I lived at AVA Ballston Square for several years, and the biggest ongoing issue during my time here was the building's water infrastructure. In 2025 alone, there were water outages almost every month -- sometimes full shutoffs, sometimes hot water failures -- with many lasting most of the workday. These weren't isolated incidents. There were multiple full shutoffs in the spring, several hot water outages throughout June, and a nine-hour full shutdown in early September. These patterns made daily routines unpredictable and stressful. Communication was also inconsistent. The September shutdown, for example, was buried inside a general maintenance email with no clear subject line indicating that the building would be without water for most of the day. Sometimes management provided bottled water during outages, but other times they didn't, and there was no reliable guidance about what support was available. Even when water was running, the taste and pressure were noticeably worse than other buildings in the area. It was enough that I ended up buying a countertop filtration system just to make the tap water usable. Other recurring issues included strong trash chute odors in the hallways and a front entrance that made it easy for delivery drivers or strangers to tailgate inside. For a building at this price point, I expected better maintenance and stronger basic security. The location is excellent, but the repeated water disruptions, aging infrastructure, and lack of consistent communication made living here unnecessarily difficult. Future residents should be aware of these ongoing problems, especially if reliability is important to them. read more

I have contacted this apartment building now close to 10 times regarding continued noise complaints. To pay the rent that we do, and then consistently have neighbors break noise policy is absolutely unreal. I have my apartment shaking on a consistent basis from the disturbance of neighbors throwing parties into late hours, yet AVA Ballston Square continues to not take action even though this clearly breaks lease terms and agreements. It completely disregards their tenants peace, work schedules, and medical conditions. Their response has been to deny claims as "normal apartment noise" or what you may expect from living near an elevator, to try to steer clear from any responsibility. I have documented evidence of these continued noises and will continue to do so. This apartment building and its management should do better. read more

Maintenance team here is top-notch! I am always impressed at how much they do inobtrusively.

Great location close to the Metro, I-66, and 50. My apartment is older with upgraded features like stainless steel appliances. I was able to put my touch on it and make apartment feel like a home. Frequently there are smells of sewage and garbage in the hallways possibly the trash chute and plumbing?!. The concierge staff is amazing! I am always greeted with a smile and a hello. The leasing staff is also great! My biggest turnoff is the security of the building. Seems like there is always someone waiting by the doors waiting to enter behind a resident. Food deliveries such as Doordash are given access to walk throughout the building to make deliveries. No verification, all you need is a bag of food and you are let upstairs, all times of the day. I am dissatisfied with the common lounge areas. They are nice spaces with large televisions but not a single tv works nor have they worked since I have been a resident. I was looking forward to watching football and hosting an evening of friends. Parking is meh! The spaces are small and several residents do not know how to park between the lines, taking up 2 spaces. The parking garage doors are frequently out of order. Not the worst place to live, great location, and great staff! The security and amenities could use some attention. read more

I want to express my greatest appreciation to Patricia S. B. who works at AVA Ballston Square in the leasing office. I broke my ankle and have very limited mobility right now. She bought my packages from the lobby to my room for me, and also exchanged my old parking decal for the new one for me so I didn't have to try to navigate the parking garage with my injury. She really went above and beyond and am I am so grateful. God bless you Patricia! read more

The women that work at the front desk are usually very rude. If i ever go to them with any issue that I am having they just stare at me, which makes me feel very uncomfortable. I have emailed several times, and i have never received a response. The concierges are nice enough, and they usually try to help me, while the people that work in the leasing office don't seem to care about their residents. Another reason this place would get a star is because of the maintenance staff. they are so efficient and good at what they do. The parking garage is awful, and they oversell it. If you get in past 10 pm there are no spots that you can fit into. on top of that, the spots in the garage are so tiny, that 9 out of 10 cars appear to be completely scratched up from a car hitting them or hitting a pole. Our rent was raised incredibly high without any warning so we were out of options but to resign. read more

Too many bad things to write in a single review...left this place for a better property... If you don't care about customer service. If you like unanswered communications. If you like inconsistent policies. If you like being misled. If you like elevators being down constantly. If you like paying full price for amenities that they don't give you access to. If you like package lockers constantly going down and not being able to get packages. Then you should live here... The list goes on, but it's exhausting to think about. read more

This building has some plates in the road over their transformers at Randolph and Wilson which are loose and make an incredibly annoying noise anytime a car and especially a bus or truck drives over them. They have been a nuisance for 10+ years and AvalonBay (owner of the AVA) has promised repeatedly to monitor and fix them. They haven't. And they have been contacted multiple times from me, other residents, nearby people, the Ballston BID, county and more. They do not value their residents or the community. So if your apartment faces the courtyard, the noise will wake you up when the Metrobuses start running and annoy you all day. It will get worse as Metro and ART increases service. If you live elsewhere at AVA, hope you enjoy the smell of garbage in the hallways. Or not using the pool past 2pm as it gets no sunlight and is cold. read more

