This place is terrible. The elevators are always broken and, while the maintenance guys are friendly, this building has so many issues it takes them forever to fix an issue and they never actually fix it because the place is too cheap to invest in proper appliances. The garage pours water when it's raining. The leasing office literally could care less about you being unhappy with anything. Front desk people are very kind. read more

The location and views are great but this is about it. The leasing office is good at convincing you to get in, but ridiculously unresponsive afterwards. They basically never reply to emails and never process administrative requests unless reminded 5-10 times to do so, in person. The building itself is really old, things break down all the time (heating, elevators, gym equipment, etc.) and all windows are leaky which makes winters truly painful. The night shift concierge was taken away but rent stayed the same. There are no dishwashers and rooms get unbearably hot in the summer due to the absence of A/C units in most of them. In its current state, I would recommend avoiding this place. read more

Location is great - the building has skyline views of the city, the Charles, and is a few steps from Kendall Station. If you need to be on MIT campus it could be a good choice. Across the street is a long bike path leading up to the bridge into the MGH area. Kendall isn't known for nightlife. The immediate exterior and building grounds are well-appointed. There is a small garden walk that is enclosed and private, and give that zen feel to the building that is difficult to find in the city. The gym is sizeable and while not among the best I've ever seen in the city, it has an excellent view of the river and the T station. If you're into architecture, the building was designed by an MIT engineer and if you need incredible silence in a city environment, the "walk up" units are unique. Memorial Drive looks like it was once a great building. If you look at some of the photos it was probably the nicest place you could get in the 90s and early 2000s. One of the major problems with the building is it hasn't been renovated in years. The kitchens are very old. The appliances are worn down. Most notably, the lighting throughout the building is dimmed down to a low, hard white light. Accentuated by the brick walls and electrical cables, the hallways tend to feel more like the insides of a submarine than a classy skyscraper. This lighting effect impacts the bathrooms and the kitchens, which again are very dated. My experience was not great: I spoke to someone in the leasing office and had some difficulty recovering a deposit. I still haven't heard back after a long wait and a lengthy back and forth email chain where someone went on vacation, was locked out of their system (what?), and just generally was unresponsive. Mileage may vary, I guess. Personally, I feel that my security deposit was kept unjustly. There were a lot of deals being offered at the time, but I still felt that the current prices of the units can't really hold up to the same priced buildings nearby that look to me to be less than 10 years old and very well kept. I preferred 3rd Square and the Lofts, just another 100 feet away. If shooting for the budget side, you might be better with a local landlord. read more

Excellent location close to MIT Sloan Management School and red line Kendall Square station. My apartment faced directly the river. The view of Boston skyline is so fantastic! The concierge receives packages 24-hour and is very friendly. Everything worked very well, except the heating which was more than enough during the winter months. But at least I did not suffer from cold! I would give the apartment and the community 4.5 based on the price /quality ratio. Heating and carpet (I am allergic) took that half point down. read more

100 Memorial Drive - View from my apartment - Apartments Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

Shitty and super old apartment. Irresponsible leasing office - they ignore your emails and don't do any work. Heating is broken all the time. read more

This review is for the interaction with a member at the Front Desk who seems to be extremely rude with just about anyone he can! I have had bad run ins with this person more than once but I was a bit more calm in future interactions because I think he has a mental disorder (serious!). Several other people talked to me about their interactions with him too. I wonder if the management is reading this: Why would you put him in that position of facing off with a lot of people!?! You are risking a bad situation both for him and the another person given just how angry people can get these days. Better to be careful and avoid a totally avoidable future situation. read more

100 Mem Drive is by far my favorite place that I've lived. The views are spectacular, with large windows on both sides letting in plenty of natural light. The apartment feels much larger than its square foot count because the space is very sensibly organized. The carpet is comfortable and everything feels clean and nice. The fitness center has good ellipticals and is never too crowded. The desk workers are friendly, Tom from the leasing office is helpful and easy to talk to, and maintenance has promptly fixed the couple issues I had. I'm sad to be moving out this summer and I hope whoever takes my apartment next loves it as much as I did! read more

We have lived here for three years and love it. Beautiful views, prime location, all at a price very reasonable compared to surroundings.

