Windsor at Oak Grove

I love this apartment complex and I love the location. You can’t beat it! The staff is super friendly and accommodating and maintenance request are completed promptly. I would highly recommend. One thing, buy the parking spot if you plan on coming back late at night — parking spots are non-​existent past 10pm on a nice evening. Definitely worth the small fee to ensure you have a spot!

I have been living in this place since 2007 and never had any problems until it went under this new management. My boyfriend’s car was wrongfully towed and management said they will not reimburse me for the money spent on the tow. Not only that my apartment and a few other people in different buildings have mice, roaches, and bed bugs. For the amount of money in rent we spend this is absolutely unexceptable. I am extremely disappointed in the service of the new management and will be moving as soon as I can.

This apartment complex is simply amazing. Seriously, anyone who complains about this place probably is just over life in general. We have been here six months so far and it’s by far the nicest place we have ever lived. Here are some of the reasons we love it.
1) The most beautiful landscaping in all seasons, nice seasonal floral arrangements near the building entrances, and a nice peaceful vibe. It is always so quiet, and the courtyards are great. We love to just walk around the property together sometimes, and there is a great park right across the street.
2) Extremely responsive maintenance staff. Seriously, they go above and beyond and fix anything quickly (we even had one come on Thanksgiving once for a non-​serious issue since he was in the building!) I don’t think I’ve ever waited more than 24 hours. They really take pride in making all of the apartments in tip-​top shape. For example, they completely replaced the carpet before we moved in.
3) The apartments themselves are modern/​updated with large windows and lots of light.
4) Personally, I love seeing children, dogs, etc. around the property. There is a great community vibe. The office hosts all types of events like holiday socials, beer tastings, paint night, etc. Sometimes a taco truck comes too. I think there is a book club here too. Even though I’m too busy to participate in many, it’s nice to see residents connecting.
5) Great clubhouse that you can take advantage of with free coffee, etc. There are really so many little perks. Like they have dry-​cleaning pick up you can do straight from the office.
6) I love the businesses here. Ocean House sushi is sooooo delicious, and Jitters the coffee store is great. There is also a cute little wine shop. It’s nice having things right across the street in walking distance.
7) They do an excellent job with snow removal, and having underground parking for $ 50 a month, you basically live like royalty. No shoveling= winter bliss.
8) Nice walking path to the t, I use the orange line to commute and to just have fun going into the city on weekends. The complex is only a few stops on the t away from the assembly shops/​movie theatre. Melrose is also a nice little town.
I’ll stop now, but let me just say it actually makes me sad to think about leaving this place one day when we buy a home.

Still rats… One just scurried by. After my last review management finally put down traps around the complex. I noticed a lull for a while but they’re back once again. I’m guessing management stopped caring about the issue.
Dumpsters are constantly overflowing all over the place. Maybe 3 pick ups per week just isn’t enough.
Also beware of move in promos (free month of rent, low rates) followed by steep 15% or more rate hikes when it comes time to renew.

I wanted to provide an update as we have been there a few months now. We truly still really love it here. A little bit of a parking problem has come up but they are handling it swiftly and, in my opinion, the best way possible so no complaints there!
Also, they’ve done really awesome things like adult only pool hours every day which is just phenomenal. I truly feel like the leasing office really cares about the people that live here, which isn’t always the case at larger communities like these.
Still very, very happy here :)

The best decision we’ve ever taken since we came to Boston! The management and maintenance teams are absolutely amazing and so much helpful whenever any resident needs anything. The walk-​able distance to the T station is a BIG plus besides the greenery outdoor areas and pathways.

