I lived at Cascade for nearly 30 months. I LOVED everything about it until my neighbors moved in across from me nearly a year ago. From the very beginning, I informed the office that I felt unsafe (many men coming and going all day and night - their door never locked) and the smell from their apartment was of funk, feet and rotten food. When I was able to get a look in, found pots on the floor with food in them dishes on the floor, etc and a ton of shoes.
I told the office that I was starting to get worried that they were unhygenic. nothing happened. I then started noticing little bugs walking into my house and coming in the front door area. As time went on, I noticed varying sizes of what I then figured were roaches.
I informed the office and their response was to come and put glue traps down at my place. I told them that they needed to treat the unit that was the CAUSE of the infestation. It fell on deaf ears. NOTHING was done for nearly 8 months.
Fast forward to January - keep in mind, I told the office numerous times that the roaches werent going away. They did nothing about it except offer to "treat" my unit with glue traps.
Finally, I decided that I was not going to renew my lease. Fast forward a week and as I was coming home, there were COUNTLESS roaches in the hallway, on the floor, on the walls, on the doors leading to the offending unit. Lo and Behold - they finally moved out and the office went in and BUG BOMBED the unit across from me and the mad exodus of roaches began. Keep in mind, management made ZERO effort to let me know that they were treating the unit. They didnt offer to treat the influx headed my way. They had to get the exterminators out in 4 days (that is what they consider URGENT) to treat the hallways too!!
I told the office that I had to go. I couldnt wait anylonger because I was now killing in excess of 20 roaches a day! Because they did NOTHING for nearly a year. Mgmt said they couldnt just treat a unit on my say-so. I told them to go and do an inspection or something. THEY DID NOTHING!
Now, they tell me I cannot leave without penalty and I have to give them time to fix the problem. SERIOUSLY? I recorded my conversation with the building manager - and she was just giving excuses and telling me BS.
They offered me another unit in the building. No way! Even IF that unit is free of bugs, the lack of care, concern, etc inspires ZERO confidence.
I planned on living at Cascade for many years - I hate moving. They FORCED me to move - and move quickly. I had to get my OWN exterminator to treat my stuff so that I didnt take any of the roaches/ babies with me.
STAY FAR AWAY! Management is awful - she is full of hot air and excuses. And when I asked for HER boss (since that person is the one that made the decision) - she gave me a bot AI weblink to send in my concern. And I AM taking them to court if they dont allow me to leave without penalty.
Dont get me wrong - the units are AWESOME - but the roaches are there and they aint paying rent. RUN! DONT WALK - do NOT rent here.
Maintenance - lazy. The one bright spot is the leasing agent. Friendly, kind.

Apartment complex is just inside the beltway, so getting to school via public transit was difficult. Have to take a bus to the Metro, but it could be worse. Good restaurants around and close to Harris Teeter, Giant, and Safeway.

Great place for someone that doesn't dig the city. It's much quieter out here (relatively speaking) and feels more like the suburbs than the city.

We love our apartment complex, it has a private dog park, pool, gym with free weights, and an AWESOME patio with grills, an outdoor pool table and ping pong table, and great spaces for lounging and throwing parties. We also have lots of friendly neighbors, and have made lots of friends in our building.

Pros: Quiet, away from city, great restaurants/move theaters/typical suburban amenities, close to Old Town Alexandria.

Cons: Tough to get to school via public transit, garage is tight, expensive.