I'm not sure how this complex is receiving such high reviews. Our experience here over the last 2 years has been nothing but trouble. - For a while we were being billed for 2 apartments (and yes, we were forced to pay both invoices). - We started being billed for parking in the outside lot (it was a clause they snuck into our second lease without informing us of the new conditions). - Our car was damaged from the broken glass windows falling out of the un-renovated section of the building. - There was a the major leak in the ceiling of our apartment so when it rained it would rain in our bedroom. - The staff has been involved in numerous unprofessional altercations with residents (one of which nearly escalated to a physical level). - The final straw was the mouse infestation. We've been living among a family of mice for months now. Their droppings are everywhere, they've chewed holes in our walls and cabinets (which management has blamed us for - claiming we must have used tools to make the holes. . . I can't even make this nonsense up). The situation escalated so much that the building let us out of our lease early. Many other long term residents have had major issues with the building and management - a few have hired lawyers. Yes, the apartments look great at eye level but I assure you, living here is more stress than it's worth. You can find far better lofts in the Haverhill/Lowell area for more competitive prices. read more

Monarch Lofts - Yet another dead mouse. Tgis time on our kitchen counters. - Apartments Near Me - Lawrence, Massachusetts

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*** DO NOT CONSIDER MOVING HERE *** I have lived in this building for 2 year and have had nothing but problems. The lease office staff does the bare minimum and tries hard to not help you as much as they can. In the time that I have lived here I have had constant issues with the appliances, with the HVAC system, and with the parking system they have in place among many other things. These errors on part of the staffing and systems in place has caused me hundreds of dollars my time and energy out of my schedule due to the fact that they do not want to invest in keeping the property running smoothly. My most recent issues are regarding the floor on the apartment. The fake wood in place will fall apart after a few months/years. When I moved into the apartment the floor was already in bad shape and slowly but surely has gotten worst and worst to the point that we trip over it and looks horrible, the maintenance team came in to review the floor and they agreed that it needs to be replaced. The leasing office however stated that after a discussion they will not replace the floor and I just have to deal with it or move to a different unit - this is not what you expect from any "luxury loft building". Moving is dreadful and they know this which is why this is the only option they give you. Every time you need something it feels like you are asking them for a favor which is ridiculous. Parking in the garage is extra and you pay per spot. If you have 3 cars and 2 spot you cannot shuffle your cars around. They want to micromanage every single thing you do without offering any assistance of help whatsoever so I tell you again *** DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND DO NOT CONSIDER RENTING HERE *** below are some of the other reoccurring issues you will face living in this place. Your rent WILL GO UP EVERY SINGLE YEAR Even if the market rate is lower for new tenants THEY CHARGE EXISTING TENANTS MORE FOR THE SAME EXACT SPACE The leasing office staff is not helpful AT ALL The hallways always smell like weed Constant loudness and music playing from neighboring units read more

Our one-year stay here had some ups and downs but was, for the most part, pleasant. The facility is always immaculately cleaned and well maintained, the service staff is friendly and the neighbors are too. It seems as though we were fortunate to have an apartment on the sixth floor (PH) with neighbors only to one side. We never had an issue with noise, the occasional TV, slamming door, or voices in the hallway are going to be consistent in any apartment complex and that's no different at Monarch. There always seemed to be a lot of dog feces on or around the walkways and I've witnessed a number of residents who were too lazy to walk across the parking lot to let a puppy relieve themselves and decided instead that a little pee in front of the door wasn't a big deal. One morning I was even fortunate enough to find a pile of dog vomit in the elevator! Management was, however, proactive about this sending multiple emails and fliers about ongoing issues and impending DNA testing if the issues didn't self-correct. This unfortunately detracts from the overall experience of all tenants and sullies the reputation of the responsible pet owners in the building, of which there are plenty. My biggest concern is the office staff. Yes, they are always pleasant, but your chances of going to the office and having it be staffed are the same as getting hit by lightning. On multiple occasions I was greeted by a locked door and a "will return at" sign. Calling and emailing produce similar results... Maybe they're understaffed but the posted office hours don't seem to mean very much even though they'd make any banker jealous. Management seems to have a very poor retention rate as the entire staff turned over in our year stay. All in all, it's a nice place to live. The apartments on both sides of the building are beautiful and are great spaces. One note, the AC/Heat units are large blowers that are fairly loud when working, you'll have to turn up the TV when they're on. You don't pay for heat or AC but you'll see your electricity bill be somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-30% higher because of it, and the large windows and tall ceilings don't do well to retain heat or cold, depending on the season. You could do a lot worse than Monarch, you just have to weigh the pros and cons. Our experience here was a good one, we'd have stayed for another year if work promotions hadn't changed commute times. read more