I've lived here for nearly two years and my time here has been basically fantastic. If I weren't leaving the state, I'd almost certainly have renewed my lease. This building admittedly doesn't put its best foot forward. If you're just looking outside or in the apartment hallways, it looks a little bit run down and dark. But don't let this fool you, the rooms are bright and big! My roommate and I got a great deal on a 2 bedroom with a ton of natural light and a nice balcony. The positives: we had a ton of space, staff was really friendly, it was extremely close to almost everything you could ask for (and if it wasn't, it was a block from the train, so you could find ways around that), the health club (pre-COVID) was really nice, and there's a lot going on. The negatives: the kitchen is small with fairly outdated appliances. This is done to keep the rent lower, but my oven was faulty a lot of the time and that could get grating. There's also a lot of maintenance, which can get inconvenient at times. I really have loved living here and aside from those negatives, it's been great to the point where I compare every apartment building I look at to this one and most are pretty unfavorable. There's a lot of great community, convenience, and space for a low rate in one of the priciest housing areas in the country. It's a great deal read more

Location is very close to Sloan Management School and red line Kendall Square. My apartment is at the corner so the living room directly faces the river. The view is so fantastic! The concierge receives packages 24-hour and is very friendly. The manintenance team usually responds in 1 or 2 days after I submit a request. The heat in the living room is not as good as the kitchen and bathroom, but at least the heat is free. I would give it 4.5 star based on my experience. I believe every apartment is different . If you are on the first or second floor and facing the construction side or the road, it may be noisy. I strongly suggest you tour the apartment first before signing the lease. Or at least ask a friend to tour the apartment and shoot a video for you. It will be extremely helpful for you to make a decision. read more

I have lived here for four years. Spent most of the time in a corner apartment with fantastic view (not many units in this building get to have large river-view windows on two walls of the living room, one looking directly across the river and captures the entire Boston city skyline) - which is why I stayed here for so long not wanting to leave. This four-star review is based on my own experience here - I imagine that one could have quite different experience depending on which unit you live in. I'll start with the cons: - No in-unit washer/dryer makes laundry experience quite unpleasant (my unit is especially far from the laundry room), especially if you have already been used to in-unit washer/dryer. (Fortunately back then I moved from a building without in-unit W/C anyway so the adjustment was not that painful.) - This is an old building. The kitchen is mostly not modern - no dishwasher (not a problem for me because I don't use it anyway) and no microwave in my unit. There was once in the winter when the heating stopped working which was terrible. - Noise problem. Well this depends on the unit you live in. The unit I spent most of my time in has actually been fine probably because it is at the end of the building so I don't get to hear many neighbors. I lived in another unit for a while and have occasionally experienced more annoying situations when people are partying at midnight. But overall for me this hasn't been too much of an issue. Then the PROS - despite all the above cons I still love this place because: - THE VIEW. Well, I am biased here because not every unit in this building has the same view as my unit - on July 4 I never bother to enter the sky room lottery since the view at my own balcony is probably better. But still, a more typical river view of this apartment is still pretty good. - Location. If you study at MIT (especially if you are in Sloan/Media Lab/Econ etc.), there is literally no other place that can beat this place location-wise. If you work somewhere close to the Redline, this place is still pretty good since its so close to Kendall. - Pet-friendly. Maybe it's just a Massachusetts thing, but I really miss it here that you don't need to pay extra pet deposits and rents. Also I initially don't like the carpet here thinking it's hard to clean but later I started to have pets, and I now miss the carpets since it is more cat-friendly, I think. (Hardwood floor is too slippery for my cat.) - No *surprise* charge when move out. I was expecting to lose at least some of my deposit but nope, they refunded every penny to me. (It is impossible that I leave everything in its original condition after four years but they are just not picky, I guess.) - Not much extra rent if you go month to month. A lot of apartments have ridiculously much higher month-to-month rent compared to a long-term lease, but here it is just $200 more, which is super convenient for my situation when there was just a lot of uncertainty about my move-out date. - The front desk people are nice and helpful. Maybe you won't tell this in your first interaction with them, but after so many years I can tell that deep down they are all very good people - and many of them stay here for a long period of time and know this building very well. I don't know how long this building will continue to exist before MIT eventually tears it down and builds up something new. I will certainly miss it here! read more

Lived here for a couple years. Terrible experience. Entire building staff is extremely unhelpful, especially Tom in the leasing office. Building is in terrible condition. Poor design. Needs a renovation! read more

