500 has a pool, that is shared between the two buildings apparently. I lived in 520. It was fine. Started with some package fuckery that slightly improved. I would say stay on top of tracking your packages and retrieve them ASAP.

I never felt unsafe living there: who told you that? That building is basically locked down. The only cuckoo thing I observed was one morning a clearly not homeless man was asleep in the vestibule in the front of the building. Probably drunk, and he was gone before 8am.

The biggest safety issue I heard of was people piggybacking on residents into the bulidng to sell stuff. Someone posted on here that someone tried to get in their apartment once (or something to that effect). The main office sends emails if stuff goes down, but they rarely offered details, so it's entirely possible some stuff popped of that I wasn't aware of.

Never had any pest problems in my apartment. When I was moving out, I saw a dead mouse/ mouse skeleton in the loading dock. I was not super surprised by this since this is where the trash all ends up. I will say for comparison purposes that I saw live mice all the time in the loading dock in my old Columbia apartment, one of those fancy buildings by the mall? Never had mice in my apartment there though, either.

Maintenance was fine. Not the best I have had, but fine.

It was a kinda nice little bubble, and a convenient location.

thank you so much - this is super helpful! Did 520 have a better more equipped gym than 500? Do you know how crowded it gets in their gyms?

I lived at the Horizon House for years used to be good but last couple years have gone down hill. Constant issues with the elevator at least 1 time a week one or more are down. Trash chute is down every other week. They have ongoing construction in the garage that is supposed to take till this fall (expect it to take longer) so no onsite parking. maintenance was really bad for a while but seemed to be getting better before I moved. Gym is decent and hardly ever used. Pool is very limited hours during the summer.

thanks! This is helpful.

I never went to 500, so I cannot speak on their gym. I just recall the pool being open to us in 520. I could see the pool from various upper floors in 520, and it looked nice. Resort vibes.

The gym in 520 is very basic and small imo. I sadly never used it for fear of covid cooties, but they did have my favorite old school elliptical. It seemed to get plenty of use, but I never was back there enough to know how crowded it was. I had my own bike for spinning in my apartment and walked and ran the neighborhood. Occasionally rode my bike outside, too.

The nicest gym I have experienced was at 300 Saint Paul, that PMC building. I hate PMC, and I hate that they put the gym nearly at the top of the building and no elevator access, but that gym was amazing. They had like 6 Peloton bikes before Peloton took off during covid, many treadmills, an entire functional fitness area with ropes, traditional strength training stuff, so many free weights, a squat rack... It was great. And all free to residents.

Another building that had a nice gym was 225 N Calvert. It wasn't too large or too small, and it had many more stationary bikes for spinning (including 2 or 3 Peloton bikes), a few studio rooms, many treadmills, squat rack, many free weights, ellipticals, couple rowers, etc.. Free for tenants of course.

There is an Under Armor gym downtown in an old bank I think, but it is a bit of a walk from 520 Park. Closer to 300 Saint Paul. But obviously you have to pay extra/join for that.

thanks so much!!

The best area in Mt. Vernon is literally outside of Mt. Vernon. MtV is no amenities, overpriced slumlord central.

Another place I would like to recommend: I lived at The Standard (501 St. Paul st.) for about 3 years. We had a great time living there, maintenance was always responsive, and they have a 24hr. desk so packages were always secured. They also have a small gym that was convenient if you like treadmill, stairclimber, weights, that sort of stuff.

It’s been a year since I’ve lived there, so hopefully not too much has changed because I felt we got lucky moving there from the West Coast. Very pleasant apartment with pleasant staff.

I appreciate you asking this since I’ve been casually looking for apartments in the area. I love living in Mt. Vernon so far, but man, the prices are/can be high.

Thanks!

I lived in Mount Vernon for 7 years from 2012-2019 ( was in reservoir hill prior to) in various buildings, and loved my time in the neighborhood. It is by far my favorite. It was hard for me to move away to the SE side in Canton and now Highlandtown (which is quickly becoming a favorite).

It’s hard to beat the overall central access to everything the city has to offer in MV. The best of best food,bars, cafes, etc are/were located in MV. The best architecture, rich history, diversity is there. It’s true city life there. I met interesting an worldly people out and about. And from MV it’s easily to get to everywhere else. It’s also the transit hub.

I personally no problems while living there. Not even a stolen package. I know others weren’t so lucky. But overall MV is one of the safest neighborhoods. Kept your general good wits about you and use you smarts. The neighborhood does pay for extra private security funded by the local businesses. They also pay for neighbor cleanupvia Midtowncommunity benefit district. There’s MTA, UB, MICA police patrolling around.

810 cathedral street beautiful huge apartment was managed by Thornhill property, they have several buildings around the neighborhood and they are phenomenal. I maybe biased as the founder/owners son is my friend. But they run a excellent business and are top notch. Now Walters owns that block. It’s right next door to the hotel revival. It’s was apartments and I bar when I lived next door.

I lived in the Belvedere rented thru a private condo owner. Loved it there also.

I lived at horizon house for several years, I loved my time there, it has a month too pool which is rare in this city. Had no complaints except for maintenance people stole thousands of my items when I funded out.

I also lived in the whole 7 bedroom mansion on Preston with a bunch of friends.

Look into the Fitzgerald, Gallery Towers, The Lucy, the Suites, The Tobee, it’s really better to walk around and get places via signs on windows

thank you very much for the insight!!

Edited for clarity and detail