Sooo many issues..hard to discuss all. 1- construction is everywhere and very loud with jackhammers, standing water with daily flooding, mosquitoes, etc. Just filth and dust and noise...everywhere. 2- rent is high...for what you get. VERY dated apartments. Which are being renovated , however said renovation will happen WHILE tenants are living inside them! You have no choice and they nwill NOT warm you ahead of time (ie- before u sign lease) this is happening to me...and it is extremely disruptive and invasive. 3- garage leaks chemical water on your vehicle. Two of my friend's paint was ruined and Avalon won't do anything to make it right or take responsibility. 4- rats and cockroaches and mosquitoes oh my! ALL OVER THE GROUND FLOOR. I can provide you videos and pictures if you want. My dog killed 3 rats recently...disgusting. 5- BLACK MOLD! My good friend got so sick from the black mold in her apartment and they barely did anything to help her. 6- mail room floods almost daily and mail is always delivered very very late in day. 7- package room. Temporary package room is very poorly secured and easy to steal anyone's stuff. 8- rent goes up every year...anywhere from 5-10% AND...guest what!? $600 amenity fee will now be annual instead of just one time. I could go on and on.. but honestly, my brain hurts just thinking about this dump. Do yourself a favor and keep looking on. Living here for the last 4 years has been a nightmare and a large corporation like Avalon does not give a SH!T about individuals (the little guy). Happy to answer any questions and provide videos and pictures for proof. Email me: Mskdoc32@gmail.com read more

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The construction that this apartment complex is going under has been miserable. I've lived here for 2.5 years and am moving out because I can't take the noise anymore. There's constant drilling, people coming in and out of our apartments and lack of communication the entire time. The have offered very little to offset the disturbance that they are making to our quality of lives. Had I known when I resigned my lease that this would have affected us so badly, we would not have resigned. read more

I've lived at Avalon Ballston Square for almost two years and I have to echo the negative reviews of this place based on my experience. The one bright spot in this entire place is Mohammed at the concierge. The guy is absolutely fantastic. I wish others at this property would follow his lead. Like other residents, I feel as if the wool was pulled over my eyes when I renewed my lease. There was no mention of any renovations to the property when I was re-signing my lease and I was assured I would have access to everything the way I did before. Now? There are absolutely zero common areas for residents and the list of headaches from the renovations keeps growing every day. Good luck getting your Uber to find where you are. Upper management (especially Sandra Russell) and Corporate (Sunny) have been useless in trying to rectify things. All they did was try to assure me things are fine...but then I got an email not too long after about exhaust fumes billowing in the courtyard with smoke and fumes entering into units (see the attached picture). Scary stuff. As bad as that is, I have a huge concern for the current and prospective residents who are disabled. I've gone through both entrances and am finding it tough to see how disabled residents get around. I'm no expert, but I definitely have some concerns as to whether this place is compliant with the American Disability Act. It's a sad, sad situation. read more

AVA Ballston Square - Apartments Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

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Had an issue with our bathroom later on a Tuesday and first thing Wednesday morning someone came by to check on it and they already have a contractor out to get it fixed today. Super quick response time and easy to use the app. Thank you Tamara and team for helping us so quickly and efficiently! read more

The balconies on these apartments have locked from the outside in due to construction, which has to be against some kind of safety code if there was a fire or other disaster. The construction has been going on for well over a year now. They should have worked on each section instead of putting the entire place in a dangerous lockdown. read more

AVA Ballston Square - Balcony construction. Every balcony slider has been locked for over a year. - Apartments Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

Paid application fee based on how the unit for rent was represented. Come to find out there is no parking available and construction issues not giving unit balcony access. These we're my reasons for applying to this specific unit rather than something else. (parking/balcony) No response from administrator in regards to this unit being misrepresented and application fee should be refunded due to misrepresentation. Not to mention the credit report they ran! Really bad business policies!!!! Recommend staying away from AVA properties in future!!!! read more

Leasing is not responsive! We toured the community and had a few questions. The leasing staff didn't even help us. When we called for answers about the apartment we kept being told they weren't at their desk or available. Eventually one of the front desk people helped us with our questions. He told us that the current special applied to the apartments that had the star. The current special was one month off select units! The unit we wanted had the star we were hype! So, we applied to the apartment. They sent us the lease and it didn't have the correct concessions. They emailed us back and said oh that doesn't apply to this. So we let them know we wouldn't be signing the lease. They then just responded and told us we had to pay $500 for holding the apartment. We never signed the lease, nor was this apartment currently vacant. if they would have ANSWERED the calls then we could have talked about the current promotions and maybe come to a better resolution. (PS Why are they always away when they aren't even walking with you during the tours?!) There are such nicer apartments available for a better price in this area. Just don't even bother! read more