Corporate Greed and unfair practices is the lasting impression we have of this apartment community. From the on-site manager to the Regional Manager at their Corporate Office, they ignored reasonable points of contention that were brought up, and refused to acknowledge their OWN mistakes. I will not recommend these apartments as they place profits over student clients. My son and 3 friends moved into these apartments in January 2021, as their nearby college was not fully opened up for housing. I co-signed as all were just starting out and did not have a qualifying income on their own. Because the occupancy at 100 Memorial was low due to Covid-19, they were given a move-in special offer with over a $1,100 discount in total. They all agreed to the terms, which included their intended move-out date. They provided a security deposit to lock in the offer and terms. They then received an email confirmation from the on-site management. After we made calls to order rental furniture, utilities, and renter's insurance, 100 Memorial Apartments then rescinded the move-in offer taking the discount away. The explanation was that the length of lease that was agreed upon did not qualify for the move-in special. The four room-mates were too far along in the process and had already stopped looking for other apartments, and therefore felt they had to accept this or lose their deposit. Also, as all four room-mates were coming from four different states, they had no time to regroup and look at other alternatives. Airfares and travel arrangements had already been booked and paid for. As the lease was very short (slightly more than 90 days), the room-mates believed that at the time of move-in that the on-site management was already aware of their move-out intentions, on the last day of the lease. The four room-mates did submit their notice to vacate, however it was not the full 30 days prior to the intended move-out. I contacted the on-site manager and explained the misunderstanding by the four room-mates and he refused to consider working with us, not even willing to split the difference of days (11 days). I explained to him that I thought it was unreasonable of him to hold the four room-mates accountable in light of the fact that we never once pushed back hard on their "bait and switch" move-in special that they rescinded once they received the deposit. The on-site manager said that they sent notices to all four-room-mates to remind them of the obligation to submit the Notice to Vacate at least 30 days prior to actual move-out. I then asked him to explain why I had not received the same reminder notices, as I was the co-signer and financially responsible party. He had no reply to my question. I most certainly would have ensured the notice was submitted the full 30-days out. The four-roommates were wrapping up their college studies and working on finals during the last few weeks. Had I been sent the same reminder notice regarding the Notice to Vacate, it would have been sent in that very day. As a co-signer, the apartment community failed again and overlooked my pointing it out to them. I am a believer in working out a resolution with the parties involved, however in this case I realized I would need to go to the DOLBEN corporate office. I emailed the Regional Manager and explained the situation to him, and made it clear I was looking for a reasonable and fair review of the matter. The response received was cold and typical corporate. He also acknowledged that his staff reached out multiple time to the room-mates. He didn't acknowledge my question in my email to him about why "his staff" didn't include me in their communication to the room-mates. He didn't acknowledged that his staff should have included me on such important reminders, as I was the CO-SIGNER of the lease. The one whose financial data was used in order for the four room-mates to qualify in the first place. The Regional Manager also did not acknowledge the "bait and switch" that HIS STAFF pulled off, locking the room-mates into the situation where they felt that if they backed out they would lose their deposit. I do understand written contracts and stipulations related to Notice to Vacate requirements. Not disagreeing with that at all, however these managers fail to recognize their own mistakes and thereby hide behind "corporate" figures. The managers cited "fair housing and transparency", however they made big mistakes and don't see their hypocrisy. Insult to injury: 100 Memorial Drive, deducted the "insufficient notice fee" of $1,125 from the room-mates overall deposit. The fees they deducted were for the remaining days of the insufficient Notice to Vacate days (11 days). And they calculated the amount they took based on a substantially higher Month to Month rate, not based on their lease amount, knowing full well the room-mates were already gone. That is greed over fairness. read more

Our daughter and her roommate had a wonderful experience at 100 Memorial Dr. Josh S., the property manager, was so helpful and accessible through the application, move-in, and move-out process. Emails and phone calls were always returned promptly with detailed answers to questions. The girls always felt safe, and the community facilities were beautiful. I would highly recommend 100 Memorial Dr. read more

