Crystal Place

I cannot recommend anyone live here or in any other Equity owned apartment. The electrical company they use, Calpine, is not regulated by the state which means they can charge whatever they want for electricity. Last month my electricity cost was $296 and I can only imagine it will go higher when the weather warms.

I can’t recommend that you live in this apartment building or with any Equity affiliated building. The electricity costs are the highest I have ever paid as a renter. For a 2bd/bath apartment, my roommate and I paid $200 each for electricity and utilities this month. No other apartments in the area are paying this high of a price. The staff here (especially the concierge) are lovely and the apartment itself is in a great location, but it’s not worth the price and headache. A lot of residents... have been struggling to keep up with their payments. Read More

I loved living here last year, but now I’m counting down the months until I can leave and escape from the outrageously high electricity bills that have tripled over the course of just a few months. There has been no meaningful action on the part of management despite residents’ pleas to address the skyrocketing prices, which have all come from the unregulated electricity provider Equity Residential has chosen to contract with. We do not have individual meters, and we are not provided with... transparent information about usage and pricing. Over the past three months, my ~1000 sq ft. 2 bed/2 bath apartment has been costing about $300 per month in electricity alone. When residents expressed concerns about the rising prices (as we have been doing for months now), management essentially blamed it on hot weather and people forgetting to turn off the AC, when in reality the electricity provider has unregulated rates that are 2-3 times HIGHER than Dominion Energy. By their own admission there has not been a significant increase in the usage of electricity--- just the price their provider charges.

I wish I could give a higher rating, because this is otherwise a convenient and comfortable place to live, and the front desk staff here are all truly wonderful, kind, and welcoming. Herman especially goes above and beyond to make everyone feel at home. However, the ordeal we have had to put up with just to get basic information about our bills is ridiculous. Equity Residential tries to make itself out as being “energy conscious,” but this is just an image they exploit for their own bottom line. Read More

I have been living here for around 7 months and I have to say that there are good things like cleanliness, no bugs at all, friendly and helpful staff. I loved the pool in summer, the front desk is amazing and they receive my packages anytime without any charge. It is convenient that it is so close to the metro station.
The bad ones: The elevators are old and sometimes fail, all in my apartment is not renewed, the toilet is older than me and it takes more than 15 minutes to fill up with water... after a flush, which is uncomfortable when you have guests.
The gym is not that big and doesn't have a lot of equipment which is ok for me but not for my fit husband.
The thing that really worries me of all is that Equity residential uses a non-regulated energy provider so they are allowed to charge us basically whatever they want and apparently no one can help us. After several complaints, they raised an investigation to detect energy anomalies but they say there is nothing else they can do about it.
It's been around 5 months of rising energy bills, for a 1 bedroom-1bathroom apartment w/2 people, my most recent utility bill totaled $298 which $233 was for electricity. Read More

I highly recommend AGAINST living at Crystal Place or any Equity Residential managed property. In short, Equity is a money grabbing publicly traded corporation that only has their shareholders' interests in mind. Over the course of two years living at Crystal Place, my rent (including a recent renewal offer I turned down) has increased (potentially, with regards to my renewal offer) over 21%, parking increased by 30%, and utilities have nearly tripled. Equity has found every possible way to... squeeze every penny out of their residents' pockets while they have reported net profits of over $1,330,000,000 (that's a billion) in 2021, and over $617,000,000 so far this year. It's unfortunate, because I truly have enjoyed living here. The units are beautiful, the pool/grill area is great during the Summer, the location is fantastic, and the concierge and building engineer teams are top notch. This complex has so much potential, which has been squandered by greed and mismanagement. Unfortunately, all of the pros of living here are grossly outweighed by the cons. I would like to add that if you are handicapable, the elevators here have struggled to function properly on a regular basis - there was even an instance where all of the elevators were malfunctioning and everyone had to use the stairs. Read More