In all fairness the building has excellent and prompt maintenance. The management has been quick to address previous issues, and a lot of money was spent in the last year, and is being spent on a continuous basis, to upgrade the building.
If you are looking for an apartment or condo near campus that is soundproof, secure, and absent the noisy keg parties, this is the place.
Very popular with UM grad students and faculty.
You wake up at 7:30am to horrendous sound of drills, hammering, and excessive work being done in the next door apartment. You fall asleep to this sound which goes on til past 10pm sometimes. Don't think about staying in during the weekend to chill because you will be tortured with constant drilling and nailing sounds.
The next door apartment is empty and it is under constant renovation. So it is not a "bad neighbor" situation. Whoever is in control of renovation doesn't have the slightest ettiquette for the current residents. So the rest of us, the current residents, suffer the consequences of choosing this apt.
You try to look past it once, twice, and again and again. But when this happens for more than half a year and contacting the security only relieves it for an hour, you move out. Then you tell friends about how you were treated and how no one should live there.
If someone who is in control of this apt sees this post, please tell your workers that it is not ok to disturb the entire floor at such ungodly hours. At least limit the work hours to the afternoons when the residents might be out working and leave us alone during the morning, nights, and weekends.
Or, just ignore us and watch us leave after a year.
Overall, I have had a good living situation here. But like any condo/apartment building, it has its flaws. I rented a unit from a building manager. I'll list the pros and cons.
Pros:
- Great views on higher floors
- Fast and friendly maintenance
- 24/7 security at the front desk
- Thick concrete walls between units
Cons:
- Most doors to units are literally falling apart, don't see them replacing the doors anytime soon.
- Along with the decrepit doors, the sound barrier between the hallway and each unit is relatively nonexistent due to the thinness of doors and huge gap between the unit's floor and bottom of the door. Anything you say in a moderately loud voice in your unit is clearly heard in the hallway, and vice versa.
- If you live next to an elevator, you will hear it all the time. No avoiding this.
- The building is old, and everything but the lobby looks very old inside. This goes along with the doors comment.
Make sure you tour a unit before signing a lease. Since units are individually owned, some owners have not renovated in decades, because they don't have to. They know someone will rent their unit even if the paint is cracking and kitchen/bathroom are 20+ years old. However, if you find a good unit at a good price, you will likely enjoy living here.
This old building is falling apart and maintenance staff are rude and unresponsive. Before you rent or buy here, ask to see their maintenance request book. Everyone's asking for something to get fixed because the units are so run-down. Someone I know had water leak from their ceiling for a week without any help! The toilets, sinks, dishwashers, heat/air conditioning are constantly out of service. Have fun being woken up to drilling noises and banging from morning to night, because they seem to do a lot of "repairs" without much effect, so they're great at making annoying noises rather than actually fixing this irreparably old building.
Poor maintenance, unresponsive property manager (Brian Tomsic), outdated unit for a premium price (my unit was on the second floor), plumbing issues (water leaks in my bathroom, and multiple preexisting defects.
Stay away from Brian Tomsic, one of the property managers at the Tower Plaza. He is irresponsible and unresponsive to any requests unless it concerns payment. Currently, I am waiting for him to get back to me about a water leak in the bathroom. It has been 3 weeks now since i notified Brian of this issue. After 2 weeks, I stopped by his office for an update and he seemed confused at first. He did recall, however, and told me he was waiting for an estimate for the repair. Brian, estimates do not take 3 weeks. It takes usually a day for something like this.
There was also a bat in my unit on my bed to be exact. Yes, you read that correctIy, a bat. I have never seen one before and wish i took a picture of it, but... i freaked out and ran out the door. Brian Tomsic, who I immediately contacted, has done nothing but apparently provide a professional service with my number. Ok... so tenants are now responsible for bat extermination??
Right now, maintenance is dealing with it and it looks like the bat has moved to another unit in the building. There are apparently ~ 300 units in Tower Plaza and it has been 2 days now without any further action.
The important question however, is how the bat got inside the units. My guess is that it came through one of the open windows. Prior to last week, most of the units in Tower Plaza did not have window screens. But after decades of intensive discussions, the decision was made to install window screens on all operable windows. Better late than never i guess.
TLDR: Avoid Dealing with Brian Tomsic and do not assume everything is in working order.