I've been living here for 6 months. I haven't regretted the decision to move in! ------------------- Good things ------------------- 1) Close to MIT. It is less than a 5 minute walk to my work, which is pretty awesome. It's also close to shops and the T, and a convenient walking distance over the bridge to Boston. The MIT food trucks are also less than a block away, in case you are too lazy to cook :) 2) Obviously the view! Even on the lower floors! The large windows (facing south, at least for us), allow so much light in, even on cloudy days! 3) Responsive staff. Be kind an courteous and the staff will do the same. Let's face it, no one wants to deal with rude and demanding people. There are many people in this older building and things are bound to break, so give the staff some time to address your concern. They will get to it and try their best to resolve the problem. They fixed a problem with our heating and oven within a couple of days. 4) Community feel. The staff puts on bulding-wide events like a fall bbq and a winter holiday party! ------------------- Bad things ------------------- 1) The insulation. The windows are single paned and heat is lost quickly. Do your part and buy some drapes for all the windows. They will help warm up the apartment faster and will keep the heat in better! 2) Kitchen. It is tiny. There is very little counter space, so be prepared to buy one of those counters with wheels or not cook that much. The one thing I love about it is that the cabinets are all metal, so you can stick, for example, a digital thermometer on the cabinet door above the stove. 3) It's pretty expensive. Getting a parking spot costs extra but is very convenient. Getting more keys costs extra. Laundry costs extra (2.25 for wash, same for dry) 4) As others have said, the doors. There are drafts in the hallways and doors slam if people don't stop them. There are a couple of people on my floor whose doors slam HARD (often at midnight) and it gets annoying. This is a matter of people being aware of their surroundings, and there's not much you can do about it. 5) On the same note, there are some neighbors who still don't know how to co-exist with others. For example, some smoke on their balconies or right outside the building. In the summer with the windows open, smoke tends to get in our apartment. They also tend to throw cigarette butts off their balcony and with a gentle wind, the butts tend to land on our balcony. Ugh. ------------------- OVERALL ------------------- It's a pretty great place to live so far. Heat and hot water included. Electricity costs us about $20-$50 a month. Not sure how it will be in the summer with no AC, but we do have a window AC unit so it shouldn't be too bad. read more

Aside from having one of the best possible views onto the Charles river and Boston itself and a very nice, convenient location within the city of Cambridge allowing for easy access to pretty much anywhere in the area and with only one minute to walk in order to get onto the red line subway station, there are many negative things which are to be heavily weighted and considered before signing a lease with the management of this community. First off, the management doesn't care much if at all about people's comments. Recently, and for the 5th time in the past couple of months, the building has been faced with plumbing issues. As usual, because of the plumbing work, each resident, including myself received a memo about the work being done again. But every memo states that the work as to be complete. And because it has been attempted so many times, many residents started to write on the memos which were placed in the elevators that they have had enough with it and every time such comments were written, they had been taken down my the management team as an act of sole censorship which I find disgusting considering that they aren't the ones who can't shower in the morning because of the water being cut. Keeping in mind that people pay an absolute fortune to live in this building, I also believe that it should be better maintained. The materials used are very cheap and its very easy to hear your next door neighbor's door bell ring right through the wall along with the numerous doors slam at all hours, which all generate quite a disturbance. The third-party concierge team is great though and are in most cases very helpful. Which I could say the same about the management team which tries to charge residents for any kind of service possible. You lock yourselves out of your apartments: $50. you need an extra key: $5. You lose your laundry card: $10. Its absolutely ridiculous. And you can also consider that the central air doesn't work well, and that the plumbing is absolutely horrible, and especially the toilets which are one of a kind and really, really crappy (pun intended). The kitchens are tiny and the windows are very very rusty, and semi-functional; they also leak an extreme amount of air which is bad in the winter when its really cold and energy-wise, very inefficient. Overall the building is very overrated despite its convenient location. They either need to charge a LOT less per unit or heavily renovate the building, especially the windows. Recently they decided to take it upon themselves to fully replace all of the toilets throughout the buildings with more water-efficient one.. I didn't like the old ones and the newer ones aren't much better, and I'm not the only one who stated that since I've spoken to a few residents about it... Also for some stranger reason, the residents in the building don't seem to respect one another much. Rarely do others ever hold a door or elevator for myself or anyone, or do they not slam their doors at all hours. The door slamming is actually one of the main issues with this building. People constantly slam their doors... And that is very very loud. I've definitely had enough of this building and look forward to moving somewhere else in the near future... read more

100 Memorial Drive - Apartments Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

I've been waiting for residents of this place to write reviews but for some reason no one is contributing. So I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and do it myself. I lived here for several years and I can say that everything but the view sucks big time about this place. It's old, stinks, roaches and spiders infested, expensive. Management team is a bunch of assholes. Our monthly rent went up by $150 after the first year, and then by $200, and then by $400. Yes, it is right by the Kendall T and the view is great. But not worth it at all guys. read more

