The Blairs

Current Resident 243394

Verified Resident • 2014 - 2017

The complex is convenient to a grocery store, dry cleaning, some food places and very close to the metro to get throughout the DMV area. Complex is pet friendly, but there is a monthly fee for it. Apartments are nice, but not the most affordable in the area.

Current Resident 243184

Verified Resident • 2008 - 2016

I would spend less on appearance of grounds and community and more on the residents. Location is great. Concierge is pretty good but office staff are rude and not responsive. My apartment flooded 5 days straight and they would not reimburse and were very rude. Overall, the rent is getting higher but I am not getting good value for living there with a lot of inconveniences including pests and floodings in my kitchen. I also have to deal with washers and dryers not working and being worried that the apartment is not safe for my pet.

Current Resident 242879

Verified Resident • 2016

Community is very nice and in convenient location near Giant, CVS and downtown Silver Spring. Very secure area and wonderful leasing staff. Few minute walk to the Silver Spring Metro station Red line. A bit pricey compared to other communities but well worth it.

Current Resident 242756

Verified Resident • 2014 - 2016

The Blairs is great- lots of amenities, friendly concierge staff, and great for our large dog. The location is perfect, only takes a few minutes to get to the metro. Large balconies in some of the units and updated kitchens. Dog grooming station in the building we use regularly.

Current Resident 238932

Verified Resident • 2016

From the first time I toured this building I loved it. The staff is very friendly and the grounds, apartment and common areas are beautiful. Our apartment is so spacious. We have only lived here a week but I can tell that we are really going to enjoy our time here!

Current Resident 238775

Verified Resident • 2016

So far I have nothing but poor experiences with the leasing staff, including dishonesty about timelines (you couldn't tell me you wouldn't be in the office on monday?), dishonesty about procedures, which made me have to lose a half-day from work, and even the inability for staff to use their own file systems without losing 75% of the docs we had sent. The apartment seems pretty nice, but every apartment does, until you can break it in a bit.

Current Resident 237458

Verified Resident • 2016

This is a very very friendly community, with many shops right across the building and a beautiful park view on the other side. The concierge staff and leasing staff are very polite and helpful. Downtown being just 5 min away makes life simple. Not to forget the Metro which is a stones throw away.

Current Resident 236892

Verified Resident • 2016

My roommate and I are still in the middle of moving in but our experience thus far with the Blairs has been nothing but positive. The concierge staff has been extremely helpful with answering all of my questions and helping with my move in. I truly appreciate their assistance and can't wait to learn more about the community.

Current Resident 236884

Verified Resident • 2014 - 2016

I am very satisfied with living in The Blairs East and would highly recommend it to others, especially due to the location. It is very close to downtown and the metro, which I find extremely helpful. The staff is very nice and they keep the grounds nice.

Current Resident 236751

Verified Resident • 2015 - 2016

Wonderful place to live. I'll stay here for several years. The service is excellent and close to everyplace! I am very exited to live here. I love The Blair is pet friendly and This is too important for me. An other thing I love The Blairs is that it is closer to cultural interesting places!

Current Resident 236749

Verified Resident • 2016

I chose the Blairs because of Elicia and the wonderful leasing staff. It's very convenient to shops and restaurants! Very close to metro and Marc to travel basically anywhere!! The concierge and coffee machine is also an added plus! Love it

Current Resident 234797

Verified Resident • 2016

Wonderful community with a professional staff, and plenty of options and incentives to lease here. The location is convenient to retail, entertainment, public transportation, and the surrounding area. Green initiatives and pet-friendly too!

Current Resident 234468

Verified Resident • 2015 - 2016

I love living at the Blairs. The livestyle program is also very good. And the apartments are very spacious. Next to the metro, downtown Silver Spring and very secure. Love it here. Although I would like also a few more apartments with 3 bedrooms instead of two. I would recommend these apartments to everybody.

