-
April 2023 by Jess Alexander
I lived in the Ellsworth (now the Raphael, same property and management with a new name) under STL citywide/Asprient/Lux Living for almost a year, and it was the singular worst rental experience I have had. During my time, my studio had a broken toilet, broken shower, a hole left in the wall for 6 months by maintenance, 2 gas leaks (one of which is shown in the following photo, how maintenance left my apartment after being unable to install the stove--yes gas was leaking into the apt.), mold in the unit-provided AC on move in, half of my apartment without electricity for 2 weeks, and many ceiling leaks. The apartment was very stressful to live in, and maintenance/the landlords were impossible to reach (my landlord Brad John dodged my calls of my seeking help for the issues of my apartment). The building was also quite unsafe, with trash in the stairwells and who-knows-what in the basement laundry area; there was an issue with mail from the mailroom consistently being stolen and my bicycle was stolen from the garage during my time there (management did nothing). The property/management is in a decent location all in all being near WashU Medicine (however between my bike being stolen and an incident I experienced right around the corner from the Ellsworth I cannot say it is perfectly safe). This apartment/living experience brought me immense amount of stress and mental anguish all in all.I posted this review a LONG while ago, they offered me money in exchange for silence about a year ago (never gave the money because I wouldn't take down the review), and somehow they got it taken down. So I am happy to add my voice back in the mix now that I see St. Louis noticing their terrible neglect.
-
April 2023 by Jess A.
I lived in the Ellsworth (now the Raphael, same property and management with a new name) under STL citywide/Asprient/Lux Living for almost a year, and it was the singular worst rental experience I have had. During my time, my studio had a broken toilet, broken shower, a hole left in the wall for 6 months by maintenance, 2 gas leaks (one of which is shown in the following photo, how maintenance left my apartment after being unable to install the stove--yes gas was leaking into the apt.), mold in the unit-provided AC on move in, half of my apartment without electricity for 2 weeks, and many ceiling leaks. The apartment was very stressful to live in, and maintenance/the landlords were impossible to reach (my landlord Brad John dodged my calls of my seeking help for the issues of my apartment). The building was also quite unsafe, with trash in the stairwells and who-knows-what in the basement laundry area; there was an issue with mail from the mailroom consistently being stolen and my bicycle was stolen from the garage during my time there (management did nothing). The property/management is in a decent location all in all being near WashU Medicine (however between my bike being stolen and an incident I experienced right around the corner from the Ellsworth I cannot say it is perfectly safe). This apartment/living experience brought me immense amount of stress and mental anguish all in all. I posted this review a LONG while ago, they offered me money in exchange for silence about a year ago (never gave the money because I wouldn't take down the review), and somehow they got it taken down. So I am happy to add my voice back in the mix now that I see St. Louis noticing their terrible neglect.
-
October 2022 by Minh Huynh
Worst management ever. There is no manager. When I have a payment problem I contacted the payment service and they said neither the apartment nor the manager exists.I have asked for maintenance service 3+ times in 2 months since I moved in. Elevator doesnt work. Ac is not installed.The location could not save the bad management. Texted my landlord because my sink is filled but never heard back. Called and there is no answer. No onsite manager. Absolutely no one to contact.
-
August 2022 by Max C.
Horrendous apartment building. Trash in the hallways, lost power for days from a storm, elevators are not functioning most of the time and even have found FECES on the floor multiple times. Area is fine, car got broken into parked right outside and the landlord does not have exterior cameras on his building so was of no use. DO NOT LIVE HERE.
-
July 2022 by Brent
This place is dirty and dangerous.Roaches.Broken elevators.
-
May 2022 by Thi Ngoc Minh Huynh
Worst management ever. There is no manager. When I have a payment problem I contacted the payment service and they said neither the apartment nor the manager exists.I have asked for maintenance service 3+ times in 2 months since I moved in. Elevator doesnt work. Ac is not installed.The location could not save the bad management. Texted my landlord because my sink is filled but never heard back. Called and there is no answer. No onsite manager. Absolutely no one to contact.
-
January 2022 by Stephanie Chase
The Ellsworth, rebranded as The Raphael, has been a disaster of a living experience. CityWide STL and Revival STL maintenance is a renters nightmare. Poor communication, “maintenance” and service.
-
December 2021 by Sydney Sillart
Horrible building. Have had my car broken into in their own garage and they did nothing even though the person took the garage opener so it’s not safe even more so. Also people steal your packages 90% of the time you have to be lucky to get there the second they arrive. Elevators always break, management is like a 18 year old boy and they all change and get fired every few weeks. Biggest mistake moving here. Price is great for stl which is why I did it but my apt has flooded about 3 times destroying objects and they won’t fix it or replace anything I’m living in a horror film finally have to share. Claim they have a pool but they don’t, claim central air with the remodel but it’s literally just a window unit with new paint?? Had to build my own closets since they don’t give me any. Can go on and on, cannot wait to leave! Only reason I’m here is being a med student needed to walk to the hospital in AM and location is good and cheapest in the area but it’s for a reason.....