I've lived here for a total of five years: 2011-2013, and 2015-2016. I mainly lived here due to the location; I was an MIT student during the first run, and a BU student during the second run who needed easy access to the Red Line for part-time jobs. Tom in the leasing office is your guy. Try to interact solely with him, and you'll generally have a great stay. The good: - Cheapest apartments in the Kendall Square area. Yes, a 1-bedroom will run you $2200-2500, but a block down the road, you have Third Square and Watermark trying to charge $2800 for a 1-bedroom. - Lovely views of the Boston skyline if you have a river-facing apartment. - Skyroom is gorgeous and a lovely place to get work done. - Nice, warm central heating. I've never had a problem with the heat, although my roommate did claim that she wasn't getting much in her room. - Relatively nice bathrooms with hot water and good water pressure. - Super easy leasing process. No hidden fees on our end. - Kendall Square T station is a 3-5 minute walk away (1 block). - Very community feel - there is Halloween trick-or-treating, Thanksgiving dinner, Fourth of July BBQs, and various other resident events in the skyroom. - Higher floors have no pest problems. (If you're on the 2nd or lower floors, then yes, you'll have problems...) The bad: - Lots of construction going on in the Kendall Square area these past couple of years. I was woken up by construction vehicles at 6am every morning in the fall of 2015. - Related to the above: the windows leak BADLY, both sound and air. In the winter, to keep my drinks cold, I would just place them on the windowsill. It was the equivalent of placing them in the fridge. - Older facilities. Kitchens especially are very dated (gas stoves, no dishwashers, metal cabinets). - No central AC. Install your own window unit or you're SOL. - Lockout fees are $50 each time :( - Rent hikes in recent years (although this happens everywhere in Kendall Square, not just here). My 500 sqft, 1-bedroom apartment went from $2200 to $2500 over the course of 2 years. That may not sound like a lot to some people, but $300 on top of an already-hefty rent is significant for me. - Workout room closes at 11pm. Most apartment complexes have 24/7 rooms, but not this one :( read more

The building felt very old and definitely needs a remodel. Also agree that the leasing guy, Tom didn't really sell me on the building.. Ended up getting an apartment in another building close by in much better condition for about the same rent. read more

I lived here for 2+ years. The building is a ~400 unit apartment complex with a quirky design where there is a hallway only every third floor (2,5,8,11) and most apartments have stairs up or down immediately after walking in the front door. There are dozens of different apartment layouts in the building, many of them rather strange with stairs in the middle of the living room. Many of the apartments are on the small side for the number of bedrooms, but the space is used efficiently. In the 1970s this was a hip place to live with a wait list managed by MIT. Now it's under long-term contract with a cutthroat management company (Dolben) and they're trying to squeeze every dime they can from the place. This means high rent and shoddy maintenance, which really spoiled our experience here. Due to Dolben's management, you can expect eye-watering rent increases (think 8-10% a year). They'll occasionally offer 1-2 months free rent to move in, which lowers your payments for the first year but worsens the shock at opening a rent increase letter at renewal time. Factor this into your budget when you're deciding whether to move in, unless you're a 12 month only tenant. You can decline to renew, but you'll pay another 15% premium to go month-to-month while you look for a new place. The other downside of Dolben's management is shoddy maintenance. The super and his team are pretty responsive to major outages, but there are ZERO facility improvements. Examples: (1) The heat was out on average about 5 days per winter. This, combined with the ancient, drafty windows meant the bedrooms were cold enough to see your breath some mornings. (2) There are only 3 elevators for ~400 units, one of which is a freight elevator. During the summers, there's almost always an elevator out of service, which turns the building into a de-facto 12 story walkup unless you're willing to wait 8-10 minutes for a free elevator. (3) There are persistent water leaks in some of the hallways. Every month like clockwork someone will come and spackle the plaster, but they never actually fixed the leak in two years! The kitchens are mostly galley-style with limited storage and cooking space, although some of the larger 2-3BR units have eat-in kitchens. It seems like every month or two someone sets off a fire alarm and empties out all ~400 units onto the parking deck. Inevitably this happens at midnight when someone comes home from the bar and forgets they've put something on the stove. It's especially fun in January. Noise is a persistent issue. The front doors are heavy and slam unless you're careful. Your life here will be punctuated by door slams. The more problematic noise comes from the balconies and patios. During the summer many people are on the balconies late into the night, and the noise echoes into bedroom windows (which of course are open because there isn't any A/C). For units closer to Memorial Dr. there's road noise, particularly on the lower floors. On the positive side, this building has a generous-sized laundry and common areas. The roof deck and "sky room" can be reserved for reasonable rates, and the laundry has plenty of machines. Parking was ~$150/month when we lived here with plenty of availability. One of the major positives and negatives is the location. It's only a block from Kendall Square and in the middle of MIT, which is great for students and local employees. It's also one block from the red line and a couple of bus routes. However, Kendall Sq. basically shuts down at 6pm, so in the evenings you're out of luck if you need a snack, groceries or household stuff. The closest drug store is the CVS in Central Square or across the river on Charles St, both of which are a T ride or 20 minute walk away. read more