Even though I do not live here, my experience with this office has been absolutely horrible! My boyfriend and I called a few months ago to try and set up a tour, as we were interested in the lofts. They look absolutely beautiful online. After leaving a few messages and actually going in person a few months ago, no one returned our calls. I was a little skeptical but decided to try reaching out to them one more time. Finally after looking through their website I was able to schedule an appointment via the website. I received a confirmation via email confirming the date and time of my appointment for the tour, which was Saturday, December 6, 2014 at 12:00pm. When my boyfriend and I arrived at the location, again the office was closed and no one answered the phone. Finally, someone came down the elevator with another gentleman and saw that we were waiting in the waiting area and completely ignored us. My boyfriend had to make eye contact with her and say "hello", he told her we had a 12pm appointment, in which she looked at us like we were crazy. She then told us that she would be with us as soon as she was done with the gentleman she was with. After a few minutes, the gentleman walked out of her office and we were waiting for her to come out and greet us properly and invite us into her office. I was wrong. After several minutes, my boyfriend walks into her office and she is just sitting there sipping on her coffee and on her computer. At this point I am so disgusted and disappointed that I didn't even want to see the units. I refused to live in a place where the management office is so unorganized and extremely unprofessional, not to mention disrespectful. When I walked in, she informed me that she didn't have the appointment scheduled and when I told her I had a confirmation e-mailed to me, she shrugged her shoulders and simply said "I don't know". Didn't even offer and apology and you can completely tell by her demeanor and her face expressions that she really didn't care. When I told her that I had left numerous voicemails in the past months, again she replied with the shrugging of the shoulders and the face expression "I don't know". I looked at my boyfriend and said, "lets go, I am not interested" and walked out. And I am extremely happy that I did that because after reading some of these postings from actual tenants, I am not surprised. How are you suppose to keep current and potential tenants happy if you have an office that is unapproachable, and unorganized. The woman that was running the office that saturday, should take a class on Customer Service because she was horrible. Who ever owns or operates Monarch Lofts, should really look into revamping the office. Good luck to Monarch Lofts and their tenants. read more

These apartments were great for me. Awesome price for an excellent apartment. The maintenance staff is very fast to react to any problems. The only issue is that the online portal was a little hard to find. Ask the leasing office. read more

having lived here since the first day they opened I have an excellent overview of what is or rather is not going on here. To make it brief: The entire property is unkept, trash is not being emptied inside and outside of the building, dog feces are all over the outside area, the so called dog run is a dirty, filthy stone pit held together with bend fences, and the very small green area around it is equally as neglected. Lots of units have water infiltration, you can hear your neighbors conversation and shall you encounter any issues with cigarette , pot or other substance smoke infesting your unit do not count on management to resolve it. (Building is supposed to be smoke free). The management is non existing and over the years there has been a constant rotation of it as they have never employed any professionals. The present situation is the worst one ever as the person keeping the seat warm in the office (that is all she does) replies to you :" I do not want to loose any more sleep over your issues"....I think that says it all !!!!!!!! read more

