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My significant other and I are considering moving to this complex. We looked at it recently and loved it. We are in our late 20s and have professional jobs. We are quiet and respectful tenants.
I checked out apartmentratings.com and saw some concerning reviews. I was wondering if anyone on this site has lived there or visited people there and could comment. I know to take online reviews with a grain of salt, and that most online apartment reviews are negative because the people who are happy don't bother to post, but the two issues that kept coming up over and over again that made me concerned are:
1) PARKING. Is it an issue or isn't it? We will need 2 spaces, and it was unclear whether they would be tandem and how much hassle was involved. They told us that there is no guest parking but that guests can park in a public lot across the street, which we drove through and it seemed fine. However, a couple of reviews mentioned that it was not well lit, a far walk (looked short to us!), and was unsafe. Would my guests feel uncomfortable walking back to their car at night? The area seemed safe to me!
2) Noise. We've lived in a bunch of other apartment complexes and we've never had issues with being bothered by noise. I don't think we're that sensitive to noise, but the reviews seemed to give the impression that the noise was much more than a typical apartment community.
Also - I'm curious about how bad the traffic is on 95 going to work in downtown Providence in the morning between 8-9am.
Any other comments/reviews welcome! Thank you!
Last edited by palmtree13; 05-01-2011 at 04:56 PM..
My significant other and I are considering moving to this complex. We looked at it recently and loved it. We are in our late 20s and have professional jobs. We are quiet and respectful tenants.
I checked out apartmentratings.com and saw some concerning reviews. I was wondering if anyone on this site has lived there or visited people there and could comment. I know to take online reviews with a grain of salt, and that most online apartment reviews are negative because the people who are happy don't bother to post, but the two issues that kept coming up over and over again that made me concerned are:
1) PARKING. Is it an issue or isn't it? We will need 2 spaces, and it was unclear whether they would be tandem and how much hassle was involved. They told us that there is no guest parking but that guests can park in a public lot across the street, which we drove through and it seemed fine. However, a couple of reviews mentioned that it was not well lit, a far walk (looked short to us!), and was unsafe. Would my guests feel uncomfortable walking back to their car at night? The area seemed safe to me!
2) Noise. We've lived in a bunch of other apartment complexes and we've never had issues with being bothered by noise. I don't think we're that sensitive to noise, but the reviews seemed to give the impression that the noise was much more than a typical apartment community.
Also - I'm curious about how bad the traffic is on 95 going to work in downtown Providence in the morning between 8-9am.
Any other comments/reviews welcome! Thank you!
Know knothing about it, but are you sure you want to live in West Warwick?
Yes, we found the area fine for our needs, it is right off Bald Hill Rd., it seemed very safe, and we love being close to a Trader Joe's. The apartments are gorgeous.
I can't say anything to the parking, etc, but your response to the traffic will depend on what you are used to. I don't think it's too bad, I commuted to downtown for quite a while, my wife still does. yes, it's heavy traffic, but it's not beltway or Manhattan traffic...
WW pretty central to the state, and there's a Whole Foods in Cranston. No the commute isn't that bad compared to other areas. There's also some quick express buses into the city, perhaps near there, at park n ride.
Thanks all, I appreciate the feedback. German Spy, accurate starting prices are listed on the Royal Mills website ($1200 for 2-bedroom including heat and hot water).
Being a resident of the town and having to drive through it quite often (sigh) I'm greatly dissappointed with it as a community, town government, and SCHOOL systems. I guess if your not raising a family here you can ignore some of the daily frustrations if you wish, but I work in and around Providence and live not too far away from where you are so I will try to address this question. You may already know this by now, but the area is way too congested. If you go anywhere near Bald Hill Road/ 117 its a traffic jam. If your commuting to Providence on 95 in the morning LEAVE EARLY, every so often there is an accident and the people here must stop and gawk at it slowing down five other lanes to a halt. Its rediculas here it really is.
