Colonial Village Apartments in Arlington (Columbia: wood floors, low income, apartment complexes)

[TB44]

Hello message boards!

I am moving to Arlington in two weeks for work and have been looking all over for apartments. I like the price of the Colonial Village Apartments and the location is amazing for a young 20 something looking for good night life and access to metro. I also understand that these are rather bare bones apartments and lack many of the luxury features of nicer places. Can anyone tell me their opinions of Colonial Village? Pros and Cons? Is there a monthly parking fee?

Thank you so very much!
Keith

[Gekkota]

I work for an agency that assists low income Arlington residents, and Colonial Village is one of the apartment complexes with many subsidized housing units.
Same with Gates of Ballston, Buckingham Village, Columbia Grove, etc.

You may want to read some reviews of different complexes, especially if you are looking for cheaper apartments. Some have issues you may want to be aware of before signing a lease....bedbugs, etc.


Colonial Village Apartments Ratings, Reviews, Map, Rents, and other Arlington apartments for rent from ApartmentRatings.com

[boyd888]

There is a reason why they are so cheap and that's because most of the units are assisted living (low income housing) which means they are basically the projects of Arlington. You likely won't even be able to live there if you make more than like $45K a year as a single person. I think they do have some market rate units, but really if you can afford to live in a nicer place do it.

[PK12]

One of my friends lived in Colonial Village last year, he fits the same demographic as you and chose Colonial Village for the same reasons – as did a number of his neighbors.

The apartments may not look very appealing from the outside but otherwise theyre perfectly fine, kinda old but generally pretty well-kept.

Once you have scoped out the community yourself, I’d say go for it.

[Opacy]

I live in Colonial Village. First off, there is a distinction between Colonial Village apartments (Wesley Housing Development Corporation - Home) and the Colonial Village I, II, and III neighborhoods. The former are indeed subsidized housing as other posters have mentioned, while the latter are condo associations that are managed by individual landlords. From what I understand, if you're looking at an apartment managed by Wesley Co., you're looking at a subsidized/affordable housing unit. Any other landlord, and you're looking at a rented-out condo. I don't think the subsidized apartments are that bad - they got renovated recently and I walk by that neighborhood all the time without any problems.

The condo associations are quite nice though. Lots of young professionals and a few young families, and very safe. The quality of those individual condos vary wildly though, depending on your landlord. Some units are completely renovated (wood floors, high-end appliances, granite countertops etc.) and others look like they haven't been touched since the 70's. There are really only a few downsides:

- Most of the condos were built in the 30s and 40s, so they are pretty small (but then again so are the new modern apartments they're building across the street...)
- Washer and dryers are not allowed in any of the units as far as I know. Something to do with the whole neighborhood being a historical landmark or something? There are laundry rooms in a lot of the common areas, but a lot of times you have to go outside to access them. It can get annoying to do, even more so during bad weather.
- No reserved parking. Some of the condos have a shared private lot, but again, no reserved parking AFAIK. You can get a street pass from Arlington County to park along the zoned streets 24/7, although if you come home late at night (say 9 PM or later) you can be SOL on finding any spaces nearby.

Overall though I love living here. Colonial Village is probably the best value in Arlington.