We lived two years at Monarch and I felt it was time to update the review. Since I have a lot to say, I will try and sum things up here in the first paragraph for those who are not interested in reading a page worth of text. Overall we have had a great experience living here. Prices are comparable to other similarly equipped units (rather on the low side actually). It's wnderful that they allow pets, as places like this are hard to come by. The ladies at the office and the guys that do repairs have been nothing but kind. On the BAD SIDE... we got back less than half of our deposit, yet left the unit immaculate. One sconce was broken in the move (though that shouldn't amount to a $270 deduction). We also had an issue with electrical... we were being charge just under $300 a month without the heat or AC running. In our new unit in North reading we are paying just under $100. We asked about the electric bill multiple times. We we blown off. We called asking about our deposit as well. Left two messages without ever getting a call back. In short, our time there was fine. Once you're out they couldn't care less about you. Amenities - Gym: relatively well equipped for what it is and, with the exception of some rude neighbors he feel it is ok to leave weights in the middle of the room and even remove equipment from the premises, there isn't much to complain about. Unfortunately both summers the AC has gone out. The first summer it took three months to repair due to back-ordered parts. Most recently it was out for about a week, likely linked to a near building-wide outage that lasted a day (and required manual resetting of each unit). When something goes missing, it tends to stay missing, and doesn't seem to get replaced. So far the 30# dumb bells as well as the straight bar for the pulley machine are gone. Roof top deck: There is an electric grill up there which doesn't seem to get much use outside of my own, which is rather nice. There is plenty of outdoor furniture to sit or lounge on. Someone even brought up a little kiddie pool for kids/dogs. Unfortunately it's often windy enough for pads and pillows to get blown around up there. This isn;t something that's really controllable, though it is worth noticing. The view is pretty decent, especially in the spring when everything is just turning green. I would have liked to have been closer to the edge as it would provide with better views, but I understand the safety concerns with that completely. Community room: this gets a lot of use, especially the pool tables. I often see it rented out ($50 for three hours) on weekends for parties. If there is a big Sox, Pats, or Bruins game it is also often rented out. Being able to rent the unit is both a blessing and a curse. It's nice because it allows for some privacy, but it's a drag heading down there only to see a sign on the door stating it is rented for a certain amount of time.When sports are in season I generally don't even both. Pool cues are also pretty beat up (last I checked there was only one usable tip), so I recommend bringing your own. Unfortunately the hours were recently limited due to folks being too loud into the early hours of the morning. Dog run/ cleanup: the run itself is a nice little fenced area (double gated) for pups to run around in. Would have been nice for it to be a little longer, but many places don't even have this, so that's not really a complaint. There are pet pickup bags/receptacles scattered throughout the ground. I believe there are 3-4 of them and they are almost always stocked with bags (if one is empty and it's not a weekend it is always refilled by the following morning). Unfortunately this brings me to rude owners, especially in the back of the building (the side with the T station). There are giant piles of poop constantly being left despite the fact that there are bags and a receptacle mere FEET away. Cigarette butts also pile up here by the door. The Units- Fit/Finish and layouts: We actually moved after our first year from a single bedroom on the first floor to a two bedroom on the second floor. The only issue we ever had on the first floor was noise. We could clearly here our neighbor's TV on both sides. The fact that one of our neighbors like to argue with their partner at 3am also didn't help matters. Despite asking the office numerous times to fix it and being promised they would sound caulk the wall, it never happened (management has since transferred from Hallkeen to Monarch's own). In the second unit we had a lot of electrical issues ate first with breakers tripping when multiple outlets were used even at very low loads, which took a few tries of a certified electrician coming out to remedy. Our dryer also kicked the bucket, the shelf in the wal-in closet on the ground level bedroom came tumbling down, and one of our light switches broke. read more

Please don't take my word for the poor conditions and rude management staff , walk the grounds and talk to the tenants that have lived the ever changing staff who do little to nothing when it come to addressing day to day issues. If living in a smoke free community as advertised is your wish , please don't move in. Smoke , noise , trash and Construction are just a few of the free benefits . Side walks ripped up over a year ago and not replaced are the normal events. The best event of the week is the note taped to the entrance telling all tenants if they don't move cars out of the parking lot by 8:00 AM on a snow day they will be towed at the owners expense. Be aware if you travel for work during the winter you could come home to find your car towed because it snowed when you were away. Best of luck and bring your own snow shovel when you move in , side walk cleaning is optional. read more

I recently lived in the Monarch Lofts for approximately 14 months. I have to say, it was one of the nicest apartments I have ever rented. Yes, the area is just at the beginning of a revival, but the revival is happening. Someday, the wait list for these lofts will be very long and much more expensive. I found the staff and management to be wonderful. Monarch Lofts offers so much: huge interesting lofts that are unusual and so functional, the ease of 4 elevators, and underground parking. They are located directly across the street from the train straight to downtown Boston. The 5 stars also go to the staff and management. They are quick to answer calls for maintenance, they are accomidating and understanding of changes. The reason I moved is due to a job transfer and I have to say, the staff could not have been more accomidating for me. I suddenly found I had to break my lease, and the reaction I received was so helpful to me. I was told there were many waiting for my apartment type, and I should just tell them when I was moving. I highly recommend this place to all. You will love living there. Pat Beard read more

The management here is absolutely terrible. After one year of living here we have moved out. The maintenance staff is great, but the management is the reason our stay was miserable. The neighbors above would always be dragging furniture, and there are sirens every 30 minutes outside. 24/7 maintenance usually takes 1-3 days to actually come. Would never live here again or recommend to anyone. read more

Where shall I start? As an engineer, I am thoroughly disappointed with the lack of craftsmanship. Our windows had SNOW blowing through the cracks this past winter. The cabinets are cheap particle board with the thinnest piece of granite on top. Yes, the photographs look beautiful, but upon closer inspection, the contractors used the cheapest, crappiest material to make a buck. Sound is another issue for everyone; walking, flushing toilets, vacuuming, dogs, etc. Management has changed twice since being here but they still have their shortcomings. Unprofessional conduct such as ignoring phone calls and emails. Also, they have put curfews on the common areas - it feels as if we're in a dorm again. Soon they'll be telling us when we have to be in our apartments with the lights off. We loved our first maintenance guy, Jason, but he left at some point (probably realizing that management was awful). Also, during the winter, all the heat rises to the ceiling, so you have to run the heat incessantly, pay a their approved worker to install a fan, or put a box fan up on a half wall or mezzanine to finally get a good air flow. Irresponsible dog owners do not feel obligated to pick up waste! The doggie run is full! Also, you will find some on the grounds around the building - it's a health hazard. Also, the tout that they are smoke-free grounds, but now they put receptacles by the doors so you get a nice face of smoke. Ultimately, they're reinforcing the behavior. The old management used to have fun events like comedians, spa/movie night, etc. But now they have nothing to encourage making friends with neighbors. read more