Interested in renting a room, looked at the website and in multiple places the website mentioned rental contact name Sean Kidd. Sent him email and followed up with phone call, No Reply. I feel bad for those condo owner who wants to rent. Also it adds clouds in my mind how well this location is managed.
Great location! have not encountered any problems so far ad management has been amazing and good in communication, would totally recommend
First, one of the reviewers, BT by his initials, is the rental agent of this condo. Amazingly, he gave five stars on his own condo.
Now to business. I lived in Tower Plaza for three years (signed a long lease for a discounted price). The impression that I got from Tower Plaza was a very negative one. Namely, they exploited the fact that most of the residents were undergraduate students to cut corners with the law and commit various infractions. Living in Tower Plaza taught me a lot about the Michigan rental law, but it caused a lot of unnecessary stress, and I would not repeat this experience again.
For example, on at least three separate occasions, the maintenance staff entered my apartment with no notice (24 hours is required). On at least two occasions, they used my personal belongings to get their job done (on one, they claimed that my toilet burst during an interior renovation -- so they used my bath towel to wipe up the mess, threw it out, and never told me about it until I told them that my towel was missing after their visit; on another, a leak developed as a result of an ongoing renovation, so they decided to use my garbage can to collect the leak without my permission).
While they were doing the exterior renovation (I lived through two large renovations during my 3 years of tenancy -- but don't be fooled, the apartment is still falling apart), I woke up at about 6:45am every day to the chatter of the workmen, who proceeded to use the hammer drill starting at 6:50am every day for several months. The local bylaw states that you can do this starting at 7am.
When I complained about the various infractions, they were not interested in making amends, and more interested in consulting their lawyers to make sure that they were not required to make any compensations. In at least one occasion, I suspect that the lawyer advised them to record my phone call with my agent, because the agent (Heather) was very interested in getting me to repeat a particular statement several times despite the fact that I had been clear about it from the beginning (it was about whether I had seen the notification about exterior renovation; I had, and I never hid it. But she wanted me to say it clearly "for the record" multiple times).
If you decide to move here (the locations is good, after all), I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the various governmental bodies and the Michigan rental law. I called the Washtenaw County Environmental Health Division (the name is misleading) for the various intrusions into my unit; because I was not allowed to open my window for three months during the renovation (the construction crew basically moved into my unit for three months, and removed my window handle), I called the Fire Marshall and I was finally given a functioning window.
Make sure to file a complaint with the very first infraction. The earlier infractions that you let go do not count against their record, and while repeated infractions can really hurt them, the local government needs to know about it asap.
Read up on the Michigan rental laws. The most relevant aspect is maybe the fact that you must receive your rental deposit back within 30 days of moving out. Otherwise you are entitled to double your deposit. Furthermore, if your landlord does not return your deposit within 30 days, they are not allowed to claim any damages, and you must receive all of your deposit (and then some) back.
My landlord made it sound like if he wanted to renovate the unit, he was allowed to enter any time. This was also false. Unless the renovation is essential, you are allowed to say no to your landlord's intrusion.
There are many other things that you can learn from reading the law, but my review is long enough as is, and I will stop here. I would honestly live elsewhere since housing is not a huge problem in Ann Arbor if you move away from the prime location, but if do move, then do your reading and know your law!
Wouldn't recommend to anyone. BT is the worst person ever. Staff is very disrespectful an very unprofessional, they are usually sleeping at the reception when they should be doing their job. It's just an awful place. Elevators can stop working all of the sudden and they won't care. Very bad place. Even one of the person in charge has some bias against certain group of people. Awful place. The 24/7 is not reliable at all, you can see people that aren't residents inside the building. Maintenance is awful.
Tower Plaza is unique in that each unit is individually owned. What this means is that leaser experiences will vary greatly as each unit will be maintained in different states. I purchased an unit last summer and have found the living experience in Tower Plaza to be enjoyable.
The location is prime as it is close to downtown Ann Arbor and university buildings. The security has been friendly and the maintenance crew has been timely, responsive, and professional.
The interior is not as modern as the exterior but I have no problem with that. There are construction crews that work frequently on various projects. Fortunately, the walls at Tower Plaza are relatively thick compared to other apartments such as Sterling 411. My only complaint is that the three elevators for 26 floors means longer wait times, but that is only at peak hours and is a minor hassle at its worst.
Great place! Lived here since freshman to senior year. Prime location, comfortable living, and good maintenance and security team!
towerplaza.com