For context: I've been living here for 4 months and moved in August 2023. So here's my 4-month review.
Despite all the other 1 and 2-star reviews, I am going to give Bower Westside a 5-star review, and here's WHY:
For starters, I saw many other comments slandering against the titling of this apartment as "luxury". The truth is, these ARE luxury apartments. For Midtown-WestMidtown Atlanta, these are some of the most spacious (800+ sq ft), renovated apartments, and appliance equipped that you will find for this price range. If you expect anything more, be prepared to pay $2000+ for a 1 bedroom. Unfortunately, that's just the truth of living in Atlanta, but the apartment is not at fault for America's housing crisis.
Next, let's talk about customer service which is heavily slandered in the reviews. The first fact here is that problems and maintenance will arise with every apartment - that's not the leasing office's fault. Their sole job is how well they respond to the problems. Now, at first, I had some problems with the infrastructure of customer service (busy, delayed phone lines), but in regards to the actual customer service, the staff has been extremely helpful. I have had several maintenance issues (AC going out, stove stopped working, etc.) and every time I picked up the phone, gave the office a call, and they handled it for me, SAME DAY, even gave me a stove that was a much newer model. Now the protocol for making a maintenance request is to use the Resident Portal, so any other apartment would normally tell you "You have to do that through the resident portal."and hang up. But what did they do? They answered the phone, apologized for the problem, and notified maintenance immediately. That is customer service (thanks Kayla, thanks Ania). - I also want to add that many of these customer service complaints were made about the previous management.
Next, let's address trash the next most common complaint. In my time here, I have had no problems with trash at all. Yes, the trash chutes do fill up on the weekends, but here's why:
1. Residents do not package their trash correctly. People do not break down cardboard boxes, use proper trash bags at times, and even just throw all of their old furniture right by the trash chute.
2. No apartment company is going to pay for weekend dumpster hauling. So, yes the weekends will result in fuller trash chutes. Also the weekends just so happen to be when all the residents who are moving out or decide they just want to get rid of their furniture and leave it right by the trash chute, so there's kind of a cause and effect here. I have seen people put entire couches, mattresses, etc. by the trash chute. That is not right and it is not the apartment's responsibility to handle your furniture. I have lived at other ATL apartments that will actually fine you for this, so these residents are lucky the apartment is so forgiving.
Finally, I want to talk about security and infrastructure (another common complaint among the reviewers). As far as security, once again, this is ATLANTA. Car break-ins happen. My car has not been broken into; however, I have seen cars broken into. The solution? Park your car behind the security gates and remove any valuables. Be smart. Protect yourself.
With regards to the infrastructure of the building, this is an older building and so is the parking garage. And guess what? They don't charge you as if it were a brand new parking garage. I pay $30/month for parking. You know what I used to pay to live in this area and park? $100+/month. Additionally, renovation and cleaning crews have been on the premises updating gutters, paint, pressure washing, etc.
Takeaways: The problem here isn't the staff or the building. It's the residents. They do not respect the property or the staff. They treat the staff poorly and as a result do not get a good response. I've never worked in leasing and I imagine many of you haven't either, but I bet you wouldn't want to deal with these types of people either if they came to YOUR job and disrespected you daily. Maintenance problems happen with every apartment. The actual apartments themselves are newly renovated, spacious, and a great deal for what you get. The location is primo for young professionals and students going to Georgia Tech. The area is super walkable thanks to the new West-Midtown developments and there are even new vendors coming thanks to the new development next door. You're walking distanc to restaurants, barbershops, gym studios, convenience stores, right by the QT which has great deals on gas, and Georgia Tech's campus is only a 10 minute walk away. It's also located close to the highway so you can get to other parts of Atlanta in roughly 10-15 minutes (well, when Atlanta's horrendous traffic jams don't happen).
Just to be clear, I wasn't compensated for this review. I'm just a regular resident sharing my honest opinion and emphasizing the importance of showing kindness for others. read more