The Chateau Apartments

Good building with strong upkeep but some quirks. Nice location! Slight disappointment regarding the restrictions:
1) no delivery ppl can come to your apt door
2) only 1 tenant has access to "buzzer" to buzz ppl in
3) No dogs for guests
4) 1 parking spot limitation

We like the light in the apartment but wish it was less noisy and our carpets are pretty dingy. The water temp issue is pretty tough to bear and we have a lot of problems with WiFi.

Overall it's a good place to live especially... if you can get a good deal. I think some of the issues could be resolved so we're hopeful that things improve over time. Read More

Lots of pros and a few cons.

Pros:
- I really don't mind the train noise and airplane sounds that other reviewers have mentioned -- the planes in particular are barely noticeable.
- The apartments are beautiful, old style and the building staff does a good job of keeping common areas clean and the front well landscaped as well as bringing packages inside.
- There's a roof deck that non one uses so that's also a nice perk!
- Each apartment comes with a parking spot so as long as you ... have 1 car, you're set and don't have to worry about limited street parking.

Cons:
- We've had pretty consistent issues with internet outages that make working from home difficult.
- The shower pressure and temperature is wacky
- Only one tenant per family can have access to control the buzzer to let guests in. When my partner isn't home I need to leave my apartment and let guests in "manually" instead of buzzing them in. This gets tricky when we have family visiting especially.

Read More

The Chateau is a 1929 building that I suspect was state-of-the-art when it was built. It has large rooms, hardwood floors, plaster walls, high ceilings, etc. The location just 2 blocks from Burlingame Avenue shops & restaurants as well as Caltrain is excellent. BART is about a 10 minute drive, and so is SFO.

A unique feature of the building is the floorplan -- there are 5 units per floor, and virtually no common walls. I think there are two units that share one wall, but that's it. Also,... the plaster walls keep down noise much better than modern wallboard would. Typical to the 1920's the kitchens are small--some of them are downright tiny. They've been updated a little, but with what had to be the cheapest appliances they could find -- a shame.

There is a laundry room on each floor, which is nice plus a tiny gym area. Nothing like the big lifestyle buildings they put up nowadays but it's fine by me. Also, there is a small roof deck, but the property manager keeps saying it will be removed soon so don't count on it.

Here's the thing -- this is an old building and it hasn't had any serious upgrades to speak of. The elevator was replaced a few years ago -- but if more than 3 people get in expect to get stuck. Those great old plaster walls have lots of cracks & bumps that have been painted over for decades, so don't expect perfection. If you want modern, clean lines and everything pristine this isn't the place for you.

This is a dog-friendly building which is nice, although the new property manager doesn't like dogs and has been actively discouraging them with new tenants. There was also a very unfriendly decision to re-key the building recently and limit the number of keys to one per occupant. Want a guest key? No. Mom's visiting and wants to shop while you're at work--only if you give her your keys. Want a dog walker or housekeeper? OK, if you give a copy of the drivers license you can have one extra key. Seems a little ridiculous.

Maintenance of the building seems pretty limited too -- we've had promises of minor repairs for months with no progress. Not the end of the world, but the new property manager is clearly not as proactive as the previous one and complains that she can't get the owners to fix things.

So on the whole -- it's a pretty unique building and I like it a lot. It isn't for everyone and you need to be willing to put up with unenlightened management. Oh, and Caltrain is LOUD. You'll get used to it. Read More