Tenant Reviews for 255 S GRAND AVE

We lived at the Grand Tower for a little over three years. And there are some good things to say, and a lot of bad things to mention. For the money, it was a pretty good deal for downtown Los Angeles (if you don't count the crap). When you were inside your apartment, you could barely hear what was going on the adjacent apartments unless they put their subwoofer next to the wall and started playing it a 2a (and then proceed to ignore you knocking on their door to ask them to turn it down). There was one set of washer/dryer on each floor using the smart card system. You could get assigned parking (in theory). The security staff was friendly...and that's about it. Maintenance would often enter the premises without the permission of the tenant ahead of time and often not leave the little placard that said they were there (as in, we walked in on them). There are both single and double parking spots. Even though you pay to have an assigned spot, if you're a double parking spot be prepared for some trouble. They make money off of renting spots to people outside the apartment and if you leave your spot, they'll take yours in the day. As in, if you leave, there are one or two spots available. When you come back, there are no spots available. (What's the POINT in having assigned parking if its going to be given away if you go to the supermarket?) And they only have one or two parking attendants for the whole building at a time so you're often waiting there for more than 10 minutes for a guy to move the other car somewhere else so you can get into your spot. This doesn't include the times when the parking staff parks their junk cars in YOUR spot so that if you want to park in your spot, you have to get out of your car and PUSH their car out of the way (this has happened more than once). They clearly have different policies for people above the 15th floor and those below. If you're high enough, you'll learn of the cleaning staff's services or blatantly ignore the rule that says you can't have any dogs or that you're allowed to paint your unit colors of your choosing. You'll get your calls answered if you're above a certain floor. Oh, and even though you're not supposed to run a business out of the apartment, the personal trainer who hogs up all the gym equipment can get away with it because he gives lessons to the management. If you want to move into a larger apartment, they make you pay $200 to do it, non-refundable. Its not abuot breaking one lease to start a new one, its just their processing fee to change the unit number on the lease. When asked, what if we were to "move out" and then "move in" -- would we have to pay, they just looked at us blankly and just repeated that they would charge us $200 to move into a larger apartment. They're terrible at handling emergency issues. There was a pipe burst the day after Christmas in 2006 that affected multiple units. Help did not come our way until 8 hrs later while we were dumping out rank nasty water out of our apartment. They did not offer any kind of compensation or help with the things that were damaged. When we complained about the possibility of mold growing in between the walls, we were dismissed (and we found eventually did find mold). There was an electrical fire on president's weekend and we were without power for over 48hrs. Luxury apartment, right? But lastly, its how we left. We gave them our notice in writing. We scheduled with them for our moveout inspection. No show. We reschedule. No show again. We try to do laundry before we leave to find that the smart card system used for the laundry was prematurely changed to a new system. They had informed us this would happen but we would be getting new cards before that would happen. Nope. So we had to buy a NEW laundry card, put cash on it, and upon our moveout, they refused to give us the money on the other laundry card back. They also took out money out of your deposit because we calculated our prorated amount on 31 days (as in that month) but they wanted to do 30 days so they could get an extra $40 bucks. Look if you're paying a premium to live in a high-rise with a management team, they should at least come up to the plate when something happens. They were always rude and unwilling to cooperate, they often weren't in the office, and they scoffed at problems. There are always going to be problems wherever you live, but its how your landlord takes care of it often indicates how well you live there. So, if you're going to pay, would you really want to deal with this??

The reviews of 3/1/07 ("A disaster!") and 5/06 ("Beware!") are dead-on. Management is awful, from the girl at the front desk (rudest secretary in all of Los Angeles, believe it or not!!) up through the top. Over three years, I left dozens of voice mails and only received two return calls. Customer service is a foreign language to them. Meet them in the halls (most of the managers live in the building) and they're friendly enough, but no requests you make will be followed-up on. Meanwhile, parking is a pain -- your spot will be taken during the day, guaranteed, and not all the valets are competent. Security, at least, is very friendly, and maintenance is OK, when you can get ahold of them. But worst of all is when you have an emergency. One review already gave a good description of the most recent fire. The building also experienced a significant flood, two days after Christmas. A burst pipe devastated the ~14th floor and filthy water ran down through several flights, damaging walls, carpets, floors, and ceilings, leaving behind the distinct scent of urine. Had we not been at home that weekday, we would have had thousands and thousands of dollars of damage and lost irreplaceable heirlooms. What did management do? More than 6 hrs after we reported the flood, we got a medium-sized fan to help dry up the water. Days, weeks later, did they check if mold had grown behind the walls or if there were any other health hazards? Did they let us know it was all safe now? No, no, and no. The icing on top of their huge mud pie is all these tiny things: the water bill went from $15/month to $38 /month (and growing) in the past year; they switched the laundry machines and refused to refund our old laundry cards; they shut down the pool and BBQ area for more than a year without compensation; and finally, they've done everything to pick away at our deposit after leaving, so suddenly we're out almost $200 without justification or explanation. It's a great location if you work downtown and can endure incompetent management. If you don't or can't, avoid this place like the plague.