The living experience at Windsor deserves an A+. Do not give any credibility to the negative reviews on Unilocal or other sites. If I had done that, I would have never moved in and I wouldn’t be writing today as a satisfied customer.
My wife and I lived at Windsor from ⁴⁄₂₀₁₄ to ⁴⁄₂₀₁₅. We had a great customer service experience from day 1 with Mike and his colleagues in the office. We rarely needed to bring anything to their attention, but when we did, they were very quick and effective with their responses and actions. I’m primarily speaking about a situation where my wife dropped nail polish in the bathroom that broke and sprayed all over the wall and door. I asked the office for the exact paint color so I could take care of the situation on my own. Mike not only gave me the information I needed, but provided the paint and service free of charge.
We were never able to hear our neighbors through the walls or ceilings, and we never saw bugs or rodents anywhere on the premises. The only time we were able to hear our neighbors was when they were in the hall near our door. That is perfectly normal for any apartment building. Living in the complex made life very easy. The utility costs were extremely inexpensive month to month compared to living in multifamily or single home apartments. The rental price is right where it should be for Melrose and proximity to the T. You have the ability to park underground during the winter for very cheap. I would have paid 10 times more than they charge this past winter. The fitness center was also a very nice amenity.
The reviewers who post negatively about this place should have brought their issues to the attention of the office. If you need something living in Windsor, you have to learn to ask and speak to the employees. If you are complaining about rental costs and increases, you are being disingenuous. No tenant in the greater Boston area should have expected their rent to stay as is over the last 5 years, regardless of management changes, etc. All the reviews about «dogs and water costs being forced on the tenants» are ridiculous due to the fact that you sign a lease that explains your rights. Remember you are renting, not owning.
All-​in-​all, this was a great living experience and would be for all walks of life. Melrose is a great city to live in for anybody.
–Joe S.

We’ve been here a full year now, and it’s easily the best apartment complex around Melrose. Having access to a pool, gym, lounge, and the covered parking is absolutely awesome.
The rent is a little expensive, but the apartments are great, and the location (being literally at the train station) is great for someone who frequently makes trips into Boston. Staff is also very helpful and friendly.

It’s about time that someone reviewed Windsor at Oak Grove without giving it either 1 star or 5 stars, but call it what it is– a decent place to live for young professionals that commute to Boston for work. The 1 star reviews are absolutely ridiculous and unnecessarily critical, while the 5 star reviews make it sound like daisies will grow out of your butt if you move here. I have lived here with my wife for almost 3 years and this place has its definite positives and negatives. I live in one of the Phase I buildings. It sounds like people that live in the newer, Phase 2 buildings have had a more positive experience than me, so keep that in mind. Here are my list of pluses and minuses for Windsor at Oak Grove:
Pluses:
— 7 – 8 minute walk to the Orange Line with a dedicated, lit path to/​from the Oak Grove Station is fantastic.
— One, secure garage parking space is included in your monthly rent
— In-​unit laundry
— Fantastic, responsive maintenance staff
— Cordial, but not overly friendly office staff
— Newly remodeled fitness center in the clubhouse is one of the nicer gyms that I have seen at an apartment complex
— Nice outdoor pool and seating area for use during the summer months; however, the pool is usually overrun with kids. Very few adults, other than the parents of said kids dare to venture in
— In general, the complex is nicely landscaped and maintained; however, I have noticed recently that there are a ton of cigarette butts lying on the ground, at least around my building. There are no ashtrays outside of the building for smokers to leave their cigs in. This would be a cheap fix for this problem.
Negatives:
— The buildings were constructed as cheaply as possible and have poor insulation. This means that your unit is freezing in the winter and beastly hot in the summer, driving up your utility costs. This also means that noise from your neighbors is a problem. I clearly hear conversations that my next door neighbor has, and I have even heard my upstairs neighbor speaking. When we first moved in, we had kids upstairs from us, and our ceiling would shake every time they would run around the apartment. Thankfully, we have new upstairs neighbors now, but be warned that if you have kids, or just loud neighbors in general, either next to you or upstairs from you, you might have a poor experience here
— Since GID/​Windsor took over the property, the cost of living here has increased tremendously. Our rent shot up 5% ($ 100 a month) at our last lease renewal, and I am anticipating a similar increase for our upcoming renewal. In addition, tenants are now responsible for water/​sewer costs, where we were not under the old owner/​manager. Luckily, we were grandfathered in for this year, but will be responsible for water costs at our next lease renewal
— While the complex has security, I’m not exactly sure what they do. If you walk around the complex, you’ll notice many cars parked there without either a resident sticker or a visitor pass. I have seen several people use the outdoor lot by building 6 for MBTA parking with no repercussions. The former security company would at least patrol the complex and leave notes on the windshields of cars that didn’t belong there. That no longer happens. As parking around the complex tends to get difficult during the warmer months, this needs to happen again.
— Again, I find the office staff perfectly cordial, but I do believe that they handle «big events» poorly. I agree that allowing dogs in several buildings seemed forced upon the residents here. Luckily, I am in a building that doesn’t allow dogs, but I would not be happy if I was living in one that did. I also know that the office staff held several meetings about the break-​ins that happened here about 18 months ago, but we have no idea how this issue was resolved, if at all.
— The kitchens in the Phase I buildings seem cheap with the laminate countertops and white appliances, and I’m pretty sure that the microwave, fridge, and oven are the cheapest GE models that you can buy. They get the job done, but if I’m paying $ 2k a month in rent, I expect a little more for my money.
All-​in-​all, I have had a good, but not great experience living at Oak Grove Village/​Windsor at Oak Grove. I will most likely not be renewing my lease again as I expect to be moving out of state, but even if I were staying in MA, I believe that the cost of living here would soon become too much to be worth it.

