Aldentowers (alden park manor)

I have been asked for advice by a friend who has a son moving to Detroit and is frustrated by the lack of downtown apartment availability for a quick move in...a job interview led to a hire for a May 15 start date.

I thought of the Alden Park and know the management changed recently [[same company who is apparently renovating the Town Apartments on Bagley)...does anyone know anything about the management or the renovation of the building...security, etc? The Town will apparently be coming available soon but no dates as of yet.

Thanks!

I don't know. I took a quick look on craigslist, and this place turned up. It is a smaller building, which to me is nicer, and it's much closer to Downtown. I wonder what it's like to live there these days. The location certainly has nothing but upside potential, but my perception of the place from years of driving by is that it's anything but upscale-- or even medium-scale.

http://detroit.craigslist.org/wyn/apa/5535798551.html

Downtown/Midtown core availability has been very scarce for some time now, and prices have risen greatly. I think those major employer move-in incentives worked too well! At any rate, with both Strathmore and Forest Arms [[just a few blocks north of the embedded map's edge) opening in May [[still, I think) perhaps those additional units will relieve a bit of market pressure.

http://goo.gl/1nvbDt http://goo.gl/ieai3Z

He needs to live right Downtown, or along Jefferson? When M-1 [[aka QLine!) starts running within everything along Woodward up to New Center and a bit beyond theoretically all becomes same/same.

You do know about this resource, right? Even though it doesn't always seem completely up to date [[and it categorizes Jeffersonian as "Downtown" which of course it is not) I still think it's a good basic resource for newbies to give them a general idea of what's where. Note especially its search by neighborhood feature. http://midtowndetroitinc.org/live/rent

If he doesn't find a suitable place in time, might keep airbnb in mind. Sometimes rates get slightly better by the week, or even for a full month.

Alden Park has, I understand, improved quite a bit from where it was a few years back. But the buildings are aging and were neglected for a while, so it's been a rather long road back. Not helped by the fact that the place is huge, so that all that work takes a while. But I understand that the renovated units are quite nice, retaining the charm of the older amenities like hardwood floors, etc. with updated systems and appliances. The building has security and the area is reasonably safe, with the usual amount of urban care. My 90 year old father lives nearby, and he hasn't had any problems.

There are a number of other apartment buildings in the immediate east riverfront area you might also look at. Many of them are condos or coops, but units are often rented out by owners. The surrounding area is mostly residential [[one of the city's best neighborhoods is immediately to the north). The beutiful and improving Belle Isle Park is very nearby. Despite how it often seems labelled, this area is not downtown though and you will probably need a car to really get around. There is a kinda OK small supermarket right down the street, but for anything else you would need to go a little ways. Towards downtown there is a larger supermarket and a couple of large drugstores. Downtown is about a 10-15 minute drive away.

I'm familiar with the options in the area, thanks Al for your info on the APT complex...I knew a lot of people who lived in the complex years ago...all have moved on or in some instances passed on. There were two or three APT complexes built in the 1920's...I think one is Boston, not sure of/if the other ever was built or still exists.

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Originally Posted by detroitbob

... There were two or three APT complexes built in the 1920's...I think one is Boston, not sure of/if the other ever was built or still exists.

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Exactly. There are three Alden Park Manors. In addition to ours in Detroit there's another in Philadelphia, and a third in Brookline, Mass. While not identical to each other, they're clearly closely related.

I haven't been in Alden Park since the 70's, but they were beautiful apts back then, I know some folks who still live there and while they've been dis satisfied with some of the progress and management in the past, they are still there and love their unit.

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Originally Posted by preserve

I haven't been in Alden Park since the 70's, but they were beautiful apts back then, I know some folks who still live there and while they've been dis satisfied with some of the progress and management in the past, they are still there and love their unit.

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Alden Park went through a downturn during the recession years. They had a lot of petty, and some not so petty crimes happening. I do hope they turned it around now. I had a job rehabbing part of it in the early 70's. The place is spectacular compare to the overpriced cracker boxes going up these days.

I don't want to speak negatively about them but I would just be cautious if planning to move there. A couple months ago I signed a lease on an apartment. Everything seemed fine when I checked it out during the day. However, I moved in during the night and when I turned the lights on there were roaches crawling around in the sink...

I'm not sure if they have any units left, but The Forest Arms in Midtown is doing move ins for first floor apartments in May

Judging from the reviews on Google, and other apartment review sites, one should by-pass Alden Park Towers and look for other opportunities. The Google reviews seemed to consistently point to elevators not working, power going out for days at a time and parking scarcity.

While negative reviews are commonplace, especially on the internet, the remarkable consistency of complaints over a span of years point to pervasive issues within management.

Although, DetroitBob, if your young friend does decide to move to Alden Park Towers, maybe they could join the forum and start a thread about living there. I know I would read it.

Older reviews are not favourable, new show improvement but overall not a go, imho...