Horrible management staff making up rules as they go along without showing common courtesy to their residents. Had resident's cars towed during a holiday weekend for having the wrong type of resident parking sticker on their car without any notice or warning. Elevators and roof top deck that was promised months ago have not been completed. Not responsive to request. The lofts look beautiful but current management staff basically needs to be reigned in and educated on how to treat their residents to keep current renters past their lease. read more

When we first began looking to relocate back to MA, I was skeptical about living in Lawrence as well as living in a building that received such negative yelp reviews. However, we have found that leasing here was a great decision. The leasing and maintenance staff are wonderful and so are most of our neighbors. As for noise, we do hear the occasional drop of a toy by our furry, four-legged neighbors and ambient street noise but nothing more than what you would expect while living in an apartment building. It is much quieter than our previous two residences (town-house and first floor of a two family home). As for my initial concerns regarding safety, this loft is situated in an industrial area with far less foot traffic than residential areas and the building/parking areas are video-monitored. Overall, the price is great and we love our new apartment! Update: Monarch Lofts has recently undergone changes in staffing. The office seems to be understaffed at times and thus, difficult to get ahold of. Unfortunately for us, this happened when our upstairs neighbor's bathtub was overflowing into our closet. The staff has been great about handling complaints but there is no habit of closed loop communication so you will likely never hear anything regarding it if you don't ask them directly. I still believe that this place if great for apartment-style living. My biggest complaint, which I cannot hold against them, is really the nuisance of getting in and out of the parking lot. There is only one entrance/exit that dumps you onto a very busy street during peak hours. Hopefully with the new ownership, a second point of egress can be made on Merrimack Street. read more

After 10 months of weekly complaints about the noise from the next door neighbors, monarch finally did something about it and relocated the neighbors to a different apartment. We have had zero issues since and truly love our apartment again. read more

I lived here for 2.5 years. It worked well for me but it is fairly noisy. I lived alone in a one bedroom. I would not recommend living here if you have a significant other or roommate. The acoustics in the apartment make it impossible to sleep if the other person is awake. Anytime my girlfriend stayed over we would have to go to bed at the same. You can also hear your neighbors. The building is very clean. It was great having a gym downstairs. Over the last year the maintenance staff has been awesome, the crew they had prior was not that great. Karen and Tiana in the office were awesome! Very responsive and professional. Any time I had an issue they addressed if promptly. I really liked living here the only issue for me was the noise. read more

I never thought I'd ever even consider living in Lawrence (from what the press reports, it's all but a ghetto...) but boy, am I glad I visited. Their website looked almost too good to be true and being a sucker for how shall I say this, "up and coming" locales... I decided to take an afternoon and drive up for a tour. And WOW am I glad I did...! My initial thought walking in the front door was, "this is in Lawrence?!" Though it's an old,New England brick mill building - the lobby reminded me of a fancy, modern South Beach hotel. Management staff EXTREMELY pleasant and professional. and knowledgeable. Apartments themselves just gorgeous. VERY modern and absolutely HUGE! Their smallest apartments (studios) are around 1,000 square feet. 1,000 sf!! Typical 1 bedroom is over 1,200 sq feet. 16' ceilings! Windows are extraordinary. Pretty much the entire exterior wall (16'!) is GLASS which FLOODS the space with NATURAL LIGHT. (I'm an artist so that just blew me away!). Lets see, what else. I never knew this, but Lawrence is at the intersection of I495 and I93. So it's a great location for commuting. The Lofts are right off of 495. Commuter train is directly across the street from the building. I'm not much of a fitness guru but the gym looked very well equipped and several residents were using it. "Community Room" space very cool, with projection movie theater, full kitchen, AMAZING antique wood floors. And Skee Ball! Overall, I must say, I was BLOWN AWAY by this place. Still can't believe it's in Lawrence. Don't know if I'll actually end up renting there because my family keeps telling me I'm crazy, stay away from Lawrence. But they didn't see what I just did. My advice? Go take a look for yourself. read more

