The Lofts at Franklin

Management is rude, gives false information, and has no sense of accountability. The maintenance people are loud and nosy! Parking is extremely difficult and costly due to paying for parking or getting tickets from parking admin.

We lived here for almost two years, so I have a fair amount of experience that this is based on. This property has been owned by PMC since 2019, so be aware that older reviews are not for the same management. Tldr: horrible management & mold issues, but great location One of the biggest issues was when we moved our bed out from one of the walls there was a massive amount of mold under it (pictures attached). It was horrifying and after calling and not being able to get a hold of anyone, they finally sent someone out. While he was incredibly nice, all he did was wipe the mold off. Only after my further protest did they come in and reseal the entire wall that had been letting moisture in. After this happened we spoke to other residents and many of them had the same issue. This was resolved to the absolute bare minimum, so be on the lookout if you live there or plan to move there. The dumpster is also constantly overflowing (picture attached). Second, privacy is non-existent. For the first few months of our lease, there was a dog next door that barked incessantly until a new couple moved in and it was replaced by loud fighting and even louder sex. Overall, not great things to be hearing constantly in your apartment. To not drone on endlessly but another huge issue is that it is almost impossible to get in contact with anyone who works for PMC. Unless you’re someone looking for an apartment, good luck getting any sort of response! Hard to condense two years of living here into one review but overall, the location is great, everything else is pretty horrible! Look elsewhere for cheaper rent and better management!

My boyfriend and I have been living here for a little over a month and absolutely LOVE it! Angela, one of the Leasing Consultants, was amazing during the touring and leasing process. They have beautiful apartments in a great location - I highly recommend this place if you're apartment hunting!

While these apartments are appealing to look at they are not a place you want to waste your money! They are poorly maintained and everything is constantly breaking or leaking. I am currently on my fifth day with no AC and the incompetent maintenance crew has done nothing but prolong the process by being incapable of communication with each other. The management office could seem to care less as well. I have never lived in an apartment where things were managed so poorly. And I have a strong feeling ALL the Dodson properties have these issues. Trust me when I say you should steer clear. The apartments are overpriced for the lack of amenities and customer service provided. With all the options in Richmond, I wish I had taken the time to choose better.

APARTMENT WITH AMMENITIES INCLUDED IS GREAT, PRICE IS ALSO OK.... HOWEVER THE PROCESS TO PAY RENT, SCHEDULE WORK ORDERS, ETC IS HORRIFIC THRU PROPERTIES ONLINE PORTAL. ALSO IF YOU WORK MON THRU SAT, GOOD LUCK COMMUNICATING WITH LEASING DEPARTMENT/OFFICE, THEY DO NOT HAVE A DIRECT LINE TO CALL AND NEVER RETURN VOICEMAILS LEFT. HAD TO SCHEDULE OFF WORK TO ATTEMPT TO GET ANYTHING ACCOMPLISHED. ALL IN ALL, BEST WAY TO DESCRIBE THIS PROPERTY AFTER LIVING HERE 2 MONTHS ... "AN INCONVIENENCE" WILL TAKE ALOT OF CHANGES TO CONTINUE MY STAY HERE

I would highly suggest you consider another apartment. While this place is very cute and modern, the charm wears off very quickly. I lived here between June 2016 and July 2017. Pros: Updated apartment with high end fixtures (granite, rain head shower, stainless steel),exposed brick, walking distance to downtown/shops/food, parking lot ($75 extra),easy to make payments online, utilities included (water, sewer, trash, internet, DIRECTV, electric up to a certain $ threshold) Cons: •Paper thin walls – I could honestly hear everything my neighbors did. If my neighbors sneezed I hear it. The apartment has built in speakers so you can hear your neighbors down the hall. This issue got even worse when the neighbors who I shared a bedroom wall moved in and had very loud sex every single night. Between the hours of 1:00-6:00am I could get woken up several times because of them. Several residents brought this to management’s attention because the entire building could hear them. The problem was never resolved and management only sent letters to everyone reminding them of noise violations. DISCLAIMER: The apartment came under new management during the last month of my lease. Based on the limited interactions they didn’t seem much better than the old management. •Security deposit – Don’t expect to get your whole deposit back. They don’t tell you but they take out $130 for cleaning when you move out even when it’s spotless! Also, they violated Virginia Law by not returning my deposit within 45 days. I had to follow up with them every day until I finally received it about a month later than is required. •No real windows. •Maintenance work was not that great. Every time it rained my ceiling would severely leak. Maintenance told me it was just condensation and they couldn’t do anything about it. •Rent is fairly high if you are living alone. •MOLD – Since there are no windows mold grows pretty easily. Just keep in mind that this is an old building and you will have to sign an addendum to your lease stating that you are aware of mold. •The place can get a little sketchy at times. It’s Shockoe Bottom so you probably already know what you’re getting in to, but there were a few times I woke up to the maintenance man cleaning blood out of the hallways from altercations that would happen overnight. •The do not adhere to their office hours. Half the time no one is there. Hope this helps!

