I've looked at most all of the apartments in the area & Portico remains the best value because of:
*Competitive pricing,
*Large Unit Size,
*Great apartment layout,
*Convenient location close to downtown Silver Spring, grocery stores, theaters, restaurants, Metro, MARC & Buses,
*Great Amenities without an amenity fee,
*Ease of Leasing & Utility Set Up, They have a portal that makes leasing & utility set up quick & easy.
*Professional & Competent Management. NOTE: They actually send you an
...email answering your question instead of sending a canned email message telling you to come to the office.
*Fast & dependable maintenance crew
*Free Bike Storage in garage
The apartments & the common areas (lobby, business center, resident lounge, patio, garden, gym, halls, elevators, mail room, trash rooms) are renovated, clean, well maintained & attractive. Every unit has modern, matching appliances (Dishwasher, Refrigerator, Microwave, Washer & Dryer).
The units are larger than most; for example most studios in the area are 450-475 sq ft. The Portico studio I rented was 560 sq ft & about $300 cheaper than other studios in the area. I have signed a new lease for a 1 bdrm 1 bath with den that costs less that some studios in the area, has a better layout with more square footage & an excellent view.
The gym area is attractive, the equipment is in good working order & there are nice amenities like drinking water, TV on the exercise equipment & stuff to clean the equipment.
The Resident lounge has a full kitchen with industrial ice maker so you can throw a substantial party there. There is a pool table, a shuffleboard, a large HDTV with lots of TV channels & strong WiFi.
The patio area, while small, has two industrial sized grills & lots of patio tables available.
There is a small business area which I have had problems logging into previously, but once you get the login difficulties squared away, it is great. You need to bring your own paper as some residents use up all the paper. You can get free tea & coffee in the business area.
The lobby area is attractive & quite comfortable for receiving guests.
A few negatives:
1) Parking is expensive
2) Heating units are a bit noisy
3) It might be nice to set up a sheltered smoking area in the back patio
The first time I came to Portico, I did all my lease arrangements while living in Iraq. This time I lived locally. No problems either time! They are the best!