Don't get me wrong, the place looks beautiful and shows very well. The problems are a major lack of soundproofing and an overall lack of space. Expect to hear every noise from the bathroom of your neighbors. I no longer need an alarm clock as their routine wakes me up every morning before mine would. All the cars in the parking lot / garage are damaged in someway. The lines are all painted so close to each other that it is near impossible not to get dinged when someone opens their door too aggressively, and then there isn't enough space in the garage area and cars are constantly backing into each other trying to get out of the too tight spaces. read more

I lived here a few years ago and loved it. I still have friends in the building, three of whom have lived here since 2012. They still live here because they really like living here. None of them are experiencing the awful things in some reviews, like rodents and poor upkeep. In fact, Monarch is always extremely clean and looks beautiful. (Sometimes residents don't clean up after their own dogs, but that's not Monarch's fault, and they do have the grounds cleaned up even thought they shouldn't have to.) My friends just went to a party last night at Salvatores, because he just bought the building. They were all talking about these reviews. I am writing this because we know for a fact that things in at least two of them are false and were written as revenge from tenants who didn't pay their rent. One of them swore at the staff and theatened in front of other residents to write negative yelp reviews. So in fairness I want to write that the apartments at Monarch are huge and open (look at the website) and have amazing light and are so fun to decorate becxause everything looks good. But the best part about living here is that people stay here because they like it and you can have great friendships and people to hang out with. There's a roof deck and a really nice room with games and big TV's. That's why I still come back to visit. Yelp should take down some of these reviews with lies. read more

Don't live here. The reviews of this apartment are a direct reflection on what they are. The maintenance is terrible, it is not 24 hours like it says on their website, even for emergencies. I lived here for a year and the leasing office had so much turnover of staff that I couldn't even keep track. There is dog feces everywhere and urine in the elevators constantly. They will nickel and dime you for everything so be careful. I talked to many others that lived here who felt the same way and were dying to leave. The walls are paper thin so you can hear everything and even if your neighbors are playing music until 3am the security/leasing office won't do anything to stop it. Yes, you have to scan into the apartment but that is frequently broken so people off the street could enter the apartment at anytime. If you don't pay extra for garage parking you will have to park across the street at the train station where cars are always being broken into. While living here I frequently saw turnover of people moving in and out, that says a lot. Go somewhere else and don't waste your money at this place, there's a lot of nicer and cheaper apartments in Haverhill or North Andover. read more

This is by far one of the worst possible places you could live. As pretty as it looks the management team really makes up for it! Today they went above and beyond by towing 14 of our cars on Labor Day! They still don't have the roof deck open that they promised would be open two weeks after I moved in in April! Plus you have to love that they have only one elevator working on only one side of the 300 meter long building for 6 floors plus lobby and parking garage! Ofcourse all of this is made even better by the fact that they have sloppy construction constantly taking place around the building yet nothing seems to get done. The maitenance team on the other hand is just wonderful, they're so good that they're invisible; except for when they break into you're apartment in the morning while you're still asleep. But I in particular love the outside of the building which they take such good care of that all of the plants wilt in amazement. In combination with the dog run, affectionately known by the residents as the dog litterbox because of it's size and the disgusting dirt in it that resembles kitty litter, it's just amazing. My personal experiences with them have been even better though, like how when I moved in the woman from the leasing office was nice enough to fill out and sign my move in checklist for me. She didn't even make me check for the broken bath drain or the gouges on my windows and countertop and the stains on my rug! What a sweetheart!!! But even more fun than the move in process was when my rent was raised an extra $30 from the original leasing agreement, how did they know I didn't think I was paying enough?!?! But you know what, after all of this I'm glad that at least the parking spaces that they tow you from are an inch bigger than the city mandate. How else would you be able to fit an SUV in there! And I'm really glad that when I went to Rebecca in the leasing office and asked her to make them bigger because we couldn't fit in the parking spots she told me that they would never be redone. But at least I don't have to park in those parking spots anymore, the dumpsters they put there instead helped with that! I hope you found this helpful and entertaining but, lastly I'd like to dedicate this review to Rebecca and Andrea, may you forever be incompetent and unhelpful. read more

