is to be closer to the Hopkins campus if you work/study there, but even then there is so much hassle dealing with most of the staff that it's not worth the headache. In retrospect, should have just driven/biked/walked/ubered/whatever it took the 10 odd minutes from various other locations in the city offering significantly better and cheaper living arrangements.

The amenities are perfect. The service has been beyond excellent. I feel very safe here, and I truly feel at home! It's an amazing place to come home to, after a long day of work.