The service in the office here is extremely impressive. When we were initially looking for somewhere to move, I was drawn to this complex because of it’s location to the Oak Grove station. We visited and were shown around by Lindsay, who was very friendly and sent us a nice postcard saying thank you for checking out the property. Unfortunately, when we decided to go ahead with renting there was a small miscommunication about the base rent for the apartment and when we went to sign the lease, the cost was different from what we had expected. They were very understanding and willing to compensate for the mistake, which is a big indicator of how much they care about their residents. We only noticed the mix-​up two days before we were supposed to move in (so all of our utilities were already set up) and after we had already signed the reservation receipt (but not the lease), and we are very aware that they could have adopted a «too bad» attitude as some of the other management companies in the area seem to sometimes have. We’ve spoken with one or two other employees as well and had excellent interactions each time.
The property itself is beautiful and right next to Pine Banks Park, which is awesome for people who like to run (it’s a great area to run in general but they also have a nice new track that is open to the public… huge bonus points). Possibly my favorite thing about the apartments in general is that there is laundry in the unit! No more lugging laundry hampers down the hall. There are also some cute little shops on-​site (coffee place, wine shop, and maybe a little spa?), and they are adding a sushi restaurant which we are really excited for.
I’ll update this review if anything changes, but so far Windsor at Oak Grove is hugely deserving of 5 stars.
EDIT:
We’ve been living here ~8 months now so I thought I’d update this to say that we are still very very happy with this apartment (as in, at least once a month my boyfriend or I will comment on how much we love living here and how grateful we are to have found this place). I’m surprised about the complaints of noise in adjacent units – our building may be a bit newer than the others (?) but this hasn’t been a problem for us at all. Our upstairs neighbor even kindly told us that his dogs like to run around sometimes and to text/​call him if the noise bothers us, but you can BARELY hear anything even when they’re sprinting around full force. As for hearing people talk in the adjacent apartments, that hasn’t happened even once. The only con is the price, though even that seems pretty reasonable considering it is such a short walk to the T. For the area and convenience, I think what they’re charging is fairly standard.