Pretty nice apartment, good value, landlord responsive to building issues but completely negligent of individual issues. Note that "Monarch Lofts" (or "Monarch on the Merrimack") rebranded itself as "The Riverwalk Lofts" in 2016. The physical apartment: We had a north (river) facing apartment. It was beautiful, as pictured / as you'd see in tours: exposed brick, new appliances, etc. (The floors are laminate, not solid wood, though.) The high ceilings are great, there are ample closets, the view of the river is very nice. But that's about all the positive I can muster. The layout of the apartment meant only the front of the apartment is really nice; the back room was dark, and we basically didn't use it. Also none of the walls/doors really provide sound insulation (many of the walls don't go up past 8', to the 15' ceiling), and the air ducts carry sound very well too. The wall to our neighbor's apartment also had a visible gap by the ceiling (on which more later), letter air and sound through. The north-facing apartments get no direct sunlight (as you might expect). Despite heating fairly conservatively (thermostat usually at 68ºF when we were present, off most of the day) our bill was $200 in January, and; there were a few days when running the heat constantly still wouldn't get the apartment up to 68ºF. Brick is a huge pain to put pictures/shelves/anything on (despite being great to look at), and the management forbids you from nailing into cabinets (ex: for a knife holder or paper towel dispenser). The giant windows are nice, but many of the screens don't fit well enough to stay up. Individual issues and security deposit: Our neighbors smoked pot, and because our shared wall didn't go all the way to the ceiling, it came into our bedroom. We complained to management for a month or so (we couldn't figure out where it was coming from) and they did nothing; this despite the lease stating the the entire building and grounds are smoke free. Eventually we just knocked on neighbors doors and found out who it was, and used expanding foam to seal the wall. The emergency maintenance number was also useless; they would give us a ticket number and never call back. (Aside from pot smoke, we called when our HVAC started banging loud enough during the night to wake us up from the opposite end of the apartment.) They tried to keep part of our security deposit when we moved out. After an official demand letter and several followup e-mails we got it back. We had listed some flooring damage on our move-in condition survey. When we turned in our keys, they said they would check out the apartment quickly and get our deposit back within a week or two since the new tenant was moving in shortly. Not quite a month later we e-mailed to check up on it, no response. Then we received a check for part of the deposit, less a vague "flooring" item and our final water bill. We called, no answer. We e-mailed with a threat of legal action, they explained what the charge was for. We contested the charge, no answer. We sent an official demand letter (one by normal USPS and one by certified mail), they contacted us within a day of its receipt, claiming our wording on the survey didn't cover the damage they saw, and then agreed to refund the rest of the deposit without any further questions. Two weeks later, no check, we sent another e-mail, and then got the check a couple days after that. PSA: You can sue for 2x or 3x damages, plus attorney's fees, up to 4 years after move-out. Location: Being right next to the train is very convenient if you commute. Parking is easy. It's a nice walk over to El Taller, the common, Essex Art Center, and other nice spots in Lawrence; and being S of the river feels a little safer. Building management: The management is very quick to act when the building (and not individuals) are at stake. They evicted someone right away after they let their guests go off the roof deck onto the roof itself (and sent a public notice about it). They instituted a pet DNA database after people wouldn't pick up their dog poop. They do keep the grounds and building very nice looking. The office staff were always very pleasant (though fighting to get our security deposit soured that for us). We were hopeful they'd work with us on a community garden, but they flaked out. So, to sum up again: Our year stay was pleasant enough, and the apartments are shiny and impressive, but we had some inconveniences with the unit/building itself, and some very poor interactions with the management. read more

DO NOT MOVE HERE!!! the new management is terrible! Gave us 2 weeks notice to increase the rent (by a LOT!!) would not negotiate, i was told by management, pay it or get out..we are now "Luxurious apartments and no one can compare to our quality of living" yeah ok news check you are in LAWRENCE MA!!! So I told them we would be out by the end of the current month and we were told that we can do that because they need 30 days notice....I'm sorry why do we have to give you 30 days but you can give us just 2 weeks? Now you must also pay $75 bucks per car to park there regardless if you park outside or in the garage. With no new amenities being offered and shitty management that does not care about their tenets at all, we were forced to move out....less then 30 days before our wedding BTW! read more

These lofts are amazing!! The building is beautifully designed inside and out! The apartments are stunning with a lot of space great room size, walk in closet, washer and dryer in the unit and to die for kitchen the overall amazing design. The amenities are fantastic with a great gym, yoga room, community room with a pool table, arcade, media room, conference room, underground parking etc. The staff is amazing, they really care about every tenant and just want to make sure everyone has what they need. Love the urban feel of everything and with the train station right across the street makes it an easy commute into Boston. Overall an amazing place to live in with amazing amenities and great people running the show. read more