-
December 2020 by kaylie moss
This apartment building is a slum in disguise. When I moved in to one of the renovated units, I thought it was adorable and had the perfect location and I loved that utilities were included. Don’t get me wrong, the place is adorable and the location is great, but it is so poorly managed that it absolutely is not worth it. I moved in in February 2020 and the problems immediately began. I had no heat coming into my unit and no hot water. Despite all my radiator valves being opened, no heat was flowing and the access to the radiator in my bedroom had been blocked, preventing me from even opening the valve. It often was 50 degrees in my apartment and I had to run a space heater 24/7 just to not freeze. I managed to get maintenance to get heat coming in after numerous emails and calls, but now there is an extremely loud clanking from the radiator in my bedroom and it only seems to happen in the middle of the night for some reason. Further, I never have hot water and they are constantly shutting the water off with little to no notice. This is especially taxing given the pandemic because I have been attending school from my apartment. It makes it very difficult to do that when they are constantly shutting off the water from 10 am to 4 pm. Every time they shut the water off, I again get hot water issues. I currently have not had hot water in my shower for a month despite repeated attempts to get maintenance to fix it. They will say it is fixed, and it will be for a day, then the water will get shut off and I will lose it again. Finally, when I moved in I was informed by another girl who happened to be moving out the same day I moved in that she frequently lost power in her kitchen, causing her to lose all the food in her fridge multiple times. I never thought the same would happen to me. I ended up losing power in my kitchen for a few weeks, causing me to have to relocate and I lost hundreds of dollars worth of food.This apartment building, as seemingly nice and convenient as it may seem, is ran by people who are negligent and insidious in their business practices. The management, STLCityWide/Central PM are basically nonexistent and won’t even bother answering the phones. They allow the units to go without heat, water, and power and claim that they have no control over maintenance despite being the building managers. They take advantage of their tenants who are largely in their 20s and do not know their rights because they know that we don’t have the means to do anything about their fraud, misrepresentations, and bad faith practices. I know I will not be able to meet the tenant who takes my apartment after me (since I obviously did not renew my lease), but I only hope that they are able to see what they’ve gotten themselves into, and hopefully find a way out.
-
July 2020 by Chloe Happe
Do you like being told 2 days before you're supposed to move in that your apartment won't be ready for move in for another 2 weeks? Do you like the loud sounds of construction above you going on for 5 days a week, sometimes 12 hours a day? Do you like one of the elevators constantly being broken? Do you like the water being "emergency shut off" for hours, multiple times a week? Do you like your packages getting stolen from the mail area? Do you like a non-responsive management team when you try to voice your complaints? Well, if so, then this is the place for you!Terrible, just terrible.
-
March 2020 by Jody Westbrook
My daughter moved into The Ellsworth about a year ago as she was starting Grad school. Initially everything was very good the management was friendly, easy to reach and helpful. The apartment building was clean and well maintained. However, midway through year she received a note that the building had been purchased and someone else began managing. The first thing went wrong is they tried to say she had not paid for one of the months of rent. I usually paid rent 2to 3 months at a time and in this case when they took over the month in question I guess the old management kept that rent. I showed the a copy of the cancelled check and they still wanted to argue the rent had not been paid.My daughter said it didn’t seem that there was any heat coming into her apartment and sent repeated requests but no one came to check. There was a very strong smell of mold in elevators and only one was working. When they sent her a renewal for her lease they left out the part the electric would be included. They also indicated they would start charging their tennets repairs in their apartments and were raising the fees for pets Last comment the last visit I made there there was very strong smell of marijuana in the hallways. Needless to say she did not renew her lease.
-
August 2019 by Matt L.
Awful. Just awful. Renovate at all costs. Doesn't matter how badly it disturbs the current tenants.
-
August 2019 by Cort O'Johnny
Very unfortunate what happened. Previous management was exceptional, but in December of 2018, management changed to STL City Wide. Their first order of business was changing everybody's rent payment date to the first of the month. My rent was previously due on the 17th and after I moved out, it took nearly 100 days of constant emails, texts, and calls for me to finally get my half month of rent back. Management is on premises under 10 hours per week and only during business hours. Brad John is a brash, unprofessional property manager who once freely admitted that he called out the Monday after St. Patrick's Day because he was too drunk the day before. I left my key locked in my room once and I was locked out for six days. Rooms are very dated and building is dilapidated. The manual-sliding-door elevator broke down for an entire month and was not fixed until a tenant posted a piece of paper on the elevator reminding fellow tenants that due to our landlord's incompetence, we must remember to close the door on the first floor in order to not incapacitate the elevator.In fairness, Abigail and Anna are compassionate and wonderful. However, the rest of the company is a complete and utter waste of time.
-
August 2019 by Mary Mosley Keen
In mid July, we chose the apartment we wished to rent and set a move date. this was agreed upon. However, we were then told we would receive an "identical" apartment and the move date needed to be pushed back a week, forcing us to store our belongings. On the (second) agreed upon move date, they attempted to raise the rent. Upon arrival.at the apartment, we found it filthy and uninhabitable. There were missing cabinets and a refrigerator in the dining room! We informed
-
May 2019 by Jody Street
My daughter moved into The Ellsworth about a year ago as she was starting Grad school. Initially everything was very good the management was friendly, easy to reach and helpful. The apartment building was clean and well maintained. However, midway through year she received a note that the building had been purchased and someone else began managing. The first thing went wrong is they tried to say she had not paid for one of the months of rent. I usually paid rent 2to 3 months at a time and in this case when they took over the month in question I guess the old management kept that rent. I showed the a copy of the cancelled check and they still wanted to argue the rent had not been paid.