The city of West Warwick is struggling with their town budget and the taxes are predicted to go up (as if they were not high enough). Keep your cars registered somewhere else (word to the wise). I find alot of people in West Warwick to be rather introvert or anti-social or just plain freakishly wierd (if not blatently rude and tatoo'd) or the opposite SNOBS that think they are living in Beverly Hills. I can go on forever, but to stay on topic here are the pros. Its located in a good position to everything yes (if you like chaos and long lines) but its pricey too. You can get to Route 37, I95, or 295 rather quickly and easy (if you like long lines and chaos). If you speak Spanish as a second language you may assimilate much better as the language barriers will be lifted with MANY of your neighbors, store clerks, businesses, taxi drivers, landscapers, children walking by and so on and so fourth. You can get to movie theaters, malls, the airport, and the beaches relatively easily ( if you like chaos and long lines). Rhode Island does have alot of beauty to it (elsewhere) and yes you can get to it all from the Royal Mills. Now about the other Hazards of the Royal Mills. Look, I don't want to get into a debate over it, but just do a hystorical search of the property, go online yourself. I sincerely doubt its a major health hazard at this point, BUT it was once a TOXIC area and that stuff is STILL in the EARTH without question. How bad I don't know, but cmon they were mills that once throttled the industrial age of America when it was great once! Now its all over in China. So anyway, your in a centralized location to start, just stay clear of Artic if you can help it, don't have many dealings with town officials, and stay alert as the crime rate is VERY HIGH in the town with regards to petty thefts, burglary, assualt, and the occasional murder or two. Don't believe me google it yourself and get the stats its all right there for you. If you are into sight seeing, you hit the jackpot becasue you can get to things all over RI as the summertime really opens up with alot of festivity abroad as well as gettting to outside the boundries of RI to Boston or Foxwoods or Newport, the Cape, or hell NY if you feel up to the challenge. If its a temporary starting point, it should not be too bad for ya. Good luck and stay safe. You'll have to excuse my sarcasms I've just been here too long.
stay alert as the crime rate is VERY HIGH in the town with regards to petty thefts, burglary, assualt, and the occasional murder or two. Don't believe me google it yourself and get the stats its all right there for you.
Googled it. The national median for violent crime is 4.0 - meaning your chance of being a victim of violent crime is 4 in 1,000. At 2.33, West Warwick is lower than that and lower than the state rate of 2.57. That's just the tip of the misinformation... I couldn't find a murder rate listing, beyond 0 for last year. I would guess there's probably a couple every 10 years and they are certainly not random.
Listen, I lived in West Warwick for years. It's a small town whose economy was based on the mills and it's struggled. It has a lot of apartments, some of them pretty run down so it doesn't have a great tax base. Being right on the bus line and close to a lot of stores, Artic has always attracted poorer residents. And yes, some losers.
But I think every town in RI has a section like Artic - a downtown that was killed by the malls and mill housing or old apartments that have seen better days. You can't rule out a whole town because of that. West Warwick isn't even THAT bad, but is the poor relation to its neighbors Coventry and East Greenwich, Cranston and Warwick.
I do think Silver Lake Patriot has a point that you could pick a better town than West Warwick if you had children and were concerned about their education. Even then, I think a determined student with an attentive parent can get a good education anywhere.
I wish I could tell you more about living at Royal Mills. I've walked around the grounds there, and been in the lobby and it's really an interesting looking place, but I don't have the personal experience of living there. In my walks, I've never found it to be loud there.
The traffic on Rte 95 is what it is. It's not any worse in or around West Warwick. If you're commuting from Providence, which I do daily, you'll enounter heavy traffic during rush hour on a regular basis but once in a while it will get really tied up in a stop and go mess. Pretty much what you probably expect.
It will probably take you 25 minutes to get home to Royal Mills, sometimes more.
And I really don't know what Silver Lake Patriot is talking about as far as needing to speak Spanish. West Warwick doesn't have a high Hispanic population at all - 3% in the last census. West Warwick has a more signifigant Portuguese population that has a festival every Labor Day, and also sizeable French and Irish populations (and has a St Patrick's Day parade that ends maybe 1/4 mile before the Royal Mills)
So, anyway in my estimation - pros: right on the Greenway, interesting apt building, central RI location. Cons: the town struggles economically (but that may not really impact you) and the location of the apartment is on a busy road.
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Very scary review of Royal Mills ---
