Union Arms Apartments, Portland OR

Hate to put so much negativity back into the world but living here has been a bit of a nightmare. My neighbors seem like they hate each other more than any couple I’ve ever known of and make it abundantly clear with their loud confrontations into the AM hours. Do not move here, but especially do not take the second story unit on the north side of the atrium, it’s the only one that shares a surface with that couple and you will regret it every waking moment you’re in your apartment, and there’ll be a lot more waking moments than you hope for with the way they save their worst fights for the middle of the night. They often express themselves by pounding on the walls (this is all I can imagine based on the sounds) so you can’t even guarantee silence with good earplugs, if you can even sleep with earplugs in. I’m scared of interacting with them based on how they treat one another. I can’t go into detail but there is more going on here and it’s truly soul crushing to forcibly witness.

The laundry machines are borderline unusable, and the driers are fully unusable, everything comes out with a nice coating of lint no matter how carefully you clean the filter. There’s what must be years worth of dirt caked into the screw holes that hold the filter in. The filter is damaged such that there’s a gap between its edge and the face of the machine so it lets lint back in. I hang dry all my clothes and sheets inside my studio.

The hallway has smelled like rotten fish so strongly that it smacked me in the face whenever I came or left several times in the last couple of weeks. Always a strange cornucopia of unpleasant smells in here. Many of the tenants smoke tobacco indoors and come and go loudly late at night.

The carpet in the shared areas is in really bad shape. The stairs down to the bike storage basement have a tight corner - better hope your bike is light and small or get used to lugging it up and down to your apartment. There are no studs in the ceiling and I gave up on trying to find one in the wall for a hook - when I called in maintenance they couldn’t find any either and so my bike just takes up floor space.

The day after it rains there’s a pump on the roof that has to be run and it makes the most horrible high pitched sound, like standing next to a wet train track as a train comes around a bend (you hear that sound many rainy nights as well given the proximity to the tracks). There’s also an ambulance dispatch a couple of blocks down the road so you hear that many times every day.

In the winter the heat runs so strong to my unit that I have to air condition it. There’s no adjustment, or at least not one that makes a perceptible difference. If I leave my windows open the near constant sound of my neighbors shouting etc.is completely unbearable.

The doors at the tops of landings are so big they open past the landing so you have to do this awkward shuffling motion to carry anything through the top of the stairs.

Pretty much every sensory experience you want to avoid is here in spades. Seriously, do not move in here. Look further out if you have to, or just work more hours and move into a newer or smaller building or just a better maintained one. The single solitary thing it has going for it is location. It’s not worth it. I guarantee I have lost significant lifespan by living here due to lack of sleep alone. I think I know what a good apartment is even at this price point and this ain’t it - just a good block to live on. Look at my other reviews. I don’t normally do this. I want to add that I don’t have a vendetta against the manager, just the way upper management handled this. I have been truly, deeply dissatisfied with the experience of living here. By far the worst part of it all has been no ability to transfer my lease to a different unit of any kind (I would have gladly gone into debt paying marginally more rent to get out), no resolution short of requests that I make audio recordings and even video my neighbors fighting and email it to them. What am I a private investigator? Y’all own 14 buildings.

My fiancé and i live here & love it. It feels warm and welcoming. On our floor there isn’t any issues with noise. Love the charm of this place! Glad we are here.

I lived here a number of months with my partner. Very affordable for the location, prompt maintenance, and quiet neighbors. Overall a lovely place to live. We enjoyed being right by Burnside bridge and the ample street parking. Would recommend to anyone looking for a spot on the central east side. Josh, the apartment manager was great as well.