I’ll be sad to leave this place. I’ve lived here since 2009 and have had no complaints. The apartment I live in is lovely — stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and I particularly enjoy the second bathroom with the glass encased stall shower. The ceilings are soaring with great sized windows and we have a view out to the river and path that runs behind the buildings.
The fitness center is on the small side, but well-​appointed for an apartment complex fitness center. The media room and club house are also quite nice. Both can be rented out for a small fee.
The grounds are always well-​maintained. The staff does a fantastic job shoveling in the winter — I have never had trouble getting in and out, even during this past (terrible) winter. There is a lot of green space for the small area and we are across from Pine Banks Park where there is a great new cork track and fields, as well as hiking trails.
The pool gets great sun in the summer, there are grills in green areas to BBQ, and the path behind the apartment has doggy bag stations for cleaning up your pet waste.
Walking distance to Oak Grove orange line train to get you into the city or walking distance to Melrose center for a suburban town center. Easy access to Melrose-​Wakefield Hospital.
The former staff was good, but the current staff are fantastic. They’re friendly and helpful, and have answered several late night emergency requests (we had a faulty carbon monoxide detector), and have helped out even when they didn’t have to – Once I dropped the lid of my coffee maker behind our oven and had NO IDEA how to get it and one of the crew members retrieved it and left helpful instructions for the next time.
The neighbors are friendly — there’s a great mix of families, older couples, and single professionals. No raging parties (at least that I’ve heard), mostly a quiet suburban apartment complex. There is, however, construction going on off of Washington Street (and there has been for at least 8 months), so every weekday morning you do get a 7:30 ish wake up call. Only complaint in 3 years? I’ll take it.

I moved in to this complex with my boyfriend in June 2013 and have had a fantastic experience! The management has been nothing but responsive and professional with us. We were even given a free underground parking space b/​c they realized that above ground parking was getting too tight for residents! Talk about fantastic costumer relations.
I love dogs but do not have time for one and thus, am not living in a dog-​friendly building. I’m also a really light sleeper so I didn’t want to introduce an additional potential element of noise. I have to say that I rarely hear dogs barking when I am walking, and there is almost never any mess on the sidewalks or anything. Great maintenance.
I also love the stores and restaurants that are located within the complex. It’s not cheap to live here, but for the same space and amenities in downtown Boston, we would be paying 2−3x the price.
I am applying to schools right now and depending on the outcome may not be able to renew my lease, which makes me very sad. If I do stay around the area next year I will definitely stay, but am looking into getting a larger place within the complex.
I highly recommend this complex and cannot imagine how someone could have a serious issue with management or anything unless they were relatively difficult people.

I’m not quite sure where some of these other negative comments are coming from? Dogs without leashes, low class, and rodents??? Some folks will complain about anything and embellish the reality of their experience to legitimize their delusional complaint.
This place is a fantastic place to live. My wife and I are both young professionals which seems to be the majority of folks living here. Young professionals with families. The management has always been nothing but extremely friendly to both myself and my wife. They are very professional and don’t hesitate to fix an issue. There are building which allow small to medium sized dogs. I have never seen or heard a dog bark during the day or in the evening. It’s mostly pretty quiet. The walls may not be sound proof but rarely I heard some faint unrecognizable murmur through the wall. Its not as if you can hear a conversation just a muffled sneeze which is absolutely expected from any apartment complex.
This place has plently of green space and is extremely clean and well kept.
Yes they even have grills in some of the green spaces. I’m sorry but who doesn’t enjoy grilling out during the summer months for friends and family? Guess we are just a couple of low class redneck professionals enjoying our stay at very nice and quiet complex

UPDATE 2: So we left a while ago. There are some things to look out for. The new management is definitely the nickel-​n-​dime type. I’m not sure about the long term prospects. The building is aging and the focus seems to be on squeezing out the most money from it.
Things to look out for
1. Water/​sewer charges. Make sure they are going to use market (city rates) and not their own rates
2. Ask for their miscellaneous charges (changing locks, charging for lost keys, charging for entry if you have forgotten your keys). Those add up.
3. It’s not a heated pool, so it is only open a few months in the middle of summer
4. The «pet fee» does not cover wear and tear due to pets — they charge extra for that.
My suggestion would be to look at Riverside (near Wellington) as well as the other new complexes coming up before deciding on Oak Grove.
UPDATE 1: I just learned that they charge a $ 200 fee for new locks when you move in. This was definitely not there 5 years ago and the management was much more liberal. I am somewhat surprised by all the charges the new management has put in place. I suspect that instead of raising the rent, the management is going for itemized (hidden) charges so your effective rent will be a little higher than the sticker price. Still a pretty good deal for the new construction and the amenities.
Part of my reason is to counter a too negative impression people might get from some reviews here. Most of my experience is from the old management.
Old management: They were always friendly to us and were very responsive and personable. Once we had a water logging incident where the down spouts clogged and rainwater spilled into our apartment. At first they did not understand the extent of the problem, but after my second complaint, they really swept into action and treated our carpets and fixed the down spouts.
New management: The new management is a lot less friendly and personable than the old one, but they are professional and efficient. They have put in a bunch of changes (dogs, water meters) which are interesting but OK. I suspect the water bill thing will be annoying. They take good care of the property and run it well.
Pros: Pool, gym, reading room, lounge, package holding, underground parking spaces, new units, very good appliances, very responsive and friendly maintenance. They take care of the property including snow clearing, painting. Very nice environment, a hop away from the T. fairly quiet.
Cons: Not enough/​not well placed trash dumps. They are working on this though.
For the price, they are a good deal.
(For folks who don’t like people who are not white living next to them. I’m so sorry but the 1960s called and they want you back right now.)

