40/SPRING REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS FROM CURRENT AND PAST TENANTS

I've been at 40/Spring for almost a year now and have been very pleased - in fact, I will be renewing for another year. I'm sure you saw the photos and videos on the website, and they are an accurate representation of what the apartments actually look like. The units are quite new - built in 2015 or 2016 I think - so we haven't had any trouble with appliances or heating/cooling. And if there are issues, Ilya is extremely responsive which is very reassuring. Overall, I believe the price is fair - I live in one of the 3/2 units and have 2 roommates with whom I split costs evenly. I think it would be very difficult to find a 1-bedroom or even studio apartment in proximity to campus for this price point, and if you could, the place probably wouldn't be as nice. We haven't had any major issues with our neighbors - you do hear them sometimes, but there haven't been any crazy parties or anything of that nature for as long as I've been here. There are no community/neighbor events, but if you're interested in that sort of thing there is a community garden at the end of my street (I'm on the Wiota St. side of the complex, not the 40th St. side).
Generally, West Philly/University City is relatively safe - of course, there is the potential for incidents like in any other city - but as you saw, there is a pretty constant police presence in the area; I've never felt unsafe walking home, and if's a concern, Penn public safety offers escort services at night. Parking is shockingly not too bad. You can get a yearly residential pass from the city for $30 or $35 that allows you to ignore any parking time limits in your residential zone, but I haven't found it necessary to do so. There are a decent number of streets with free parking in the immediate vicinity - sometimes I have to circle around a couple of times to find something, but usually I can get a spot right away.
As for major amenities, we aren't really lacking for anything. It's easy to run quick errands on your way home because pretty much everything you would need is practically all on/around campus anyway. There is a large grocery store on Walnut Street on the way to campus, and Trader Joe's on Market Street (with a parking lot) is a short drive or trolley ride away. Public transportation is great in this area, and Center City in general is very walkable. The vet school is only a 15- or 20-minute walk away (again, I've always felt safe), and honestly, I've never even considered taking public transportation to campus because there's really no need.
We are only responsible for electric here; none of the appliances rely on gas. I would say we average around $100/month give or take, and again that cost is split evenly among the 3 of us. We've had maybe one or two bills that were substantially higher than that, but it's really not clear to me why that happened as it didn't seem to be weather/temperature-related. I do like the Wiota lower style, and the fact that we don't have a roof deck never crosses my mind. I have 2 small dogs so yard access was critical. The downstairs is definitely as big as it looks. One of my dogs is pretty high-energy, so the fact that we can play fetch down there along nearly the entire length of the building (we took the downstairs bedroom) is very helpful.
One more thing I'll mention relates to finding roommates, assuming that's something you'd be looking to do. (If it's not, then you can ignore this paragraph!) UPenn has an internal website where you can search for roommates/people who are looking for housing. It's only open to members of the Penn community, so once you get your university credentials you'll be able to log in. I found both of my roommates through the site, and it's mostly used by graduate/professional students and post-docs. https://offcampushousing.upenn.edu/
I hope this helps. Feel free to reach out with any other questions!Best, Ashley