It truly pains me to have to write this review but I have to warn others like myself to steer clear of this building for the next year or two at least. I began living hear in the start of 2021, and for that year, this place was incredible to live in. This all changed earlier this year when they began this seemingly unnecessary and random construction project to upgrade the balconies to the detriment of all current and incoming tenants. They began randomly demolishing the balconies earlier this year, with zero to no explanation as to why they're doing it, and basically said that if you work from home or don't like the noise, you can go find a "co-working situation" off-site. Which totally defeats the purpose of having a work-from-home job. To be clear, there is constant and loud (so loud that you cannot hear your iPhone play music next to you) jackhammering, banging, and other noises from 9 AM to 5 PM every week day. It's absolutely mind-boggling that this project was even considered. I was all set to stay in this building for a long time and even asked for a longer lease than what they had available on their website (which they could not provide) and I was even ok with the fact that they raised my rent by over 30% after I had been a loyal tenant for a year. But now, I just feel completely disregarded and unappreciated by the management company because they've added so much insult to injury. The time estimates for the constructions keep getting pushed back and are made with less and less certainty because of "weather complications" and "supply issues". When I signed the lease, I was looking for a nice quiet place to work from home and this is what was promised to me. Instead, I am working in a comfortable construction site, with decibel levels that not even noise cancelling headphones can cancel out. read more

Great maintenance response! My kitchen sink suddenly backed up, which prevented me from using not only the sink, but also the garbage disposal and dishwasher. Not a good situation if you want to prepare food or wash your dirty dishes. I put in a maintenance request around 11:00am and by the time I got back from eating lunch shortly after noon, the sink was fixed (this was on Sunday New Years Eve). Marcial, the maintenance tech, was super - very prompt, professional, and competent! He fixed the problem in record time. read more

After 2 years we moved out due to the construction. We renewed our lease in January and never would have done so if we knew what was coming within the next few months. The sound was so so loud I can't even believe that was legal. I work from home and had to leave every day to be able to work. My boyfriend works nights and was woken up every morning after only a few hours of sleep. I can't imagine how hard it was for people with children. I know it wasn't the leasing office's decision to take on this issue and they tried to be helpful with updates but we could not stand the sound anymore. In addition to my last review, after being told we wouldn't be charged anything to move apartments a few months later they put a $3,000 charge on our portal and denied ever saying they would waive that fee. We had only talked over the phone so I didn't have any proof of the conversation. Very sad to be giving such a low star review because the units and amenities here are nice and the location is amazing. Definitely still agree that the maintenance crew is great and there's some people I would recommend going to from the leasing office (Katie & Carleigh). read more

If you still cannot believe the landlord is as bad as the other reviews have said, read this email from the Arlington County Fire Marshall. If you still do not believe this apartment building should be avoided, risk your life and move into this building. read more

AVA Ballston Square - Letter from the Arlington County Fire Marshall - Apartments Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

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I wish I had never moved into this building. As others have pointed out, the construction experience has been a nightmare. Before signing a lease, it would have been nice to have been given a warning like hotels give when they are undergoing renovations, but that is not the way this company works. I would have moved out long ago if I did not have to hire movers because of my disability. Speaking of disabilities, this building does not seem to care about the Americans with Disabilities Act. Not even the brand new construction has been built to be accessible by those of us with mobility Issues. Not only have we had to deal with what jackhammer vibrations traveling throughout the concrete structure, we have had all of the amenities that were advertised when shown the building before signing a lease. Outdoor space - gone. Barbecue grills - gone. Computer lounge - gone. Outdoor tables and chairs - gone. Entertaining space - gone. Even the morning coffee - gone. Oh, and I had to pay an amenity fee for the amenities that have disappeared with no compensation. Plus, they are now going to charge amenity fees yearly now. But hey that's a cool $357,000 a year more for the owners. Even before the construction started, they did not care about problems like the smell of rotting garbage permeating the halls. They did not care about the hallways being cold in winter or hot in summer. Then they ripped out the first floor apart with it open to the outside all summer and all winter, all the while shamelessly billing the tenants for the utilities to pump cool air outside in the summer and pump out heating when the were no outside walls in winter. By the way, the windows in your bedroom do not open. Is that even legal? I just wish I could get out of here. I give up. Just let me out of my lease. read more