We’ve lived at Oak Grove for over a year now, through the management changes, the pet policy changes and the break-​ins. I should emphasize that we did not and do not expect Oak Grove to be the Ritz-​Carlton residences. If you move here thinking your next door neighbor is going to be a Rockefeller, you are going to be disappointed. In that context, I was very disappointed to read the comments here about «low class» people. That kind of attitude has no place in America and, frankly, I’m glad those reviewers are moving out.
Distinguish marketing from reality. Do you really think wearing Axe deodorant is going to have thousands of women racing to mob you? It won’t. These aren’t «luxury residences» a la Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
These are, in our opinion, subway-​friendly apartments in a family-​oriented apartment complex in a Boston suburb. That means kids, pets and noise. There are a ton of different nationalities and ethnicities here. If those things make you uncomfortable, this is not the place for you. If you want a community near the subway that accommodates those, it is worth a look.
We have found the staff generally responsive and helpful. I thought they handled a very tense community meeting after the break-​ins with maturity and calm. In concrete terms, they changed the security company, changed the door locks, did extensive background checks on the staff, involved the police and responded to everyone. Honestly, I’m not sure what more they could do short of placing armed guards on every floor…
I think the management efforts have actually IMPROVED after the ownership change. Landscaping is better, fresh paint is being put down, new children’s play equipment has been provided etc. In general, for such a large (500+ apartment) complex, everything is clean, generally safe, well-​lit, runs competently and allows us to focus on living our lives — that’s really all we asked for. The buildings themselves are aesthetically nicer than the cinder-​block or skyscraper apartments and there are lots of common areas and green spaces.
I wasn’t thrilled about the change in pet policy (we are in a no-​dog building) or the rent increases, but the rent increase wasn’t excessive — and, frankly, rent increases are common to all apartment buildings except the most distressed ones.
As for the person who rented it sight unseen and then complained… Um, I don’t know what to say… Maybe actually check out a place before you rent it?
Overall, I think it comes down to what you expect and look for in an apartment building. For our purposes, it worked fine. Perhaps we are «low class» noisy people with kids. That’s just fine by us.

I would not recommend living here. I rented an apartment remotely and was told the driving commute to Boston was 12 minutes. In addition, I provided the company with my job contract and told them I was looking for a 1 year lease. We did the paperwork remotely as the website and leasing agent seemed somewhat professional at the time. I did not receive a copy of my lease until I requested it in the winter and they had signed me up for a 13 month lease which was not reasonable and not the terms I had discussed. I showed them emails etc but they were unrelenting. Not to mention the managment changed during the year – reflective of an unstable administration.
Living there is a very average experience – it is a 40 minute commute to the city unless you’re driving at 5 am or past 8 pm. The apartment I ended up renting was nothing like the website pictures – no granite countertops and nice steel appliances. The walls are very thin, I heard my neighbor snore all year. The maintenance is average, my dishwasher was leaking all year and was never fixed. In retrospect, there are better places to live and I would not rent without seeing the place and having a signed copy of the contract.