The Chesterfield Apartments

After living in houses for a couple of decades, found myself wanting to try out an apartment in the Central West End. I found the community living in the complex to be nice people, lots of cute dogs, the maintenance guy and the property manager all good people. The location is great. For these I would give the place 4 stars.
The apartment itself was seriously outdated with counter tops probably installed in the 1980s, range too, and the refrigerator is not full size, even though a full size would fit in the space designed for a refrigerator. The screens were all in poor condition, the windows ridiculously drafty with huge air gaps, and the floor sagged so poorly that the exterior brick was visible along the bases between the carpet and the drywall.
They say they have a pool and they do, at another building down the block. However to call what they have a pool is a stretch. Maybe someone might like to do laps in it, but not worth preparing and walking two blocks. It was not a pool to lounge around. The entire installation is just weird. The secure parking gate was stuck in an open position for several days weekly, so I wouldn’t call the parking lot secure, but nothing ever happened to cars in the lot, that I know of, when the gate was wide open for several days in a row and frequently.
A unit without laundry is very reasonably priced. The downside is that the washers and dryers do not work well and there is at least one resident who would trash the washers every time (why and how, I have no idea, but disgusting), so not only was laundry inconvenient, but it was expensive with the need to run things more than once and the machines were hard on the clothes. The cost of a unit with laundry is significantly higher. If those units are as outdated as the one I had, I would suggest looking elsewhere, as there are many places with brand new counters and appliances (granite, stainless), hardwood floors or new carpets, etc. that cost the same or less.
A final point is one I learned after moving to the apartment: your auto insurance will increase significantly (e.g., 50%) when you live east of Skinker. Just an FYI.
Overall, these apartments can be a good option, depending upon what matters most and least to you. The manager is excellent, so no worries there.