I've lived here for a year. In general, it's not a bad building, but it is a corporate owned apartment and has some shady practices. I love the location near the Ballston metro. When things break, they are fixed fairly quickly, and for a large building like this, it's very quiet. However, the apartments are old. Mine looks like primo 80's or 90's. The cabinets in my apartment appear to have some sort of seeped in mold, so I had to line every shelf in the place. There is almost no storage. I have a two bedroom with one tiny coat closet and one closet per bedroom. The rest of the storage is in a narrow cabinet in my bathroom, that I can't have open if the door to my bathroom is open. The amenities are somewhat of a ploy to get people to move here. The pool is only open from June-Sept - although DC is warm much more than that. The gym usually has at least one broken machine, and it's VERY small for the number of people living in the building. The doorman is nice, if only because I don't have to be home when amazon sends packages. The parking is somewhat affordable, at $50 for the first car, and $150 for the second car. It works out great if only one person has a car. The other fees in this building are more ridiculous. The "move in" fee is $600 and non-refundable. The pet fee is also high for the area - $500 non-refundable AND $50/month. In most buildings, that $500 is refundable. There is some $200+ reserved parking space fee. I feel bad for the idiots paying for that. If you drive down a floor, you can usually find the same space right next to the elevator free. At least once a year they schedule some "mandatory maintenance" which I'm convinced is just a way for them to look into your apartment to make sure you are complying with all the rules - to see if you have pets, broke anything, ect. If you ruined something - don't you worry.... you'll get a bill. Because they get so much money from move in fees, they don't care much about keeping the same residents. I got a whooping 10% rent increase. I was informed about this increase 10 days before I had to inform the building if I'm staying or going. Unlike most landlords who require one month of notice, this building requires 60 days. I spoke to three different people about the dramatic increase. Finally the apartment manager said she would call corporate and call me back. Of course she never did. I dunno about this building. I feel like they try to hook you, and then once they took a bunch of your money, they throw you back out again. Having always had a private landlord, it's hard to reconcile why this building has to act this way. read more

** I don't live here, I only toured it ** Out of the three Avalons in very close proximity to each other that we saw today, this was the least impressive. While our leasing agent was awesome, we had to disappoint him by dropping this place to the bottom of our list. To begin with, if I thought the tile in the kitchen was bad at Avalon Courthouse Place, this place has actual linoleum on the kitchen floor. Linoleum? I don't think I'd even seen linoleum since my parents renovated their 1960s-era kitchen in the early 2000s. This property desperately needs to update this... tenants at this price point expect their apartments to be modern and fresh. Modern and fresh, linoleum is not. Also, many of the balconies on the top floors are "enclosed" because they don't want people jumping off of them (I know this is the actual reason, because I asked.) Either have a real balcony or don't offer them at all... I don't want to sit in a weird concrete cave with a foot of open air to look out of. The gym was miniscule and very smelly. They did win some points back for their attached convenience store, which was filled with essentials (cleaning supplies, tampons, etc) along with healthy snacks and a large wine & beer selection. They had the best store out of the three Avalons, I'll give them that. Overall, this place is fine. I'm just really picky, and if I'm paying over two grand a month to live somewhere, I want to thoroughly love it. read more

The Good: Fantastic location, very friendly staff, and a what appeared to be a reasonable price for the amenities. The concierge staff gave 110% to their jobs and were always very helpful; I enjoyed the community that I joined. The bad and worse: Expect SEVERE move out charges. I was billed for over $1000 on questionable damages and was never allowed to speak to the staff who identified the alleged issue so it could be explained to me. The corporate office is AWFUL; instead of listening to my concerns and addressing them, they are pressuring me to pay immediately without ever seeing an inspection report and threatening to ruin my credit report by sending me to collection. Avoid Avalon Bay or you will end up paying for it afterwards. read more

People STAY AWAY!!!! I am a current resident at Ava Ballston square. I have had the worst residential experiences in my life with this building. Last year during winter in the evening, suddenly I noticed all the bathroom floor, closet, and living room floated in the water. All our clothes were damaged with yellow water leaking from the closet ceiling. Nobody explained or knew what caused it. My husband and I were living in an apartment without carpet and all our stuff in the balcony with big fans running 24 hours until all the apartment got dry. It is not the worst experience we have had with this building. Right now that I am writing this review, the AC doesn't work properly and it is 78 degrees inside. When I talked with the maintenance people, they said most of the apartments at this side are experiencing the same issue. They sent a contractor and he said the building has engineering issues. There is not enough water pomped to the AC and it needs some engineers to fix it. It is about a week the contractor left but none of the managers followed up on that. They keep telling me that the maintenance supervisor is not working today for almost a week. This building is running by itself and no one takes responsibility for this kind of problem. I suggest to anyone who is looking for an apartment to sSTAY AWAY FROM THIS BUILDING. read more