We've lived in the building for over 5 years and have mixed feelings on whether or not we want to stay. Here's how we see it:<br><br>The Pros:<br>The building is close to the financial district which is where we work, so this is a huge plus, really the main reason we live downtown. The parking situation is great for us as we have a single dedicated parking stall but that took some negotiating several years ago after realizing the tandem parking game was far from perfected. The mail is centrally located and packages are held at the security desk with almost 100% certainty that they won't get lost or given to your neighbor. The security and parking staff are courteous. The unit itself is large, over 900 square feet for a one bedroom and views to the north and west from a couple hundred feet above the street make it worth it. With the windows closed, there is no street noise, with the exception of the wind howling and the helicopters from time to time. The unit has a nice floor plan, with a separate dining room off the kitchen and a long hallway that separates the family room from the bedroom and bathroom.<br><br>The Cons:<br>This might take a while. The building is getting old and the kitchen and bathroom fixtures are on their last leg. In the kitchen, the microwave needs replacing, the garbage disposal was already replaced, and the rest are just ugly. The bathroom is very boring, not much to say, everything works. The carpet and paint are poor quality, but to be expected in a rental. In terms of tv, if you have a HDTV, forget it. The line of sight for HD for DirecTV and Dish is blocked by the adjacent building, unless you are at the easternmost end and you probably still don't get it. You can get standard definition signals, but you are at the mercy of the two listed companies assuming you went on your own or if you use the building's prewired service provider, you automatically get DirecTV. The gym is pretty mediocre and the pool and hot tub are not huge selling points. The building has a dry cleaner, but we've even had problems with them. Oh, I forgot to mention the fires, two to be exact. Running down 25 flights of stairs in a two year period isn't as fun as it sounds. The building management has played it down terribly and given very little information to the tenants on what really happened. This alone makes me want to move out.<br><br>All in all, we'll probably look around when the lease is up, but not too sure we can find any better for the money. We seem to play this game every time this year...It's a good place for people who work or go to school nearby. Again, mixed feelings.

I have lived in Grand Tower since May of 2006 and have done so relatively without serious complaint. When my air conditioner broke during the summer, the maintenance team was unable to repair it on its own, so it called in a professional who repaired it quickly. It's a large building that shows its age in the walls and carpeting, but the maintenance team has responded to my needs just fine. You get awesome views near the top of the building and uncommonly spacious rooms, especially compared to the newer box-style apartments available down the street.<br><br>The pool closing for such a long time was annoying, and the end result is as out-dated as the initial layout. Also, having to share one set of washer and dryers on each floor causes some serious frustration. As for the tandem parking, I was informed of it before signing the lease, and, after a couple weeks of adjusting to the idea of having a permanent valet situation, I began to feel very safe and happy to have such a nice covered parking area for my car. So many people in this city are forced to park on the street, exposed to the elements and to crime. I like the secure feeling I get when I pass through the gate and park my car in my assigned spot, leaving my key in the valet key box. Of course, my situation may not be typical, as I walk across the street to work.<br><br>Overall, I recommend this building to anyone working downtown. Escaping the office for lunch at home once and a while can't be beat.

I totally agree with all of the posts. Management is totally unresponsive to tenants. The security staff is generally very pleasant but try and get a call back when you have a request or need. I've been here two years and my apt will be available soon. They also don't tell you about the stacked parking when you move in.

Grabd Tower has one thing going for it: Location. Nothing more. The management is completely unresponsive to tenant requests, maintenance is sub-par, and there is a general sense that you, as a tenant, are on your own should you have any problems. We had a fire last month in the building - the second in two years. Turns out a major electrical conduit blew, destroying a car in the garage, and coating everyone's cars with caustic soot. Add the flooding caused by the fire department, and you've got a pretty wonderful disaster on your hands. What did the management do? Nothing. No notices explaining the fire. No offers to clean cars, or compensate for smoke damage. Nothing.<br><br>In December numerous apartments were flooded as a result of a plumbing leak. Again, no help from management. Some tenants were offered a wet/dry vac, but nothing was done to address the property damage and mildew that resulted.<br><br>Stay away from Grand Tower.