The Palmer

I lived here because of proximity to the hospital. Breathing a sigh of relief that my lease ended and I’m out of there. The images and amenities are a facade. The truth is there’s a coat of paint slapped over an ancient crumbling building that is overrun by rodents, the parking belongs to the hospital from 8am-4pm seriously!!!!!, and the in apartment and community facilities are broken, like the gym equipment. Been a year already. Most importantly, there are times when the building does not feel... safe and you cannot get in touch with the management. After they take your lease, you never see anyone again. Very disappointing Lee mas

I should have known it was going to be bad when I was warned by multiple people before signing up for a lease that management was pretty awful.

They're impossible to get in touch with. They promise things that never happen, basically kicking problems down the road until you give up. The gym has 1 working treadmill.

Know someone who had a deposit cheque in hand to give to finalize their lease but was so mistreated that they simply left and found another place.

The maintenance guy is great... though. Lee mas

This is a beautiful property that is managed poorly. We lived there for two years. In that time there were two different management companies, each were problematic. When we moved in, they lost our security deposit and it took weeks to rectify the situation. That management company is gone and the new one is not better. When we contacted them for the move out procedures at the end of our lease, we literally could not get in touch with anyone in the leasing office. No one showed up in the... office, the phone rang and rang, and our emails went unanswered. When I finally did speak to the property manager, she interrupted me, basically denied any communication problems and was rude and dismissive of my concerns. Parking is a problem. There were times when there was no place to leave our car and had to park in a neighboring property a block away. All this being said the apartment was cozy and comfortable, the amenities are lovely and on the rare occasion we put in a repair request it was done well and promptly. Lee mas

I doubt any of the positive reviews are for the current management firm in charge. The current company, Altman is terrible! It has been over 20 years since I've rented an apartment and made the mistake of giving them a security deposit and what was supposed to be a holding fee/community fee without a signed lease because they were having "technical difficulties". Up until the day of my scheduled move-in, I received no communication or lease from the property manager. When I decided to cancel,... they kept my community fee even though the reason I cancelled was because I never received a lease! Thank goodness I did not move in though because the way they treated one of their current resident while I was there during my last visit was appalling. They had a terrible attitude towards him like he was bothering them. Apparently the maintenance team leaves the site whenever they feel like and are not interested in helping residents who have issues, even during regular business hours. Save your time and money and look else where, it will save you many unnecessary headaches! Lee mas

In an attempt to find a specific hospital office on the Main Line Health campus The Palmer rests on/adjacent to, I wandered into The Palmer building through the back door.

The back door of the building was closed (not propped open) but entirely unlocked. No key lock, no deadbolt, no fob swipe, no video camera to prevent someone who does not live in the building, access to a minimum of three floors of the private residence.

Within 10 seconds of innocently looking for a Main Line Health sign... and the name of the particular hospital office I was searching for inside of an unlocked door, I was in the middle of an apartment building - standing directly in front of and with direct access to 15 apartment front doors on one floor, and stairs with access to at least two floors without any sort of security measures.

If The Palmer is supposed to have high safety standards like the "secure building access" as written on the website, or even locking the doors on the back of the building, they don't.

I'm guessing one of the unparalleled amenities is not the "secure building access". Good luck. Lee mas