AVA Ballston Square - Apartments Near Me - Arlington, Virginia

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Seriously DO NOT LIVE HERE. I am currently in my second and final year at this complex for the following reasons: 1. My rent has been raised EVERY renewal period by $500+ each time just to stay in my current unit 2. NOBODY and I mean NOBODY answers any sort of front desk phone, leasing office phone, maintenance phone, emails, letters, nothing. There is ZERO communication from this place, they actually don't even have the correct phone number listed on their website or google to call the front desk/leasing/etc ! If you do ever get someone on the phone they give you a complete different phone number to call (which also goes unanswered 99.99% of the time) 3. The balcony construction that was supposed to only run for a few weeks has turned into an UNLIVABLE WALL VIBRATING DEMOLITION PROJECT that is now set to continue into 2023. 5/7 days a week, M-F, 8am-6pm it sounds as if there is a jackhammer on my ceiling AND MY ENTIRE WING OF THE BUILDING HASNT EVEN BEGAN TO BE WORKED ON. (I can only imagine the torture those living in the units under direct construction endure) If you have any small children, work from home, have pets, disabilities or if you just enjoy sleeping in past 8am this place is uninhabitable. 4. The so called project on the balconies is actually a repair of STRUCTURAL WATER DAMAGE THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE BUILDING. I have been in the construction industry for years, they aren't doing maintenance or improving anything, they're quite literally trying to hold up concrete balconies that have been horribly built and damaged for years because this place refuses to actually fix the building and keep it up to code. 5. There is water damage in the entire building, in units, in hallways, in the public restrooms, you name it. THE BATHROOMS INSIDE OUR OWN UNITS DONT EVEN HAVE A FAN. I stress to every current resident to check your vents for black mold, because it's there and it's in our airways meaning we've been breathing in black mold. 6. There are CONSTANT and UNEXPECTED water shut offs, elevator shutdowns, Wi-Fi cuts, random "scheduled maintenance" that force workers into our units whether we are present or even consenting that strangers can enter our units at any time of day. 7. As I write this review, the noise of jackhammering is so loud I cannot stress enough how INSANE this all is, these are seriously unlivable conditions 8. If you didn't know, there was actually a murder committed inside of this building maybe three-ish years ago. This place has ZERO security, the "fob entry" pads actually are completely unlocked and I mean the elevators, the garage, the front door, the side entrances, the courtyard entrance, and in the rare event that the front door fob lock is on, don't worry ANYONE AT THE FRONT DESK JUST OPENS THE ENTIRE APARTMENT COMPLEX TO YOU, without any question. The garage gates can usually be found completely open through the night, allowing anyone access to our vehicles and the elevators which lead to the building. 9. In addition to the zero security, there's actually no cameras in the place, hence the murder that took place with zero footage from this building to assist. There are no security cameras on any part of the building inside or out, not even in the elevators, which is a BLATANT violation of safety and security codes. 10. The parking garage is unregulated, way too small for this complex and doesn't even have enough spots for all of us, and we ALL PAY to park there RESERVED OR NOT. Again no cameras here so if your vehicle is damaged, this place acts as if it's somehow our fault for parking there, insanity. I could go on, I seriously can't believe this place, I've never written a review or felt the need to but this place is so incredibly unsafe, unregulated, terribly managed, horribly built, extremely overpriced and really just a MASSIVE SCAM that I needed to write this. Hope anyone reading this review never ends up here. This place will hopefully crumble apart soon with all the structural damage and lawsuits they're going to face. Fuck ava ballston square, this place is a joke. read more

Pros: Low first year rent Allows dogs (as of last year) Grills Pool Gym Balconies Close to Ballston metro, Route 66, and cvs Friendly people but not too friendly Maintenance will fix anything within 24 hours Online bill pay & maintenance requests Courteous and responsive staff Free computer use and printing Clean and updated facilities & apartments Safe neighborhood Cons: Water from sink often smells bad Lots of college kids/young professionals who party during the summer (but they turn down the music by 11pm) Expensive guest parking ($20/night) and for second car ($175/month) Rent goes way up when lease renewed read more

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If you enjoy loud construction noise, wasted move in fees, and obnoxious millennials, this is place for you! No, but seriously - the great thing about the building is proximity to the metro. The neighborhood sucks. It is all under construction. The maintenance and front desk people are awesome. The upper management suck. They were dishonest about their intent to do construction on the building. I signed a lease one week (citing noise as my hesitation). The next week they were announcing their plan to rip up the building. This as dishonest. When I tried to get out of my lease (the term hadn't even started yet), they said the only way I could do it is to pay the penalty -1 or 2 months. I expected explained the situation, they didn't care at all. I would not move here. Plenty of other buildings in the are that are nicer to choose from. read more