Current Resident 233909

Verified Resident • 2014 - 2016

Cons: Quiet most of the time but depends on your luck, if the neighbor is loud, the wall is extremely thin. Even normal conversations can be heard. Poor enforcement on no-smoking policy. Very poor elevator quality during 2015-early 2016. Elevator issues got fixed after people's complaints for a couple months this year. Hopefully they will stay functional. Pets-friendly, but there is a weird small piece of rug (not the full-floor rug) in the elevators which makes the animal hair residuals hard to clean up. It makes the decoration very gross and cheap. Yes - cleanliness and normal operation of the elevators, which everyone uses constantly everyday, seem to be the biggest issue of this building. Front-desk staff's service attitudes vary, but you can expect the basic function of package handling with no problem. Most of them do take notes about individual questions or concerns. Oh - and a pool that is forever closed for construction... I don't expect to see it anymore. With all these problems, please do expect your rent to increase about 3-6% every year. Pros: Location convenience to metro, groceries and restaurants. Free coffee every morning. No extreme frustration other than thin wall for neighbor noise experienced in my studio unit during the 2+ years of my stay yet.

Current Resident 229401

Verified Resident • 2016

I fill safe. It is near everything I need, the place is clean and quite. The people in the office gave me all the attention and help during the time of leasing. I would like to suggest that vacuum cleaners could be provide - for rent. My flat has carpet and it will be difficult to stay without one. As some people rent the apartment for short periods, this facility will be very good. Until now everything was perfect.

Current Resident 229345

Verified Resident • 2015 - 2016

Older complex = larger apts than others in area for same $. Great location. 5 min to metro & downtown Silver Spring. Frequent elevator issues; inspection expired 2015. Many new move-in offers but beware as they expire when you renew. Residential manager not responsive.

Current Resident 229225

Verified Resident • 2016 - 2017

I moved from New Jersey to Maryland for a government job in Washington DC.When searching for a location to live my Son was helping me remotly look for a place to live. He came across the Blair's online said its close to the Metro you dont need to drive just walk. So I toured the facility and liked the community and chose the Blair's very happy I did. I have been living at The Blair's since April 2016. The Blair's is a great community walking distance to everything, everyone is so pleasant and so helpful.

liszt85

Resident • 2015 - 2016

When I first toured the property, it was great. I was captivated by the features they advertised: the bike room, accessibility to the metro, spacious units, fitness classes, etc. They also seemed like a responsible company. All of that changed as soon as we moved in. These are some of the issues we have faced so far: 1. We were not informed that our unit faced a construction site. The unit I saw was a different one before I left the country and I signed the lease remotely since I was coming back into the US from another country. It is extremely noisy and it starts at 7am (or sometimes slightly earlier than that). 2. The blinds are low quality. So bedrooms and living room are EXTREMELY bright during the daytime. Our toddler is unable to nap well in the afternoon. They said they couldn't do anything about those blinds. There are other units that have higher quality blinds (we've seen our neighbor's blinds) but the maintenance guy told us that the Blairs stopped stocking those ones because of the higher cost. 3. The maintenance guy also told us that it gets exceedingly hot in the summers due to the blinds being low quality. We believe that because it can get hot even in the winter when there is sunlight blasting into the apartment through those low quality blinds. We're bracing ourselves because the summer is almost here. Fortunately, electricity doesn't run too high, so we should be able to blast the A/C. That doesn't solve the brightness issue though. 4. We were not given a parking spot when I brought my car to the Blairs. Many others (including my neighbors) had the same issue. We had to wait more than a month to even get a spot. All that time, we had to go get a signed pass from the leasing office every three days! We were told that we would need to go check with them about availability of parking spots because that was OUR responsibility. That was the first time I spoke sternly with the leasing office. When they saw that they couldn't lecture me about my responsibilities because I was going to call them out for their inability to take responsibility for things that they promised me when I had toured the property, they backed down. I finally got a spot after more than a month of waiting. 5. I got a spot - right near Giant. Guess what, customers of Giant think those spots belong to Giant since the numbering for the marked spot (the markings are almost fully faded btw) starts with a G. The security guy told me that he's been telling the management forever to take care of the issue. Their response? Tow cars. Yea... they tow the cars and shift the problem to unsuspecting Giant customers. I went in to the business office (I have a small video clip of this) one day to report being unable to park in my spot due to Giant customers parking in my spot. I told him that the fault was with the Blairs for not having signs up there. His response? He called security and told him to tow any car that parked in my spot. Eventually, I pestered another guy in the business office and they gave me another spot away from Giant. I can finally just come home from work and park in my spot that I pay $90 a month for. 6. The dishwasher broke. The maintenance guy told me it would take them 2 weeks to get us a new one. It ended up taking closer to 2 months. Unacceptable. Don't fall for the first impressions. For this kind of money, I am sure there are better places to rent. Also don't fall for the lifestyle stuff. They have small gym rooms just like other places. Some people do take advantage of the yoga and other fitness classes. If they are that important to you, why wouldn't you just rent a cheaper (and equally nice apartment with a less preachy management) and pay for fitness classes that you can attend on your own schedule? They didn't even give us a programmed key to the bike room by default. We had to go in to do that and wait a couple of weeks to get access. The only pros are metro accessibility and being near downtown Silver Spring. We plan to move when our lease ends. I wish we didn't have to because of the cost of moving but given the problems so far, I think that money will be money well spent. P.S: The "holier than thou" attitude of the business office would be much more tolerable had they practiced what they preached about responsibilities. If you guys are reading -- PUT UP SIGNS FOR THE PARKING SPOTS NEAR GIANT. There is a woman who commutes to Baltimore everyday and comes back home to find her spot taken. She cries almost every single day, according to your security guy. If you can take all this money from your tenants, and $90 a month for parking, you need to ensure we can park in our spots!!! You guys have been stalling citing the winter weather. Now it's warm enough. What's your excuse? I still don't see clear markings for those spots. Also, manager, please don't ask me to call you and speak with you about my concerns. I've done that multiple times and haven't gotten a satisfactory response. This review is detailed enough for you to take the necessary steps to uphold your part of the lease that you have your tenants sign. You have to realize that you are in breach of that agreement every time you fail to provide a service for which you are taking payments.