I started off really wanting to like this place, but I couldn't keep up the optimism for very long. When I moved in, they were the only loft building with an opening, and happened to be about 1.1 miles from my place of business. This, to me, was a big plus. I liked the overall concept, though I thought the price was pretty high for the poorest city in Massachusetts. For a point of reference, the average rent in the poorest city in New York is $550 a month. I liked the huge windows with an abundance of natural light. I also liked the open floor plan, which is great for letting you go wild with your own styling. Having the T station for the Haverhill line across the street seemed like a huge plus to me at the time as well. Now onto the realities of life in the lofts: a recap of the good includes size, open floor plan, lots of natural light, pet friendly, convenient location to work, T station for Boston commuters, and best of all, some pretty awesome neighbors in the building. Now the downsides. These places are horrendously overpriced for Lawrence. I don't feel like Boston prices are justifiable in the poorest city in Mass. Especially considering half the building is still a dilapidated, abandoned mill. The cost to live in my place when lease renewal was due went up around $200, pet and garage fees doubled as well. I could no longer afford to live there, and was forced to seek out a new place to live. Build quality is the worst I've seen in a modernized structure anywhere in the world. I've lived in some pretty crappy places, but none so obviously cheap and thrown together as this. My "hardwood floors" were vinyl tiles that were only glued down half way, and water seeped into them and warped the edges. The walls were paper thin, and were so poorly measured out, that none were in a straight line. Making a wall straight is pretty easy considering lumber comes from the suppliers straight as an arrow. I don't know how they managed to screw that up. To top it off, every single item in the place was the cheapest available on the market. My tub constantly clogged because they didn't bother to put proper length pipes in for the drain. My toilet was turned left about 12-13 degrees, and they didn't bother to tighten it down, so I nearly broke it the first time I sat down. Only about half of the under cabinet lighting worked at all, one of the fixtures wasn't even wired in. The Refrigerator filter lasted about 20 days, after that, Monarch charged $45 dollars for a new one. You'd think they might supply something like that since they supplied the fridge. The windows looked nice, but pieces of mine just fell off at random. They didn't seal the winter weather out very well either considering my $450+ utility bills during the winter months. They A/C compressors in the AC/heating unit broke, and took nearly 4 months to get replaced, so I got to enjoy no AC for the summer, and no heat for the fall. New units should not break that early into service. customer service was non-existent. The staff doesn't seem to care about anything that isn't currently on the iPhone screen they are staring at while they feign interest in listening to your complaints. Getting something fixed? only if they feel like putting the work order in, and odds are, they don't. The auto insurance costs are astronomical in Lawrence. I literally could not afford a car there. It's really a shame because other loft buildings are in better shape, have better build quality, competitive space, and better locations and they cost less. They should look to Loft 27 in Lowell as a point of reference to where they want to be. The only thing luxurious about these apartments is the marketing sign that says "luxury" on it. I don't want to end this on a negative note. I didn't hate living there. I met several very nice people and my dog made lots of friends that she plays with constantly. I liked being able to walk to the bars across the street and walk to Sal's for dinner when I didn't feel like cooking. I took the T to Boston a few times and loved being able to get back home safely if I had a few too many that night. I'm going to miss the people, but I just couldn't justify the price/lack of quality with my budget. If you are looking to move in, please do your research. Things can and will change, it's the only part of life that is inevitable. read more

I toured the facility today - and read the YELP review beforehand about the woman who was dissatisfied renting there: I confirmed that some of what she said was true: only one elevator for a couple hundred tenants, the roof top garden promised to be "soon" but not delivered, etc. The layout of the apartments is quite nice: wonderful open space with 16 foot ceilings, but the info on heating or cooling that space seemed ridiculously low: they said less than $200 a month average: seems like it would be LOTS more. I required a apartment on the RIVER side (street side is too noisy - trust me, the trains run right next door) but only the top floor was available: and the apartment I viewed on the top floor had dirt on the floor which was falling from the roof overhead (vibrations from the construction and trains). Who wants dirt on their couch or coffee table? The kitchen and bedroom were super nice - modern and clean. I think I would rent here despite some of the objections IF I got a river view not on the top floor.: You just can't find a wonderful modern place at these rates - that makes up for a lot of negatives - the feeling of open space and sunshine is really nice. Last negative: I got the feeling any complaint would fall on deaf ears. It's a toss-up, I'd say: lots of positives and negatives: worth the trip to see. read more

I have lived in Monarch Lofts since it opened. My reviews are consistent with others. Everyday there seems to be new things to be dissatisfied with. First, 3 of my 4 windows are either cracked or faulty. In the winter, snow blew into my living room. They claimed to fix it, but they have not. The cracks are getting bigger and when it rains, water gathers on my floor. Parking is horrible. The spots are narrow and I've come out to have to climb through my passenger side to get in. They claim the spots are code, but regardless, everyone complains about them and it is stressful. Many nights I get home and there are no spaces available. Management requires a resident sticker, but does not enforce it. I recently counted 16 cars parked in main lot around midnight without stickers. Last Saturday there was a baby shower and at 7:00 pm I could not park in the lot because visitors occupied all spots. And this is not an area you want to park in an unlit lot. Dogs... This is not the right environment for a dog. The hallways are long and it's abusive to think a dog can hold their needs a long walk down the hall, down the elevator and out the door. Most mornings, there is dog urine and poop in the hallway or elevator. It's sad that people are so selfish to think its right to have a dog here. Smoking. This is a non-smoking building, which is wonderful, however as you walk in the entrance you are greeted by people smoking outside and cigarette buts scattered on the ground. I'd rather the smoked in the privacy of their home rather than the smoking area entrance. Noise... It's a loft so everything echoes. I know when my neighbors are up, when they do their laundry and when their dogs need to go out. I'm actually okay with noise, so it's not too distracting. It's a city. There is noise 24 hours a day. Area... This is a horrible area unless you don't have a desire to take a walk or drive on local roads. Do not explore unless you are packing a weapon for self defense. My car insurance doubled because of my new zip code. Are there any pros? Sure... The units are beautiful, although the finishes and appliances are low quality. The gym is convenient and for the most part the management staff is friendly and seemingly helpful. Overall, I wish I hadn't moved here. The rent and utilities are high and not worth the value. I will move out at the end of my lease. If you are considering moving here, talk to tenants and do your research first. read more

