As someone who recently relocated to the area, I wanted to contribute my experience at Penrose and initial impressions.
Personally, I've had a very positive experience so far. I actually discovered Penrose just by seeing it from the occasional pass-by business trips to the area and thought it looked like a neat community. I actually rented my 2-bedroom apartment sight unseen and am NOT disappointed with what I got. I had to work via phone with the staff in the leasing office, who at times, were
...not as responsive as I would have liked but when I reached out to multiple individuals, they all came together and addressed my questions / needs. If you have school age children, you should know that the school district is Arlington Co and the high school is Wakefield (not Washington-Lee).
I'm not sure about the division between tenants who have dogs and those who don't. I made it known upfront that I would be bringing my dog with me and at no time was I told that I could not get into a certain apartment because it was reserved for a "non pet" owner. In fact, in reviewing my apartment options, the leasing office suggested available apartments were all over the place -- not isolated to one particular part of the community or floor.
As far as the interior... yes there are marks on the walls ... even dents and dings -- but nothing, IMHO, that detracts from the overall aesthetics of the place nor are they ones that make the halls look "grungy." Having come from another urban apartment community in Seattle, I actually found Penrose to be quite nice.. the halls are very wide and hotel-like. I don't think the halls smell bad either. Quite frankly, I've seen worse.. a LOT worse.
As far as the noise level... being on the third floor, yes, I do hear my neighbor upstairs walking. Yes, I hear flushing toilets and water running through the pipes occasionally. Yes, I hear people walking through the halls or down on the street below. But to me, this is all part of urban living. Aside from when my upstairs neighbor walks excessively heavy, it doesn't really bother me at all.
Maintenance: I entered three maintenance tickets and the maintenance department addressed two of them the next day. One is currently still outstanding because apparently it relies on an outside vendor. For a community that is only two years old, I'm not sure why the window seal is tearing away from the window frame nor why my bedroom window crank would be broken already. But then, I have no idea what the previous tenant might have done, and don't care, as long as the maintenance team fixes these issues for me expeditiously.
Overall... I'm very happy with signing a lease with Penrose. I love that Giant is located on the first floor of the community. I also love the valet trash removal -- you simply place your trash can outside your door by 8PM and it gets emptied overnight. While not directly located by a metro station, Penrose does have a free daily shuttle service that will take you to Pentagon City Metro. Most of all, I love the urban feel that isn't over-populated by 20- or 30-somethings but that the Penrose demographic also seems to have families. More than anything, you cannot beat the location!
Max of 2.