I lived here for little less than a year. I chose this place as it was 5 mins walk to my work and close to Metro/DC. There are 2 things I want to point out. 1. My car got towed as I did not have DeCal on my dashboard. According to their procedure the towing company takes pictures of the car dashboard, registration plate, etc. and send it to the staff onsite in the office. They verify that the car belongs to the tenant or not. That's it. I don't use my car for days and in this case for 7 or 8 days straight. So I had to pay total on I think $450 ($150 for towing and + $50 for every night they keep). I pay $175 per month to park there. If I misplaced my DeCal (btw that would cost $200 for new one), due to whatever reason or forgot to put it, as I pay $175 would there be a better service for tenants. This happened to my roommate too. Its very possible, you go to vacation and come back, clean your car or give it to a relative to have it and when you take flight back from India after a month, I don't think anyone would expect me to think about DeCal. That's like a last thing I would think of. a. When the towing company saw I didn't had a DeCal, why can't they check with the mgmt. or through a software that does quick look up whether this car belongs to a tenant or not. When I rented the apartment, why do you even expect us to register our car with you. Where do you even use that information.Like duh ! WTH ! b. Alright, they towed my car, once the pictures are sent and the mgmt. confirms that the car belongs to tenant, they did not inform me. One email would have been great considering the high rent and high car parking you charge, as a service or courtesy, you can just inform me. They keep sending emails about Dog swim party or stupid thousand updates my email that I don't care. I ain't complaining about it but atleast send me an email informing that my car is towed. I told Sandra to reimburse me she wouldn't do it, I asked her to connect me to her superiors she wouldn't do that either. This is complate steal, I am ofcourse agitated but more I think about it, I feel there is vested interest of both parties ABS (Avalon Ballston Square) and the towing company. Both share the steal. 2. I moved to out of city. According to a regular Virginia lease, if someone moves more than 50 miles, its ok to break a lease. People move for job, its very common, specially in Arlington/Ballston area. They asked me to pay 1.5 month rent as penalty. I am moving across the country, to other coast but no they wouldn't let it go. My roommate even offered to move in to another Avalon in Tysons like 10/15 miles from here, they still wouldn't agree. My roommate spoke to other Avalon apt. they said, ideally they would allow, about ABS follows their own rule and very stringent about such policies where they can extort money from tenants who are in unavoidable situation. I agree that when I signed the lease I agreed to whatever was written in there. Who reads those things anyways. I have lived in few Avalons in California and I know they are expensive but provide great service. But going forward I will live in Condos so they organized businesses don't make monopoly in charging exorbitant rates and keep increasing rent abruptly and with large margin. Avalons are known for increasing rents by high margins. Even if I live in apartment complexes it will never be Avalon for sure. The funny thing is they are adding Dog Spa which will be free for tenants. Why? Why? Why can't you stick to your business and provide accommodation at reasonable rates. NO service is free, it just gives you opportunity to charge high rents. God save the world. read more

TL;DR: Nothing works as it should, and while the common areas are very nice, most of the individual units are outdated. The Good: -The door-close buttons in the elevators actually work. -Nice grill, pool, patio area. Decent gym. The Bad: -The windows don't open, only the balcony doors. Not only does this limit your ventilation options on a nice day (especially when the A/C dies--see below), it also means you can't clean your windows, and they have to be power washed. Unfortunately they've only been power washed once in the 3 years I've lived here, and it didn't really do much--replaced dirt spots with water spots. -The air conditioning frequently dies. In the 3 years I've lived here, our A/C has died over a dozen times. Mostly it seemed to be limited to our unit (though other units also seem to suffer from individual outages), but occasionally there were building-wide outages. This is a problem if you have pets/children/elderly people, who should not be subjected to days-long summer temps. Try concentrating at work when you get an email from management informing you that the A/C has died, your dog is roasting in your apartment, and they have no idea when it will be fixed. -The appliances and finishes are pretty old. You'll probably see the fancy renovated apartments, and there are some of them in the building, but they are the exception. Most apartments have electric coil stoves, formica counters, linoleum floors, dingy carpet, fluorescent tube lighting in the kitchen, drop tile ceilings, etc. I'd say at most 25% have been upgraded at this time (you can tell which apartments have been renovated when you walk down the halls because they change the door handles). -Slow internet. They say the building has FIOS, but that only means that there is fiber to the premises, not to the individual apartments. You'll quickly find the best they offer is 50/10 Mbps, because within the building, internet service is over DSL. -Regular hot water outages. I will give them credit for letting residents know when hot water will be unavailable in advance, since it's usually scheduled maintenance. That way you can at least plan to be out of the shower by e.g., 9am. The Ugly: You're still going to pay through the nose for rent here, the same as at any of the other, newer Ballston buildings. read more

Very disappointing place after having lived here for a few years. Management is cold and non responsive to concerns after the murder case. The front door security is a joke. Anyone could get in by following someone else at any of the three entrances. Definitely will not renew my lease unless the management seriously change its current practices. read more

DO NOT LEASE HERE. THEY ARE THE WORST. Leasing is not responsive! We toured the community and had a few questions. The leasing staff didn't even help us. When we called for answers about the apartment we kept being told they weren't at their desk or available. Eventually one of the front desk people helped us with our questions. He told us that the current special applied to the apartments that had the star. The current special was one month off select units! The unit we wanted had the star we were hype! So, we applied to the apartment. They sent us the lease and it didn't have the correct concessions. They emailed us back and said oh that doesn't apply to this. So we let them know we wouldn't be signing the lease. They then just responded and told us we had to pay $500 for holding the apartment. We never signed the lease, nor was this apartment currently vacant. if they would have ANSWERED the calls then we could have talked about the current promotions and maybe come to a better resolution. (PS Why are they always away when they aren't even walking with you during the tours?!) There are such nicer apartments available for a better price in this area. Just don't even bother! read more