Current Resident 228135

Verified Resident • 2015 - 2016

I had a good experience except for the elevators malfunctioning all of the time and noisy elevators that I could hear from my apartment each time they moved. All in all, the people were nice and the location was perfect if you ride the metro. Grocery store is right there.

Current Resident 226743

Verified Resident • 2015 - 2016

Absolutely fantastic! Been almost a year and I have very, very few complaints if any.My only issue is fairly new; someone is smoking weed and it's seeping into my apartment which is bad because I have horrendous asthma. Everything else has literally been on point!

Current Resident 226041

Verified Resident • 2016 - 2020

I wish to see a more friendly and caring management team . the maintenance is very poor and I very sad to see how now social networking events are organized. they are organized when most of the residents are at work. At the business office there is a lady that I do not cite her name who is not friendly and not helpful at all

Current Resident 225983

Verified Resident • 2016

We have just moved in, but are loving the Blairs so far. We moved from out of state & Sean in the leasing office helped us make an easy transition. If there's one thing about the Blairs that sticks out, it's how accommodating they are. We had some pretty tough apartment criteria when searching for a place to live, and the Blairs was extremely flexible in catering to us.

Current Resident 225885

Verified Resident • 2015 - 2016

Overall, it has been a good experience. The renovated apartments are nice (haven't seen the non-renovated ones), and I think the value is good for the space - especially compared to some other apartments in the area and in Northern Virginia. I have some concerns about the attention that the office staff actually gives to current residents - they seem more focused on getting new residents in. But I haven't had any terrible experiences with the office staff; just a few instances where I think they have given dishonest responses, but to relatively minor inquiries. The building overall has had a lot of maintenance issues with its elevators. That can be extremely frustrating. But I have been very impressed with the responsiveness of the maintenance staff whenever I submit a request for my particular unit, and they do a good job!

Current Resident 224067

Verified Resident • 2015 - 2016

The Blairs is in a very great location, which makes it a very attractive apartment complex. Overall, the apartments are nice with nice bathrooms and well-equipped kitchens. Easy metro access, but also garage parking for residents with cars.

Current Resident 505475

Resident • 2016

I just moved in and I want to move out! Simple things that need fixing take days, the business office never answers the phone or returns calls, heat and not cold air from AC during hot days (!), the elevators don't work all the time. I can hear my neighbors' pets at night because the walls are not thick enough. The only good thing is having the metro close by. I will look for another complex in the neighborhood.