My roommates and me love living here because it is close to river and red line and campus. But this winter the heat became a very huge problem and even though the staff tried hard to fix the problem it didn't get fixed and now I don't know what to do. There is often no heat! And many banging from the heating system that can hear all oer the building. My friend in another room can hear it on different side of the building. They say it is fixed, but the noise keeps happening and heat keeps turning off and on. I don't know why it does not fix. I don't know why staff don't offer discount. *EDIT* If noise and problem stop then I will change my rating to five star! read more

I'll admit, I kinda didn't want to move in here. I had spent so many of my recent years at MIT, why would I want to spend any more in Kendall when I could join the hipsters in Central...or the...hipsters...in Porter...this town is full of hipsters, huh? Anyhow. The last review had a few comments that I think are worth speaking directly to. I don't normally do this, but an apartment is a big purchase, and it's worth getting alternate opinions on things like this. Firstly, the doors in this building slam because they slam. It's annoying, yes, but that's just the way they are. My roommates and I try our darndest NOT to slam my door, but it just has just the wrong weight and is just the wrong strength, and 2 of 3 times we come home to a huge kerBLAM! - caused by us. I always chalked that fact up to it being an older building - they're heavy, solid doors, the sort you don't see much nowadays. It'd be nice if they could install door-softeners of some sort, but I wouldn't dream of calling it a reflection on the community here. Moreover, I've never notice any hint of coldness from the people in the building. In fact, there seem to be more families and elderly people here than in other places around town (and the friendly door staff are a big part in keeping spirits generally high, even in the winter.) It's not the neighborhood feel a street in Central or Porter would have, but it's far from sterile. (If you want sterile, try the MIT graduate dorms....) But I digress. This guy's gripes are fairly well-placed - this building has a lot of weaknesses. Too many, for the price you're paying. Nevertheless, I've always found them to be pretty reasonable in dealing with them. A number of these issues stem from the simple fact that the building is old (...quite old - I think built just after WW Two), and they've been slow to completely replace things, instead trying continual repairs. For instance, the elevators break down constantly, and I suspect need replacing. However, there are three of them - and I know they hire overnight repair crews as soon as more than one breaks (at an enormous cost), to ensure that all three never break at the same time. The water system was a horrible ordeal, and the office could have handled it better - but the work always got done when they said it would (and is now largely replaced). To me the more important stuff is individual unit repairs anyway - and for my unit, they've made all unit repairs, no matter how big or small (from fixing leaky faucets to changing light bulbs and adding window shades) within 2 days or less. The place isn't energy efficient, yes, but the rent includes all heat - so just crank up the heater, and if you're feeling moral, buy some carbon offsets to make up for the waste. ;) Finally, if you can hear your neighbor's doorbell, it's probably less because the wall is thin, and more because they are, quite possibly, the loudest, most obnoxious doorbells money can buy. (Maybe my unit has better walls, but the only thing I consistently hear is my neighbor's doorbell.) My unit briefly had bathroom roaches, but they hired Terminex overnight, and I sympathize with completely wiping roaches from a 60 year old building.... My friends and l have assorted grumblings, but by far our biggest common gripe is the money. (In fact, I think we'd complain less about the other things if the place cost less.) The fees here are absurd. And the rent, even moreso. Don't get me started on the rent hikes. A T-stop or two away you could rent a 2 bedroom a few blocks from the red line for the price of a 1 bedroom here. You're paying a premium for the location - and pretty much only for the location. (The staff is great, the service is great, but let's face it, there are places in this town you could get this sort of 24-hour manned building and a new television monthly for the same price.) I think there's also some premium for having a 24-hour doorman in Cambridge - it seems very few buildings exist in Cambridge with the doorman thing that someone from, say, New York City might expect to see more often. Is the location worth it in a town with such great public transport? For most people, probably not, especially if they've lived here a year already. But for an MIT student new to town who doesn't feel like paying the even MORE absurd rent at Watermark and just wants to focus on classes, it's definitely worth considering. It's a good "safe bet" - and sometimes it's worth being "ripped off" as a price of convenience. In fact, while you're spending so much, I'd actually look into getting a higher floor - I seem to hear more complaints about lower floors, and I'm beginning to wonder if a high concentration of students increases some of the problems on those floors. (Unfortunately, not everyone treats this building with respect...) read more