This building will charge you rent just for applying. I submitted an application, was told by multiple people in separate conversations that I had five days to review it, and then after saying I found a different apartment, they charged me a "Reservation fee" for the five days of having held it "off market" for me while I made my decision, total $331. Again, I did not sign a lease to live here. They frame it as a courtesy, and then bill you afterwards if you don't give them your money via the lease. Nowhere in the lease email did it mention this, it was not mentioned by staff, it was only included in the fine print of the terms and conditions of the application. This building and apartment company will fleece you, DO NOT LIVE HERE. read more

Building is very very poorly managed. Even after extensive construction and renovation the elevators constantly break down, and take months to fix most of the time. Now, post quarantine, there is no plan to re-open the gym nor the pool- and cited reason by leasing is "we cannot find lifeguards and the gym is too much work to open and police the crowds"...which is unacceptable because the amenity fee of $500 is now expected annually and not just at move in. Also, the nicely renovated courtyard is closed every day at 8...because this will stop the spread of COVID19 right? Ridiculous... also, rent goes WAY up every single year. Look elsewhere, as there are many newer and nicer buildings around. read more

The staff here is amazing- super helpful and always really friendly. They also have events throughout the year (wine tasting, breakfasts) that the staff plans, which is really nice. The building itself is almost always clean, including the pool and gym. We've always had great experiences with the maintenance staff, too. They come right away and repair things well, I've almost never had to call about the same issue twice. The one major negative I have about this place is that it's incredibly loud and noisy. Maybe just because I lived in the second floor, but there's almost constantly some kind of industrial noise coming through our walls, and occasionally loud enough to wake me out of a dead sleep. The noise has only gotten worse with the construction and remodeling throughout the first floor. I would have loved to stay in this building but the noise made it an impossible place to live. read more

We signed a year ago with the promise that construction would be done by summer of 2019. We are now looking at January 2020, and construction continues to go on outside our building. The updates that are completed look great, but we paid a $500 amenity fee only to have ZERO amenities for 7-8 months. The pool was completed as promised by Memorial Day, and a notice was sent out saying that each guest in the building can bring one additional guest with them to the pool. Fast forward to the start of summer and we, residents of the building, were turned away because the staff allowed masses of people from outside our building in to party and told us it was "too full" when we are the ones paying the rent and amenities fee to live here. We've had cigarette buds thrown onto our balcony by our neighbors above, which we reached out to the building about since it is a no smoking community. After four different email attempts, it was finally handled 2+ months later. Our trash door on our floor has been broken since we moved in, and after 5 months of back and forth communication between us and other residents with the building management, nothing has been done. Their idea of fixing this simple issue is spraying air fresheners in the trash chute. We've been woken up on countless Saturdays at 6am to jackhammers and trucks working directly below our building, only to be told that this was the county's fault. However, AVA never informed us of this additional construction, nor did they show transparency. Our apartment was FLOODED thanks to a neighbor down the hall, ruining our computer (which was not covered or taken care of) and causing our rug to be torn up. AVA came in with industrial fans, ripped up our entire carpet, and left with zero communication. We then got an email the next day saying "sorry we won't be back til Monday...just run the fans." When the issue was resolved, they never stapled our carpet back down and it remains frayed in our entryway. We have no hot water for the first 10 minutes of running the shower (a massive waste of water), and we have had our water turned off for FULL 10 hour days at a time. As someone with a health condition, I am not able to be without clean, running water for that long a period of time. We've noticed the garage door is left open and un secure for 24+ hours at a time, completely defeating the purpose of paying for secure, private parking. They have also left the secure key fob entry to the elevator unlocked, putting everyone at risk for any random person to come into our building. Someone even got arrested in our garage because they ran in behind a resident who was leaving the building. We are now looking at signing our lease for 2020, and they decided it was worth raising our rent $145. We inquired for the reason and we were given "I don't know" as a response. We were open to working things out and tried to express our grievances in hopes that AVA would meet us halfway. They offered $40 off our rent increase, only to email us a couple days later changing their statement and saying that "Oops, only $20 off is allowed." A complete sham considering none of the area apartments rates have gone up for 2020 around us. With all these issues and little to no communication working to actually fix the things they promised, we are at the end of our rope and feel that our rent shouldn't even be changed for the coming year. We are now understanding why various tenants on our floor have randomly moved out during their leases throughout the year. As someone who has worked in customer service for almost 10 years, this is not an example of how to treat paying customers who have been nothing but kind, clean, and respectful of our community when many others are not. read more