The staff and maintenance are great. That is who the stars are for. I have been here for almost two years and I have had really good and really bad experiences. I will name some pros and cons. Pros: -All inclusive -Washer and Dryer in Unit -Exposed Brick -Walking distance to the canal and restaurants Cons: -NOISY. You might as well have a 2x4 between you and the person above you or beside you. You can hear people cough, walk, open doors, talk, music, and their dogs walking. I mean everything. Also, expect to be woken up every night from dogs barking or people being loud. -A lot of people don't know how to parallel park so expect a few dings or scratches on your car. -Late night club scene -Minimal light. I understand each unit is different. It can get depressing. -Limited parking. They have a parking lot but it stays full.

I have lived here with my fiance for almost 3 years, and every time we think we might move, we don't because we honestly can't find anything significantly better than this. Great location--you're in downtown but it's quiet--and easy to walk to various stores and restaurants from here. The place is pretty well insulated and stays at a reasonable temperature. Even in the summer without a/c, I haven't seen it get above 74F in here during the day. Gym is pretty good. Kitchen and bathroom are gorgeous; those have been the main reasons we've stayed. Nice to have washer/dryer all to ourselves. Most utilities are included, and we've never gone over the caps, so it's pretty nice. Staff is pretty easy to work with, and it's nice that they accept packages for you so you can be sure they won't get stolen. Downsides: Few windows. Front door is extremely heavy. Bedroom stays pretty warm at night if you close the door, which means I wake up warm a lot, but if you like warm, that's no problem. Very easy to hear next-door neighbors' music and TV through walls, although maybe they're just playing things crazy loud...not sure. During the winter, it can get pretty cold since the front door is metal and the ground is concrete...but most of the year isn't like that, and the heater works fine. Parking isn't amazing, but we can most often find spots as long as we park before 5:30pm, and it wouldn't be too bad to get a parking spot ($45/mo). Anyway, yeah, pretty decent. I wouldn't necessarily recommend single people living here, though...I don't think I'd want to spend that much for myself. Nice to split the rent. But considering that this is the best 1bdr apartment we saw in RVA, by FAR, I think this is probably still a good option for anyone.

This apartment is not Barbie's Dreamhouse. Franklin Street Lofts are individualy carved spaces in the heart of historic Richmond. Revitalized storefronts on cobblestone streets offer secure entrances to individually designed living spaces. Brick walls,original hardwood floors and rustic open beam ceilings are offset by fully loaded high end kitchens and bathrooms. Maintainence and care of the building are unsurpassed in personal attention to the needs of each resident. Forget your gas budget. You are walking distance to more than 15 reviewed eateries. Most utilities and cable included. Enjoy true urban life accessable to mountains and oceanfronts on either side. This is a location you'll have trouble wanting to get away from. Nancy Sayle, Richmond Virginia

I got lucky and manged to avoid renting here because their bad practices started before I rented the unit. I had gone in to look at units, based somewhat on them advertising the units as all-inclusive, and applied for the apartment. We paid a deposit of $150 to hold the apartment based on that. I headed home and looked at reviews the for the complex to get an idea of what others thought of the place and I saw something odd. They have a cap on their electric of $110, beyond which point, the renter gets to foot the bill. This basically means that they just raised the price of their rent by $110, and will keep whatever you don't use each month as profit. If you use more than that, you get to pay it. I took issue with this, as they hadn't made any mention of a cap. When I did call, they told me that the $110 was more than that apartment could use in power and I needn't worry about the bill going over. I asked them to see the bills for the previous two years, since they were the ones paying it - they told me they'd look into it. When they called me next, they told me that they hadn't looked it up because my application was denied. I have excellent rental history, and I asked what grounds I'd been denied on. They said I had missed a lot of payments on my previous apartment, and was still under lease. I called the leasing office for where was currently staying, and found out that they had sent the wrong information. They said just have them send the forms back, and they'd send the correct information over. When they got the corrected forms, the Lofts at Franklin rental office called me and told me that they would need to speak directly to my old leasing office about this, because it seemed odd that suddenly my rental history was great. At this point, I asked again about the energy usage again. While they said that apartment had never gone over the limit, the billing information painted a different picture. It had gone over twice in 2014, and once in 2015. I didn't call them back that day, as I needed to ponder if I was even comfortable with living there at this point. The next day, I got a call saying that they had leased the apartment to someone else, and they'd be willing to refund $50 of my payment, but $100 of it would not be returned. I now have a claim in with my bank to get that money back.