I went and saw these lofts last week. While you may be turned off by the location (spray painted buildings, broken windows on the part of the mill monarch lofts doesn't own, horror stories and statistics of what goes down in Lawrence) they are BEAUTIFUL from inside. The overall size of the space you can rent will amaze you, it is huge. The one bedroom has more than enough room for two people to live comfortably and you could have a ton of people over and the space wouldn't feel cramped. The windows and height of the ceilings add a sense of luxury to the apartments. The kitchens have stainless steel appliances and granite counters and they use a nice L shape configuration which keeps it open and gives you tons of counter space. The lofts have nice hardwood floors which is a change from others I have seen with polished cement. The bathroom of the one bedroom has a tub/shower and a washer and dryer, it is large and the washer/dryer has its own space with nice shelving for storage, the counter in the bathroom is also granite. These apartments are still being finished so we won't be in ours until March or even April : ( . The building is directly across from the train that will take you into North Station, wonder how the noise will be? Overall this is a beautiful building with beautiful units! We are more than excited to move in. My father already bought me a key chain pepper spray as a moving present haha. The only negative I would have is that the rent is a little expensive for Lawrence, considering it doesn't include utilities, the rent fits the building but I don't think it fits the location at all. When Lawrence is finished with its current conversion and it is a little more cleaned up and "safe" then I think they could charge what their asking, I'm still paying it because I love the building but I would understand why it would turn some people away. I say if you are considering these lofts go see them!! read more

I don't know how words can describe how awful this place is!!! DO NOT LIVE HERE! it's borderline a scam. They residents had to come together and form a group to over throw the first management company because they were our of control and actually were illegally towing residents cars to get kickbacks! The place was thrown together and poorly built to say the least. My unit wasn't even sealed and I could actually stick a pencil between the door frame and the wall! And when you have an issue don't expect it get fixed or anyone to get back to you even after you go down there 10 times. They just want your money and don't care about your issues. My theory is that owner Shaw Rosen ran out of money and is hoping to collect rent and doesn't have the capital to pay anyone to help make your unit livable. I am talking leaks, drafts, major issues. The air/heat in the units broke 8 times in the first year and once for 2 weeks in the middle of the winter. But they were kind enough to bring me a space heater!!! It's a complete joke and I truly hope anyone who moves in reads this throughly and understands I am a FORMER resident and am only giving you facts! My motivation is to hopefully spare anyone the misery I went through living in the supposed "luxury" apartment building. I have friends who still live there and can't wait to move out because of the issues and how badly you are treated. It may look appealing with the tall ceilings but when you can hear your nieghbors snore, shower, walk and pretty much every noise is clear as if there are holes in the walls, you will regret you ever stepped foot in this disaster of an excuse for a place to live. They have taken down my post in the past but I will put this up everyday until they leave it because the truth needs to be told. BUYER BEWARE!!! read more

If you're planning on moving think twice it is not worth the price or headache you can hear everything even when your neighbor flushes their bathroom. There's no storage in the apartments and the front desk staff are horrible especially after they get you to sign the lease. They ignore your calls even when there's three of them sitting in the office doing nothing !!! They say that they will have the apartment ready for us to move in but it was in horrible shape not to my standards. There's absolutely a sound proofing problem and a plumbing issue because again you hear when your neighbors pipes are flushed.... Oh did I mention my neighbor from hell , we've been here for a week and she has knocked on our door twice already , we can't even have dinner without her complaining that its loud I feel like I'm in prison and we are paying $1650 plus utilities and parking crazy oh btw I filed a compliant with the office and have yet to hear back from them.... One positive thing that I can say is that the maintenance on call has been great and friendly and patient ! We had to call for emergency maintance twice in a week talk about getting an apartment ready for someone to move in management . read more