The Avalon Ballston Square represents the pinnacle of landlord greed and misconduct. What they got away with in the last year should be illegal--no notice to tenants about major capital improvements when they resigned their leases, loss of amenities from construction despite continuation of amenities fee, ground floor flooding, inoperable elevators, noise from major construction in the early morning hours, loss of internet connectivity from major construction, a rent increase while all said construction and amenities losses were underway, and to top it all off, a 20% rent increase at then end of the construction to prompt a wholesale gentrification of the community. The renovations to this building may be attractive, but the pattern of behavior this company displayed to get there illustrates that they will likely screw you over in the future. Look elsewhere. If you had asked me a year ago how the Avalon could have been approved, I would have said to renovate the gym and do something about the pervasive smell of rotting trash in the building when it gets warm. We got the former but not the latter, and a bunch of shiny stuff that nobody needed. For instance, we used to have complimentary coffee in the morning. Now we have a kegerator with cold brew and kombucha that you can have the privilege to pay for. Shame on the Avalon. Can't wait to get outta here. Bob G will comment on this review as if his actions as the property owner are just misunderstood by his tenants. In reality, he has made a conscious choice as to the type of people he wishes to reject from and attract to his community, and he's just doing what he can get away with to take in more dough. read more

For the past 2 years, there has been a complete renovation of the first floor and common areas. We lost access to all amenities, which were a large reason we moved in. It is still not always secure, with closing entrances, parking levels and construction everywhere. Incredibly loud construction every morning, yet they increase the price of rent significantly or those who stuck through it. If we would have known about the construction we would have NEVER moved in. Also - all entrances REEK of dog urine Only good part is Mo at the front desk - awesome guy! read more

Ballston Square has all the amenities of a high rise building. Staff is friendly and responsive, maintenance is quick. The building is extremely sound proof (so so so nice!!). Units are nicely laid out and all have w/d in unit. I think they're redoing a bunch of the units too! Close to metro, grocery store, bars, and gyms. Only complaints are people leave trash in the halls/common areas and let their dogs pee in the raised garden which makes the courtyard smell. Building has sent a million emails about it but can only do so much. Living near A-town makes things interesting on Sunday night too, but definitely not a reason not to live here. Prices are competitive with other high rises in the area but heard there is a large rent increase after the first year...so we'll see if we stay! Hope we can! read more

Immediately, I would advise anyone considering this building to LOOK ELSEWHERE. Having spent a year with Archstone, I can say that it is not worth the hassle, that the building is overpriced, that the quality of the rooms are sub-par, and that the management team purposefully trick you into paying completely unnecessary fees. Let me explain, as the leasing and management team is the most common complaint of this building. I lived there for 12 months, always being current with payments, never once late on a payment, never having any complaints raised against me, and keeping my room and hallway area clean and organized. I was a great tenant. 2 months prior to moveout, I went to speak with the leasing consultants as to when I needed to inform them I was moving out. They explicitly told me 30+ days, and no charges would be applied. Perfect I thought. So 42 days in advance, I gave my notice. The reason I asked is I was unsure of their policy. It was written in the lease, 20+ pages of text that as a reasonable human being I had no way of memorizing. They knew the lease backwards and forewords, so asking them should have given me the right information. Turns out, its a 60 day notice for moveout (which, if you look around, is one of the highest in the DC area). So, they essentially lied to me, and now forced me to pay 18 days of "pro-rated" rent. They admitted they told me the 30 days. They admitted that its 60 days for everyone. So why did they tell me the wrong information? To force me to pay fees. This is not an isolated incident. I chose this building as it seemed decent, but more importantly, I had a number of friends who lived there. They have had similar incidents brought upon them, and it is just completely foul of a company such as Archstone to use this practice to trick its tenants into paying large fees. Please, do NOT give Archstone your business! They are tricksters who do not practice fair housing standards. They continuously say they are unwilling to work with you on matters such as these, no matter who you are or how clean your record might be. I am in a much better building in the city where the management takes an active role in solving problems with its tenants! read more

I lived here for a year and I really liked it. The apartments are spacious and the location is perfect with the metro right around the corner. I would've loved to stay but my rent was going to increase too much. Also I had to take my parents' dog for a while and they don't allow dogs in the building. Pros: NOT noisy, I never heard my neighbors & was able to have friends over & play music w/o any complaints. Pool for the summer months. HUGE balconies. 24 hour gym. 24 hour concierge. Mobile App to pay rent. Water, gas, sewer & trash all done through them & charged with rent. Friendly staff Renovations being made on the building (painting, resealing the garage, fixing & replacing old pipes) & emails sent with any construction updates. 24 hour maintenance guarantee. Walk-in closets. Washer/dryer in every apartment. Cons: Appliances could be upgraded to something nicer & energy efficient. Only 1 guest allowed per resident at the pool. It is an older building so I had some issues with my thermostat that, after 3 months of trying to solve it probably would've been better handled by replacing it all together. Water was shut off several times for repairs. No guest parking. Rent went up significantly when my lease was up. No dogs read more