Please avoid renting an apartment here. The doormen are never in the lobby and when they are they are rude and won't even acknowledge you to say good morning.They are also in charge of receiving packages but when you ask for them, it seems to be an annoyance and they treat you like crap. The building is super noisy and insecure. Even the smallest thing will get stolen from you. Once I forgot my phone charger in the common room, when I went to pick it up after 2 min, it was not there anymore. The only person in the room was the doorman on his dinner break. Administration is also rude and useless. They only treat you nice when you are about to sign a contract. Otherwise they won't pay attention to your complaint like smokers (not legally allowed here) or too much noise. I just received my renewal contract and rent went up $150. Considering how poorly the building is maintained, there is no reason for you to pay the extra money. There is barely heating during the winter. Had to buy a space heater for my bedroom and pay lots of money on electricity. The hot water in the shower can randomly stop working during the winter. Maintenance will come 1 month later and leave a note saying there is nothing you or them can do about it. I am getting out of here as soon as my contract is done!!! Can't wait! Plenty of other places with better facilities and equal prices. read more

It's really sad to see that people are writing bad reviews about this place. 100 Memorial Drive Apartments is a hidden gem in Cambridge. Hands down the best place to live in Cambridge. One if not the only places who does not ask for realtor's fee, because other building complexes do around the area. The views is worth a million dollars, and you are able to work out looking at the Boston skyline have or host parties as well in the playroom which has free wifi and a whole kitchen and patio to use. The apartments' design is amazing, obviously it was designed and engineered by MIT. It makes very efficient uses of the spaces and it's gorgeous. People might not understand but there is a lot that goes behind this kind of design, which is in a way very unique and beautiful. I have been living here for 3 months and want to live here forever, the doormen are so so nice, so thoughtful and respectful. The management has always been quick and very responsive to any requests. Also the management believes in creating a community in the building they host different parties for residents to come to with free food! Oh- something that's not mentioned in any reviews is that this building actually has two beautiful open spaces one of them with a stunning gazebo looking to memorial drive and another green space with a playground for kids. Overall, this place is amazing. I would suggest for you to come and be blown away by it in person! read more

The concierges and front office staff (in particular Tom) made living here a difficult experience. The appliances were all extremely outdated and we actually had to wait until one of the coils popped on our stove and shot a hole through a frying pan to get a new stove. Our shower and toilet were broken for almost 2 weeks at one point and they made us use a bathroom in an empty apartment down the hall. All the common room furniture is cheaper than IKEA furniture and the "gym" is one piece of a 1970 total body gym equipment with 3 treadmills. This used to be an MIT dorm that they are trying to pass off as luxury living. The concierges will treat you like you're a 19 year old freshman when you bring people in the building. I had to start using the back or basement entrance when I had guests over because some of the concierge were so embarrassing to deal with. We would get noise complaints when we weren't even in the apartment or if we were on the patio after 9pm having a conversation. The Fourth of July view is awesome, if you are one of the only 10 units in the building they let up to the rooftop. The front office people are so fake, like used car salesman and some of them live in the building so you can guarantee someone is always watching you. The windows aren't insulated and howl badly at night. In the winter you better have a space heater because no heat gets insulated in the rooms and the windows create a draft. They hiked the rent prices way up over the years I was here too, larger increases than other buildings nearby. Save the headache if you want to live in Kendall, there are a lot better options, don't choose 100 memorial drive. read more

Good location and great view but not worth the price (if you think the prices are competitive when looking at their site keep in mind the rent goes up 5-10% every year). If you're a college kid and don't care about things like noise, running water, or decent heat you'll probably be fine, but for everyone else I'd suggest looking elsewhere. read more

The view, right on the river, is terrific, and the location so near Kendall Square is very convenient. In general the building is well maintained, but it is old, necessitating periodic shut-down of electricity, water, or elevators, sometimes for a whole day. read more