My family has really enjoyed living here. The amenities (pool) are awesome, the staff are so kind and helpful, and it is quiet. One downside is that it is old and there are lots of pungent smells from other apartments and who knows were. Some are bad smells, some not so bad. The elevators can also sometimes be a pain, as they are in high demand in often times you have to wait quite a while for them. Other than these two things, we really like being here and would recommend it.

Stay away from this apartment complex. This is the worst apartment complex in center city Philadelphia that will charge you higher than market price under the pretext of luxury living. They will entice you showing you the pool and the gym on the top floor. Below is the summary of the issues with this place. Please feel free to message me and I can tell you in greater detail.

1. Elevators dont work half the time. So be prepared to wait for eternity every morning when you want to leave the apartment and every evening when you want to go back home.

2. False fire alarms are a regular occurrence. Even at 2 in the morning. All the building does is blame the Irish pub below the apartment. Maybe the management should consider the risk of all these false fire alarms in case something real happens and you should consider it too before staying here.

3. Management attitude towards most issues: "oh the electricity bill is high, talk to the utility company", "for maintenance issues talk to bob we dont know anything". Their attitude in general is that their responsibility ends when you to sign the lease.

4. This year the management company decided that they want to do some construction in parking lot below. They gave one weeks notice and started concrete work in the parking lot. Result: the lower apartment floors are Unliveable during business hours. The noise is so loud and it comes through the walls. Its a freaking jackhammer at its loudest. At times I could feel the vibrations through the walls. The management attitude: "we can't do anything, we gave you the notice. Talk to the parking lot". These were the exact words from their esteemed staff. Of course the parking lot tells you the truth that the 1500 Locust management asked them to do this work. What does one weeks notice do to you? Should you vacate the apartment? When I spoke to them I was told: "Its too bad if you work from home else this is not an issue at all since this work only happens during business hours". By the way business hour for them starts at 7:30 AM every morning.

5. Basic courtesy and decency is something no one working in the leasing office knows.

I love living in 1500 Locust. While it's a bit further away from school than some other buildings, it's 1 block from the bus stop, has great amenities, and is a beautiful apartment building. Access to the roof and gym is great, and management has always been helpful and responsive.

So, the good:
- Great amenities (gym, rooftop grill, movie room, resident lounge)
- Fantastic maintenance staff and doormen
- Awesome location in CC (although not that convenient to Wharton stuff)

But the cons FAR outweigh the pros here:
- Frequent elevator outages only exacerbate the fact that this building is woefully underserved by its elevators. 650 apartments on 44 floors, served by only three elevators. Compare that to other similarly priced building, s in the area which service half as many units per elevator. Get used to waits of 2-10 minutes every time you need an elevator.
- FALSE FIRE ALARMS. There have been 15-20 false fire alarms that I have been present for in the past 18 months (and likely more that I haven't been home for). These come at all hours of the day, including sometimes at 3 or 4 in the morning, which is a special form of trauma, especially when they happen before exams. The false alarms usually last 20-30 minutes, are blaring in every room in the building (they've built speakers into every individual room except the bathroom). Not only is this a huge annoyance that has caused a number of sleepless nights, it's frankly a massive safety issue – most residents don't even leave their apartments during fire alarms anymore since they happen once every 4-5 weeks, and have been false alarms every single time. No idea why these keep happening (management has a different excuse every time, it seems) and why management and/or the fire department hasn't solved this problem yet.
(Oh, and remember those elevator issues I mentioned? Now imagine that residents from the building's 650 apartments are waiting in the lobby at the same time, at 4 AM, tired and cranky after yet another false fire alarm. The building only has 3 elevators that can hold 8 people each to get them back to their apartments, so you're looking at a 30 minute wait to get back to your apartment. Chaos.)

For what we're paying at 1500 Locust, we deserve better than we're getting. There are far better options in the Rittenhouse area for the price.

Great location in Rittenhouse Square. It's an older building. While public spaces have been renovated, many of the units have not been (popcorn ceilings). Top floor gym, lounge, and patio are new and nice. In terms of what you get, I would say rent is pretty expensive. The worst part about the experience has been the fire evacuations. There have been no less than 5 fire evacuations from August to December (all false alarms), which requires every resident to exit via the stairs (for me only 16 flights, but some have 40+). One was on a Sunday night at 2 AM. 1500 Locust is a fine place to live, but there are better options available.

What sold me on the apartment was the amenities. Great gym, pool, jacuzzi, and outdoor patio. And free coffee in the lobby. The building itself and room are okay. Friendly staff services.

The most common complaints are slow elevator and frequent fire alarms in the middle of the night. I would not disagree with these statements but they are not as bad as people purport them to be.

1500 Locust is a solid building, especially for graduate students. The apartments are spacious (particularly 2-bdrms) and if you get the right unit and floor, they have great sunlight. Some units have hardwood floors, but more have carpet. The carpet is quite good. Amenities are solid with an adequate gym, nice rooftop and an indoor 365-days usable pool. The location is a bit on the further side from Penn/Wharton, but there are quite a few students here so we typically share cabs or take the 21 bus from a block away. Its also close to many restaurants on 13th street. Management is good, have had no issues so far. The issue of elevators seems to have solved itself, I've never waited more than 5-10 minutes, and generally its less. The only issue that's bothered me a few times is random fire alarm pulls, especially late at night.

I think 1500 Locust is a great building. The strengths are (1) Great Amenities: interior swimming pool, lounge that serves as study room and roof top barbecue. Also has bike storage. (2) Friendly Management: they take care of everything
and (3) Excellent Location: next to subway and bus stop, 2 blocks away from rittenhouse square, close to restaurants, etc. Unfortunately, the building has a few short comings. The weaknesses are: (1) Elevators: big issue here. Sometimes it can take several minutes to get in. (2) Fire alarm: I don't know why, but the fire alarm usually sounds once per month, and it is always a false alarm (one time a stupid guy pulled the alarm because his girlfriend dumped him). Every time that happens, I have to go down 35 floors with a baby in my arms, until firemen come to turn off the alarm.

Apartments are nice, building is well maintained and fairly good amenities. Its location is just a little far out for MBA activities but not too serious. Gym is very basic (free weights don't go above 50 lbs). I got a special rate on my apartment as they were running a promotion in May when my first year lease ended. At this rate ($1,800) its decent value; at the usual rate, you probably could find better value.

Great building! Amazing amenities at a very reasonable price. Bozzuto is also a stellar management company.