This review is for others who, like me, are looking for quiet space in which to work/write for a few days during Covid. Hopefully we won't have to do this for that much longer, but it's a particular set of needs and I still haven't found the thing that quite fits. Given that, Alex's place was about as good as it gets.
The good, ie most things:
GREAT wifi- no glitches leading Zoom meetings at all.
Solo check in using keypad, with clear instructions and no issues.
I stayed in the larger of the two bedrooms and the bed was perfect.
Awesome shower; bathroom space really well done and clean.
There's both a dishwasher and a washing machine that also steam dries.
The location kicks ass- if you know Providence, you're basically on campus w both Brown and RISD. If you don't know PVD, this spot is walkable to almost anything from Fox Pt to downtown.
There isn't a desk, but the dining table worked great--probably one of the most functional workspaces I've had.
There is a reserved off-street parking place. GOLD, I tell you.
The caveats (this is stay #5 for me in places like this during Covid- believe me that nothing is perfect. I'd go back here for sure, it's in my top two.)
An adjacent building is under pretty major renovation. It wasn't super disruptive, and I am pretty particular about my writing time- it was more darkly hilarious, in that part of why I needed a few days away to work is bc our neighbor's house is under massive reconstruction. But if you need absolute silence, this isn't it.
Continuing on that theme, this is an apartment in a building with several other condos. No one was loud, but again, it's not silent, particularly overhead, and I was glad I had a white noise machine with me in the bedroom.
Benefit St. itself, particularly on the ground level, is also not extremely quiet. Again, mostly fine, but this was the most disruptive part- there was a group of ~10 longboarders w/o masks skating up and down the driveway for a couple of hours, and I eventually went and took a walk. When I came back, they were gone- I needed the walk anyway, and it was fine. You're in a college neighborhood; there are tradeoffs.
The space is stylish and the bed, bath, and dining table were exactly what I needed. The couch in the living/dining space, on the other hand, is comically bad- it's the kind of thing you sit on, realize it's broken somehow, and then don't sit on again if you can help it. That was not a big deal for me, either, but what you have to know about this space is that it's basically a studio--that is 100% its feel--that has had a couple of bedrooms carved out. The bedrooms are decent sized and v comfortable but there is literally one room besides that and it's the kitchen/dining/living room square. I say all of this bc we also looked at this property as a possibility for a Christmas getaway for our family of four. That would not have worked at all, at least during covid, and that's not necessarily clear from the listing. It's not that kind of place.
And finally, I think I've gotten a bit spoiled, but this is the first place where there wasn't coffee. There's a Krups machine that looks pretty decent but the only coffee in the place was like one travel pouch from a best western or something--of decaf!!! If that makes you silent scream, plan to bring what you need. That said, you are steps from Cafe Choklad and .6 miles from Dave's coffee which is basically my personal Providence magnet- online order, contactless pickup.
All in all, this is one of the keepers, mobile-office side, but I think it's good to go in with clear expectations.